[SteelTown]

Province announces relief for cities

By Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton will save upwards of $18 million after the province announced it will take back the costs of court security and Ontario Works, but the savings won’t all come at once.

The provincial government said it will take back costs for both programs, downloaded onto municipalities in the late 1990s, but it will take 10 years.

The Liberals say the plan means an net benefit of $1.5 billion to municipalities by 2018.

Court costs won’t start returning to the province until 2012 and Ontario Works costs won’t be uploaded until 2010.

 Mayor Fred Eisenberger said yesterday that it is welcoming news that the province will slowly take back many of the welfare costs it tossed onto the backs of towns and cities in the late 1990s.

"It is going to be of great benefit to us to do it, whether it's immediate or over time, as long as it's done," said Eisenberger last night, when told the province was expected to announce today it will reassume those costs over the next decade.

"The question becomes how specifically they're going to phase that and how that impacts the city of Hamilton financially ... So I think on the face of it, it's absolutely good news."

Ontario Works cost the city $30 million in 2008. The city is also paying $41 million for the Ontario Disability Support Program, $41 million for social housing and $9 million for public health this year.

Offsetting all of those costs was $12 million in special one-time funding specifically for Hamilton, and the city's share -- almost $36 million -- of Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund money.

In 2008, it cost the city $74 million to pay for provincially mandated programs, including social services. That's after provincial transfers and special funding reduced the annual $281-million cost of providing the programs in Hamilton.