Hamilton gets $48m in Ontario infrastructure cash

[MsMe]

By NICOLE MacINTYRE
The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton is $48 million richer today.
Premier Dalton McGuinty announced this morning that the province is giving $1.1 billion in infrastructure funding to municipalities thanks to its budget surplus.
Hamilton can use its portion to fund any capital project it wishes. Mayor Fred Eisenberger said he’d like hard services, like roads, water and sewer, to be the first focus of the funds.
“I think it’s a one time opportunity to do some catchup.”
The city’s roads budget alone has a $40 to $50 million annual shortfall.
A provincial spokesperson said Hamilton doesn’t have a deadline to spend the funding, but all municipalities are being encouraged to move quickly.
City staff plan to report back to council this fall with a priority list for spending the funding.
Though the funding is greatly appreciate, Eisenberger said the city still needs to province to establish a permanent funding agreement.
In his speech yesterday, McGuinty cautioned municipalities they shouldn’t expect another surplus next year because of the softening economy.

nmacintyre@thespec.com
905-526-3299

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/424752

[SteelTown]

Ah......How about money towards B-Line!

[DC83]

I wonder if any of that surplus is going directly to Metrolinx?

[adam]

If they build a light rail line before taking care of the old sewage and water system, they'll just have to rip it up in a couple years anyway. At least this Mayor is taking care of these essential services... as the article says "picking up slack" (...from the last mayor!)

[SteelTown]

I'd put some money towards Rymal and Stone Church for the Mountain. Money towards North End and Corktown traffic calming. Streetscaping projects. Bike lane for York and the rest to suburbs.

It's likely 100% of this money will go towards roads, bridges and water not HSR.

[vid]

The money is for infrastructure projects. Thunder Bay got one million, and is rebuilding a bridge on one of our freeways. I think they should have put it to pavement rehabilitation, as they said the bridge was fine... The city has been replacing lots of bridges now that I think of it. They mayor must be looking for some sort of weird legacy.

If you have any lead water pipes, you should probably replace them, and this would be a good way to finance that. Lead free water is nice. Or pot hole fixing. Or some big white elephant thing, like a new expressway.

[DC83]

^^ Shhh... don't mention expressways in this city :s
I think the Mayor of Bridges would be a fun legacy... weird, but fun. Better than our last Mayor's 'Legacy': Don DiIanni -- Mayor of Expressways-to-Nowhere

I agree w/ Mayor Fred on this one. The roads are in terrible shape especially after Winter Wallop '08. Adam makes a good point too.

I was wondering if any of the surplus went to Metrolinx b/c if so, this $48million should be spent 100% on road/sewer fixing. Hopefully there's enough left over to Streetscape John??

[vid]

I mixed it up, this is different than the infrastructure spending a few months ago. Thunder Bay got 10.3 million, as it was a per-capita thing. (Hamilton has 480,000 people, hence 48 million, something like that. $100K/1K people)

Our mayor-before-last in the early 90s had a legacy of being the worst mayor ever. He's now a county administrator in Florida, where he moved to "get away from stress and bad times in Canada". That's how bad he was. They city pretty much died under his watch.

But we have replaced almost all of our major bridges in the past decade, and any that weren't replaced were new anyway. We probably have the best bridge infrastructure in the country now. The road surfaces are crap though (our freeze-thaw cycle is possibly worse than Hamilton's, but I would think you guys go above 0 in winter more which might make yours worse? I don't know.), and many roads are overcrowded and need expansions or dedicated turning lanes. Our widest road is only four lanes. I can't really think of anything else we need. We've already overhauled our water and sewage networks, transit's problems stem from a lack of drivers and they seem to have money to renovate city hall and fix up other offices so this is a nice bonus for us. (So much for depressed economy, huh? Take that, Windsor!)

The expressways comment was a joke. I'd rather see this go to mass transit, or replacing ageing water/road infrastructures. Especially lead pipes and bridges in poor condition.

[SteelTown]

Toronto got around $250 million so there's like another $300 million laying around somewhere from the $1.1 billion, so perhaps Metrolinx/GO Transit got some money.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton gets $48m infrastructure windfall

August 25, 2008
By NICOLE MacINTYRE
The Hamilton Spectator

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday the province is giving $1.1 billion in infrastructure funding to municipalities thanks to Ontario’s budget surplus.

“It’s a lot of bread,” said local MPP Ted McMeekin. “It is huge.”

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who was surprised by the size of Hamilton’s share, said he wants to target the backlog of work required in road, sewer and water infrastructure.

“It’s a one-time opportunity to do some catch-up,” he said. “It’s a good stop gap measure.”

In roads alone, the city has a $40 to $50 million annual shortfall in its capital budget. It’s behind another $30 million in renovations to city facilities.

The city can use the funding for any capital project. A government spokesperson said there’s no deadline, but the province is urging that the funding be spent quickly.

Gerry Davis, director of capital planning and implementation, expects Hamilton could expend the funding envelope within two years.

“It’s definitely a great gift. It will help tremendously...right across the city we can accomplish things.”

This fall, Davis said he’ll report to council on the best way to use the funding. He expects to move up projects planned down the road in the city’s capital plan.

“It’s not like we’ll have to scramble for projects,” he said. “We have a significant backlog.”

Davis said he could see projects like repairs to Wilson Street in Ancaster or renovations to the Norman Pinkie Lewis Recreation Centre moved up two to four years.

McGuinty cautioned that the province may not be able to offer the same funding next year because of Ontario’s softening economy. He also warned his government won’t have a permanent funding deal for cities as soon as hoped.

While yesterday’s cash is appreciated, Hamilton needs the stability of a new deal, said Eisenberger.

“We’re looking for a long-term solution.”

[DC83]

Originally Posted by vid

I mixed it up, this is different than the infrastructure spending a few months ago. Thunder Bay got 10.3 million, as it was a per-capita thing. (Hamilton has 480,000 people, hence 48 million, something like that. $100K/1K people)

Ya, Hence!!

Hamilton actually has 505,000. London is closer to the 480,000 mark.

That's awesome news for T-Bay! $10.3, and again, doesn't have to be used right away. They can save that in their Infrastructure coffers until another bridge needs repairing hehe jks or better yet to implement some type of attractive/fun/easy Public Transit innitiative!

I would assume TBay's roads get it worse than Hamilton's on a regualr basis, but this past winter was extreme down here.

$300 million, eh Steeltown? Has Harper announced any federal partnership (or funding, at least) with Metrolinx yet? If there's an election around the corner, they might want to jump on that super-popular bandwagon. Although I don't think they really have a chance in non-suburban Hamilton.

[SteelTown]

- Toronto: $238,182,872.
- Peel Region: $67,043,893.
- York Region: $52,748,348.
- Halton Region: $22,077,181.
- Durham Region: $28,399,241.
- Mississauga: $24,951,690.
- Brampton: $16,190,575.
- Barrie: $12,219,893.
- Ottawa: $77,272,674.
- Windsor: $20,597,033.
- Chatham-Kent: $10,292,855.
- Hamilton: $48,007,919.
- London: $33,529,777.
- Waterloo Region: $22,596,062.
- Niagara Region: $20,156,951.
- Thunder Bay: $10,384,483.

When you add it all up it's $704,651,447.00, $395,348,553.00 is still unaccounted for.

[vid]

You're missing most of Northern Ontario, that's at least 75,000,000 there, -10.3M for Thunder Bay. There's more to Simcoe than Barrie, more to Middlesex than London, etc.

Nipigon got $166,000, and you missed them. Have fun adding them all up.

[SteelTown]

Yea I missed some places but still there's no city bigger than Toronto in Ontario so there's money unaccounted for, around $300 million.

Maybe the rest went towards debt repayment?

[vid]

There is no city bigger than Toronto, but when you add up all the cities smaller than Thunder Bay, you'd get one.

[SteelTown]

Northern Ontario can't chew up $395 million, probably $75 million the most. So there's still around $300 million.

I'm thinking $300 million went towards debt reduction.

[vid]

Yeah, and there are thousands of towns in Southern Ontario with about 100 to 5000 people. If a town the size of Nipigon (1,500 people, if that) got money, than most of those little places did too.

[DC83]

^^ unfortunately for Metrolinx (and the GTHA), Vid is totally right!

Arran-Elderslie - $ 435,861
Barrie - $ 12,219,893
Brockton - $ 622,815
Blue Mountains - $ 492,798
Bruce County - $ 1,955,044
Chatsworth - $ 461,533
Clearview - $ 1,043,808
Collingwood - $ 1,281,051
Georgian Bluffs - $ 758,584
Grey County - $ 2,120,225
Grey Highlands - $ 684,502
Hanover - $ 516,048
Huron-Kinloss - $ 420,874
Kincardine - $ 721,784
Meaford - $ 790,499
Midland - $ 1,207,700
Northern Bruce Peninsula - $ 248,713
Orillia - $ 2,879,092
Owen Sound - $ 1,570,672
Penetanguishene - $ 693,057
Saugeen Shores - $ 757,120
Simcoe County - $ 5,517,752
South Bruce - $ 383,664
South Bruce Peninsula - $ 543,615
Springwater - $ 1,293,350
Wasaga Beach - $ 1,113,529
Wellington County - $ 3,360,585
West Grey - $ 880,394

http://www.radioowensound.com/news.php?id=13987

And that's just mid-southern Ontario!
And it seems the counties get seperate, addtional amounts.
example: Owen Sound gets 1.5 million, yet Grey county (where OS is located) gets an additional $2.1million. That of course would include small hamlets like Bognor and the like.

[SteelTown]

That's $44,974,562 still nearly a quarter of a billion leftover.

[vid]

Well we excluded Southwestern Ontario, so you have to look there. And Southeastern Ontario. I would imagine that the money obtained by Peel, Mississauga and Brampton are all separate funds if counties and municipalities get their own amounts, so some communities would get the funding on two levels.

Here is a list of Ontario's municipalities:

http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page1591.aspx

Every single one got money.