Posted Mar 13, 2013, 11:52 AM
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Murray backtracks on LRT comments — but he’s still a big fan
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, Mar 12 2013)
Transportation Minister Glen Murray is apologizing for comments about funding Hamilton’s LRT system that landed him in hot water.
Whether you call it controlling damage or clarifying, Murray is taking full responsibility for suggesting Hamilton won’t be expected to make a capital contribution for its proposed LRT system.
He stands by his remarks that Hamilton won’t have to raise property taxes or create new taxes to help pay for the $800-million project.
But Murray says he should have been clearer that doesn’t mean the province intends to write a cheque for 100 per cent of the cost.
‘What we will be doing is we will be bringing some new solutions, some revenue tools for municipalities, including Hamilton, so that the only option that they will have (won’t) be to reach into their treasury or have to raise their taxes.”
Murray’s comments to The Spectator last week raised concerns in Kitchener-Waterloo and Mississauga — which are wrestling with funding their own transit projects — that the province intends to give Hamilton special treatment.
Murray says that’s not the case and he should have made it clearer that city will be expected to help fund some of its project.
On the surface, that’s bad news for Hamilton, which, citing its lack of fiscal capacity compared to other Greater Toronto Hamilton Area municipalities, is unabashedly asking for special consideration.
But in a telephone interview, Murray said though the province intends to treat all municipalities “fairly and equitably,’ it doesn’t mean it will take a “cookie cutter” approach.
He says the province recognizes Hamilton’s unique challenges and will offer some new fiscal tools and strategic partnerships being developed by Metrolinx, the provincial transit planning agency.
“Some of those may be tools that the province puts together and we’ll take responsibility for raising the revenue. Some of them will be new tools that will allow Hamilton to raise some new revenue from different sources.”
Murray says the tools might include return on investment financing, which basically uses the revenue generated by capital spending on infrastructure projects to help pay for the projects.
Though out-of-towners may have feared Murray’s original comments indicated Hamilton was getting a free transit ride, Hamilton suspected there would be strings attached.
Lloyd Ferguson speculated the province might be looking at using new LRT-related tax assessment growth to fund the project. Murray acknowledges that is a potential option. He says it wouldn’t pay for 100 per cent of the cost, but it would pay for a significant part and then once the line was paid for the taxes would fully stay with Hamilton.
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