Hamilton - Hamilton can expect to see the costs of Ontario Works benefits — welfare — and court security paid by the province when the elements in a new report are fully implemented in 2018.

Currently, municipalities pay for certain social assistance benefit program costs, including a portion of Ontario Works benefits, from property taxes. This will no longer be the case as a result of an agreement reached by the McGuinty government, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto.

Once fully implemented, the uploads agreed to in the report will result in a net annual benefit to municipalities of more than $1.5 billion compared to 2007. Projected total annual support to municipalities, including other provincial initiatives, will be $3.8 billion in 2018 — an increase of $2.7 billion or about 250 per cent since the McGuinty government took office in 2003.

For Hamilton, this means $71, 874, 000 in increased annual benefit by the time of the upload is complete in 2018.

The report, “Facing the Future Together,” is the product of the Review, a partnership between the McGuinty government, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto.

The uploads mean municipalities can build and repair more infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, libraries, recreation centres, sewer systems and water plants.

QUOTES

"This Review is great news for Hamilton and Hamiltonians," said Sophia Aggelonitis, MPP for Hamilton Mountain. "While there is more to do, this is an investment which is focused on building a stronger and more prosperous future for Hamilton.”

"The agreement signed by all the partners today is the result of the closest collaboration of municipalities and the Provincial government in the history of Ontario. It is a fair, prudent and responsible agreement that commits to removing from the backs of beleaguered property tax-payers costs that should never have been imposed,” said Ted McMeekin, Minister of Government Services and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. “This collaborative agreement will upload to the province costs associated with Ontario Works, the Ontario Drug Plan, the Ontario Disability Support Program, additional public health and EMS costs. This is a remarkable agreement which clearly proves that there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."


QUICK FACTS 

• By 2018, municipalities will see a $1.5 billion per year net benefit from this agreement. In 2007, during the early stages of the Review, the government announced the upload of the Ontario Disability Support Payments program and the Ontario Drug Benefits program, to be completed by 2011: 
• The municipal costs for Ontario Drug Benefits were uploaded effective January 1, 2008. 
• Starting in 2009, we will begin the upload of municipal costs for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The ODSP upload will be completed by 2011. 
  
• Today’s announcement provides the further upload of Ontario Works benefits and court security costs: 
• Starting in 2010, the Province will upload the municipal costs of Ontario Works benefits (income and employment assistance) over nine years. 
• Starting in 2012, the Province will upload the costs of court security (including offender transportation) over seven years, by providing funding to municipalities to a maximum of $125 million annually at maturity. 
  
• Service delivery recommendations in the report mean provincial and municipal governments will work together to refocus programs and services around delivering results for people. 
• The Province provided almost $7 billion in funding for municipal infrastructure in the last three years. 
• In addition to the uploads resulting from the Review, since 2003, the Province has increased OMPF funding, uploaded public health costs by increasing the provincial share from 50 per cent to 75 per cent, made additional investments in land ambulance services, and provided two cents per litre of provincial gas tax to municipalities to improve public transit. 
• Projected total support to municipalities, including other provincial initiatives, will be $3.8 billion in 2018 — an increase of $2.7 billion or about 250 per cent over 2003.