FEATURE Funding municipal infrastructure: Why it’s time to put Communities first 6 perspectives <strong>Magazine</strong>
This past June, the Association of <strong>Manitoba</strong> Municipalities (AMM) launched a campaign called “Putting Communities First”. The purpose of this campaign was to send a strong message to all parties running in this year’s provincial election. That message was this: Our infrastructure deficit is crippling our communities, and downloading from other orders of government is just making matters worse. <strong>Manitoba</strong> communities are Doug dobrowolski struggling to meet a growing list of new responsibilities and challenges, including local healthcare services, affordable housing and fixing our crumbling infrastructure. The AMM has long believed we need a new financial arrangement with the provincial government to meet these responsibilities. So our focus over the past several months has been to remind candidates and voters of the importance of meeting the urgent and growing needs in our communities. And the only way our communities can meet these needs is with a steady, predictable revenue stream. The campaign was very successful. It received a great deal of media attention and, I believe, was heard loud and clear by party leaders and their candidates. But, this article is not about our campaign, the activities we took on, or its outcome. What it is about is how we got here. It is a fact that today’s municipal governments are facing a new reality. We all remember the days where ”the municipality” simply plowed the streets and picked up the garbage. Well, today’s elected officials are doing everything from recruiting doctors from around the world to providing capital funding for daycares…along with cleaning the streets and collecting the garbage. The workload – and expense – of the services municipalities are expected to provide had increased so dramatically that these communities are now experiencing serious consequences. And it is not only citizens demanding more and better services from their local government. It is other orders of government. Municipalities must then try to balance these demands with existing priorities and scarce revenues. The current challenges facing municipalities are overwhelming. One of the most pressing issues is the municipal infrastructure deficit. Simply put, municipalities are facing enormous infrastructure challenges. Drive through any <strong>Manitoba</strong> community and you will see roads that are crumbling and nearly impassable due to potholes, closed bridges resulting in detours, and drafty recreation centres with leaking roofs. And these are just the visible signs of the infrastructure deficit. What we don’t see – and what is even more serious – is what is unseen: century old water and sewer lines constantly in need of repair, water and wastewater treatment plants operating far above capacity, and tap water that is undrinkable. This is not the picture of a healthy, prosperous community. For <strong>Manitoba</strong> communities to thrive in the future, these infrastructure challenges must be addressed, and the numbers are staggering. In Canada the municipal infrastructure deficit is over $123 billion dollars for current needs, a figure that has doubled over the last five years. And, this only represents the money needed for the upgrade and repair of current municipal infrastructure. Another $115 billion is required for new infrastructure. These national trends hold true for <strong>Manitoba</strong> as well. The City of Winnipeg’s infrastructure deficit is $3.8 billion for existing infrastructure and $3.6 billion for new infrastructure. Historically the municipal infrastructure deficit outside of Winnipeg has been double that within Winnipeg, meaning the deficit outside Winnipeg can be pegged at over $7.5 billion. This puts the total municipal infrastructure deficit in <strong>Manitoba</strong> in excess of $11 billion dollars. To put that figure into perspective, the total municipal taxes levied in 2007 were just over $730 million. There is no way municipalities can tackle this deficit on their own. What some don’t realize is that adequate infrastructure is needed for economic development and unfortunately it is greatly lacking in many communities. Inadequate infrastructure for housing means people cannot move into a community and have a positive economic impact on that community because there is simply no place to live. During a recent tour of <strong>Manitoba</strong>, I heard a recurring story. Communities want to grow, people want to invest in those communities, and developers are ready to build the needed housing…but the infrastructure is simply unable to support new development. Meanwhile, municipalities are busy repairing 50-100 year old water and sewer lines. One public works employee told me their staff responded to eight water main breaks in one day. This occurred in a town of 5,000 people. What we often forget is that dedicating money to municipal infrastructure is not a drain on provincial or federal coffers. It is in fact a necessary component for our economy to grow. According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, an increase in municipal infrastructure spending of $1 billion dollars would increase the size of the real economy by roughly $1.3 billion dollars. The resulting investment would also add thousands of new jobs. But, of even greater concern is the very real impact this infrastructure deficit is having on the people who live in <strong>Manitoba</strong>. Numbers this big are abstract concepts. What is really at issue is how this infrastructure deficit is affecting our people. <strong>Manitoba</strong>ns now have longer commutes to work either because of impassable roads or slower speeds. We also spend more time travelling to neighbouring communities to access recreation opportunities. Many have seen the out-migration of neighbours and friends who tire of dealing with these daily challenges. Close to 100 communities in <strong>Manitoba</strong> still have boil water advisories, meaning in 2011, thousands of <strong>Manitoba</strong>ns do not have access to safe drinking water when they turn on the tap. How are municipal councils to create vibrant, welcoming communities given the state of infrastructure today? Taking advantage of every grant, fund, and program available is a given. Federally, municipalities have benefited from a GST rebate, the sharing of the federal gas tax and the Building Canada Fund as well as Stimulus Funding. Provincially, municipalities have benefited from the sharing of provincial income tax, the Building ...continued on page 8 perspectives MagazinE 7
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