Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

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CHART 20.12 Ongoing Support to Municipalities Is Increasing
270% increase over 2003 by 2018
$ Billions
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
1.07 1.14
Actuals Projected
1.37
1.68
1.96
2.20 2.29
2.66
Note: Includes provincial uploads of social assistance benefit programs (ODB, ODSP, OW Benefits and additional funding for
OW Administration costs), Court Security and Prisoner Transportation Costs, OMPF/CRF, Provincial Gas Tax Funding, Public Health
and Land Ambulance. Does not include one-time investments such as Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, Building Canada Fund –
Communities Component, Investing in Ontario Act, etc.
Sources: Provincial–Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review: Facing the Future Together (October 2008), Ontario Ministries of
Finance, Transportation, Health and Long-Term Care, and Community and Social Services.
3.07
3.20 3.30
3.50 3.60 3.70 3.80
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Between 2010 and 2018, provincial support is projected to grow by 5.2 per cent per year.
Such a rate of growth is simply unaffordable. It significantly exceeds the 0.8 per cent annual
growth target for total program spending identified in this report. A portion of the projected
growth comes from the remaining $500 million of uploading. Excluding that, support would
grow by 3.5 per cent per year — a rate of growth that is still far in excess of our 0.8 per cent
annual growth target. The projected 3.5 per cent annual growth in the absence of the
remaining uploads can be attributed mainly to increased costs associated with uploads that
have already been completed — the uploads of ODB and ODSP. As a result of factors such
as increased caseloads, the costs to the province (and by extension, the effective savings
to municipalities) of these already completed uploads continue to increase.
The <strong>Commission</strong> supports the general notion of the upload — these matters are better
financed by the broader, more diverse provincial revenue base. And we realize that any
change in the upload simply shifts the fiscal problem in the province from one jurisdiction to
another; it does not solve it. Most of the province’s municipalities are also struggling with
their budgets.
4.00