Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Chapter 20: Intergovernmental Relations
Nonetheless, we feel that to respect the overall spending restraint required at the provincial
level, total transfers to the municipalities should increase by less than 5.2 per cent per year.
Therefore we recommend two main measures:
Recommendation 20-7: Extend the period of the final $500 million of upload by another two
years, so it is not complete until 2020. For illustration, if we reach 2015’s $232 million by 2017,
that would save $165 million ($397 million minus $232 million).
Recommendation 20-8: Ensure that, beginning in 2013, the Ontario Municipal Partnership
Fund (OMPF) declines to the planned $500 million by 2016. A reasonable assumption would
be a $25 million decrease in each of the next four years beginning in 2013, resulting in a
$500 million OMPF envelope in 2016.
We recognize the important public policy rationale, as well as the provincial commitment,
to uploading social assistance benefits program costs from the property tax base. However,
given the current fiscal climate, the <strong>Commission</strong> is concerned that continued implementation
at this time, according to the current schedule, may not be appropriate.
Additionally, it is important to ensure that these provincial investments result in tangible
outcomes for Ontarians.
Recommendation 20-9: The province and municipalities must work together to establish an
accountability framework that would track how municipalities are investing the benefits realized
as a result of the uploads.
Because infrastructure investments were identified as an important priority by municipalities,
the focus of this accountability framework should be on tracking incremental new municipal
capital expenditures. Some municipalities, such as the City of Ottawa, have released a
detailed accounting of how the savings associated with the uploads are being invested,
and we encourage the province to collaborate with municipalities to share best practices
in this area.
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