RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE
CITY OF
December 17, 2007
RE: Infrastructure Funding
“WHEREAS towns and cities are where the people of
AND
WHEREAS provincial and national
economic prosperity is inextricably linked to the well being and prosperity of
towns and cities;
AND
WHEREAS public ownership of
infrastructure has shifted over the past 50 years away from the federal and
provincial governments to become an increasing responsibility for municipal
governments such as the City of
AND
WHEREAS the City of
AND
WHEREAS the Council of the City of
Waterloo has introduced a number of initiatives such as ten-year capital
planning, continuous improvement, public private partnerships and a proposed capital investment contribution as
the City’s efforts to address the infrastructure deficit;
AND
WHEREAS the City of
AND
WHEREAS the City of
AND
WHEREAS property taxes,
for the most part, is a very regressive tax not based on economic
growth, income or ability to pay;
AND WHEREAS there is just a single taxpayer paying taxes to the
different levels of government;
AND
WHEREAS, on average, municipalities collect eight cents of every dollar of total government
collected taxes for the services they provide;
AND WHEREAS there are federal and provincial surpluses projected over
the next number of years;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
1) the Council of The Corporation of
the City of Waterloo calls upon the Provincial and Federal governments to
re-examine how municipalities are funded in regards to infrastructure and work
together with a view to providing long term and sustainable infrastructure
funding programs to assist the City of Waterloo and all upper, lower and single
tier municipalities in addressing their infrastructure roles and
responsibilities;
2) copies of this resolution be
forwarded to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Premier of Ontario, Federal and
Provincial Ministers of Finance, Provincial Minister of Public Infrastructure
Renewal, Federal Minister of Transportation, all Members of Parliament, all
Members of Provincial Parliament, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario
(AMO), the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Big Cities
Mayors’ Caucus of FCM;
3) all
municipalities be encouraged to pass motions supporting this resolution and
forward to their relevant federal and provincial representatives.”
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
For further information, please
contact
Susan Greatrix, City Clerk
The Corporation of the City of
Telephone:
519-747-8705
Fax: 519-747-8510
E-mail: sgreatrix@city.waterloo.on.ca