Municipalities across Ontario will receive an extra $1-billion this year for roads, bridges, public transit and repairs to affordable housing, under a provincial budget unveiled Tuesday by Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
In an announcement signalled last week, the government has earmarked $400-million for roads and bridges outside Toronto, $497-million for public transit in the Toronto region and $100-million for rehabilitation of social housing units across the province.
The investment injection, a partial response to a growing infrastructure gap faced by municipalities, is coming because the province reaped a $5-billion revenue windfall this year.
But the additional dollars for infrastructure amount to one-time funds, well short of the municipalities' plea for permanent, stable provincial dollars to pay for big-ticket capital projects.
Mr. Duncan described the billion-dollar boost as “important to the economy” and in line with his government's promise to work with local governments.
The latest top-up, in addition to funds announced in the minister's economic statement last December, means the government will spend a total of $8.8-billion for the current fiscal year that ends Mar 31.
That compares to $5.9-billion in infrastructure assistance first set aside for the 2007-08 fiscal year and $7.5-billion forecast for the 2008-09 year that begins April 1.
Municipalities will have several years to apply the provincial funds on their choice of priority projects, such as new construction or repair of roads and bridges (outside Toronto), new public transit projects in the Toronto region and rehabilitation of aging social housing stock across the province.
