Elections
Do you believe municipalities should have more powers to generate revenue? If so, what would you propose? If not, why not?
Responses to the question: "Do you believe municipalities should have more powers to generate revenue? If so, what would you propose? If not, why not?"
In This Page:
4 Candidate Responses (top)
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Bob Green Innes | No | I believe that other than some gas tax powers, this is a moot question for Hamilton since our tax rates are already uncompetitive. The pressure for more revenue stems from an inability to rein in expenditures, which in turn comes from an inability to say no to various pressure groups such as unions, developers and bankers.
Please note however that fully half of the taxes collected go toward education, a provincially mandated situation. The election of trustees that manage this money flies almost completely under the radar which allows for overspending, incumbentism, cronyism, and education politics that does not reflect what the public wants. The Family Coalition is the only party with sensible policies on such issues. |
| Mark Cripps | Yes | The infrastructure pressures facing cities is massive. All levels of government need to find ways to fund critical infrastructure projects. We can't ignore this looming crisis. Something has to be done. |
| Paul Miller | Yes | Ontario’s New Democrats recognize the fiscal challenges faced by municipalities, which is why we will allocate additional funds to infrastructure projects, continue to upload social service and court security costs by 2018, make the provincial gas tax permanent and fund 50% of the operating costs for municipal transit.
We also are committed to expanding municipal powers to generate revenue. For example, the Development Charges Act should ensure that growth pays for growth. We will also create opportunities for municipalities to engage in renewable energy projects. |
| W. Peter Randall | Maybe | I don't think it is easy to provide a straight yes or no to this question. In general I lean towards NO, However, it is dependent on the idea and the proposal.
It seems to me municipalities are not very good at generating revenue and do not have private sector type ambitions, safeguards etc in place. IE Ever see the random loonies collected at public skating or at a public swimming pool? Usually a teenager is manning the box and it is just such a tin box...no way to audit and know the accuracy of the count and the collections. Theft could be involved, the teen may get up and go to the washroom when three people walk in, they may let friends in for free...ie the proper controls are not in place. So in general I do not consider municipalities to be qualified to earn and maximize revenues in a great many areas. However if you turn to other areas, such as investment returns on reserves then with CEO's, clerks and accountants municipalities are often very well versed in maximizing revenues in these areas. As I say it depends on the specific proposal and the details of what would be granted to a municipality. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 2 | 50.0% |
| No | 1 | 25.0% |
| Maybe | 1 | 25.0% |
4 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gregg Pattinson | ||
| Nancy Fiorentino | ||
| Philip Doucette | ||
| Silas Khokar | ||
