NEEBING — Cash injections from a special provincial fund regarded by mayors as essential will likely mainly be spent on road repairs next year, two of the larger Thunder Bay-area recipients say.
"Right now, the . . . funding is proposed to be allocated to road rehabilitation projects in 2024," Neebing clerk-treasurer Erika Kromm said this week.
Neebing received $379,000 as part of a total $400 million allotment under the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund for "small, rural and northern municipalities."
Funds can be spent during a single budget year or accumulated over five years for larger projects.
The assistance program, which is 10 years old, no longer requires municipalities to fill out applications, but the province still decides how much they receive.
Among rural Thunder Bay municipalities, Oliver Paipoonge received the largest amount from the fund — $562,000.
"We have many road projects in the 2024 draft budget, so as in previous years we will be able to fully utilize our (latest Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund) allocation in 2024," said Oliver Paipoonge chief administrator Wayne Hanchard.
The OCIF was doubled by the Ford government starting in 2022 for a period of five years.
If municipalities so choose, the funds can also be used to repair bridges and waterworks infrastructure.
"Maintaining our roads and bridges is a substantial portion of our annual budget, and grants like the (Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund) play a pivotal role in curbing tax increases," Oliver Paipoonge Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis said in a provincial news release.
The City of Thunder Bay received $10 million under the same assistance fund, according to the province. Other large amounts were allotted to Greenstone ($888,000) and Terrace Bay ($328,000).
Atikokan Mayor Rob Ferguson, whose town received $510,000 from the fund, suggested that not having the money would cause major projects to stall or not be done at all.
"Without grants like (Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund), small rural municipalities such as ours will struggle to fund large critical infrastructure projects," Ferguson said.
The Chronicle Journal / Carl Clutchey
