Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs says arbitration awards for fire and police services across the province are the No. 1 issue facing Ontario municipalities.
Hobbs, who departed Thursday for the Ontario Good Roads Association conference in Toronto, said municipalities can’t afford huge increases to budgets, which he says is driven by increases to the budgets of emergency services personnel.
“And wages and benefits are a big driver,” Hobbs said.
“We’ve seen some bizarre settlements, given tough fiscal times, and we’ve seen some increases that are kind of out of line. That is a big issue of all the mayors of all the municipalities of Ontario.”
Hobbs says it’s time for communities to push back, to come up with a system that takes tough times into account.
“That’s not being done a lot of times,” he said.
Sustainability and improved revenue streams are also high on his agenda at the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario meeting, also scheduled while Hobbs is in the Toronto area.
In this regard, Hobbs is hoping his city is one others will look up to and mirror in their approach to the problem, he said.
“A lot of municipalities are struggling. Thunder Bay is really on the radar of ministers for what we’ve done on enhanced infrastructure projects. A lot of municipalities are really struggling with their infrastructure program.
“Our enhanced renewal program is capturing an audience in Ontario.”
Hobbs, who called a news conference Thursday at the Thunder Bay International Airport, also touched on his meeting with FedNor Minister Tony Clement, who spent two days in the city earlier this week.
Among the topics they touched on during the meeting was federal support for a proposed $106.1-million event centre.
“Minister Clement liked our infrastructure projects, i.e. the Golf Links-Junot corridor which is going to connect both ends of the city and hopefully develop the Innova Business Park. And he really liked the event centre project and he’s going to read over our submission to him because we are in Phase 3 of our study,” Hobbs said.
“So that’s very encouraging news for our city.”
Hobbs also clarified statements made Wednesday by Intergovernmental Liaison Committee chairman Joe Virdiramo, stating the city won't be asking the province for $4.2 million to cover the city's Safe Homes Program costs, that the money was actually covered in a $10 million payment the province made to the city after the May 28 flood. The city has only spent $9.1 million of that money.
