Prince Edward County has joined a growing number of municipalities calling on the provincial and federal governments to invest in maintaining critical infrastructure.
In a motion tabled by Councillor Corey Engelsdorfer during Tuesday’s council meeting, Prince Edward County joined the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in calling on the higher levels of government to help with the repair and maintenance costs of critical infrastructure.
Speaking on the motion, Councillor Engelsdorfer said that while municipalities manage more infrastructure than the provincial or federal governments, they get far less budget to do so.
“Small rural municipalities like Prince Edward County have all the same issues that large urban centres have, but we don’t have the funds to address them,” said Engelsdorfer. “Municipal revenues do not grow with economy or inflation and the pressures of growth economic factors like inflation and interest rates and provincial policy decisions are pushing municipalities to the brink.”
The motion passed, and copies of the motion are to be forwarded to several elected officials in higher levels of government including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser, Premier Doug Ford, Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith, and Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams.
