Simcoe County open to providing more ‘efficiencies to taxpayers’ in regional review

Thestar.com
Jan 15, 2019
Bryan Myers

The Ontario Progressive Conservatives are moving ahead with a review of regional governments in the province that has been in place for nearly 50 years.

Michael Fenn and Ken Seiling have been appointed by the province to conduct the review with public consultation of residents and businesses in the spring.

“It’s important that governments at all levels work to provide efficiencies to taxpayers and we view this as part of the process,” Simcoe County warden George Cornell said in a press release on Tuesday.

The review will examine Ontario’s eight regional municipalities (Halton, York, Durham, Waterloo, Niagara, Peel, Muskoka District, and Oxford County), the County of Simcoe, and their lower-tier municipalities. The lower-tier governments in Simcoe County include: Adjala-Tosorontio, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Clearview, Collingwood, Essa, Innisfil, Midland, New Tecumseth, Oro-Medonte, Penetanguishene, Ramara, Severn, Springwater, Tay, Tiny, and Wasaga Beach.

The County of Simcoe’s council is the largest council in the province after the Toronto council was reduced to 25 seats in July. The council consists of the mayor and deputy mayor from every community in the county for a total of 31 seats. The county’s population is expected to reach 500,000 citizens in 2019.

“Our government committed to improving the way regional government works and we will be looking at ways to make better use of taxpayers’ dollars and make it easier for residents and business to access important municipal services,” Steve Clark, minister of municipal affairs and housing, said in a prepared release.

The advisers are mandated to determine whether upper- and lower-tier municipalities are efficiently aligned, if the distribution of councillors is representative of population, as well as whether there is a duplication of services between tiers and opportunities for cost-savings.

Between 1996 and 2002, the Ontario PC Party, under Mike Harris, reduced the number of municipalities in the province from 815 to 447.

“We are one of the largest counties in Ontario with a substantive population expected to surpass 500,000 this calendar year,” warden George Cornell said in a prepared release. “The County of Simcoe Provides broad upper-tier services similar to our regional peers, and we have significant growth pressures due to our proximity to the GTA.”

Cornell noted the county works closely with regional partners across the province and this review was part of the process.

“It’s important that governments at all levels work to provide efficiencies to taxpayers and we view this as part of the process,” Cornell said.