Province gives Newmarket $3.76M for infrastructure work

Fund to help with projects like upcoming Pony Drive reconstruction, Queen Street Bridge rehabilitation

Newmarkettoday.ca
Feb. 16, 2024
Joseph Quigley

The Town of Newmarket is getting a more than $3.76 million boost to help it build critical infrastructure in the community.

The province is providing $3,762,624 to the municipality in 2024 for infrastructure upgrades through the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. The dollars can be used for critical infrastructure projects like road, bridge and water, with the municipality saying some of the dollars could go for work on Pony Drive and the Queen Street bridge reconstruction.

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said this funding is vital, citing news stories of places around the United States and Canada with crumbling infrastructure.

“Once you get behind on critical infrastructure, it becomes a monstrous task to catch up,” he said during a Feb .15 news conference. “Residents in our communities want safe streets and good bridges and good infrastructure.”

The annualized funding is part of a $400-million pool allocated to small, rural and northern municipalities. Newmarket is receiving less this year compared to the the $4,426,616 it received in 2023.

But municipalities have generally received more since 2022, when the province doubled its investment into the OCIF. Since 2020, Newmarket has received more than $10 million from the fund, including this year’s funding.

OCIF funding is automatically granted rather than applied for. The province said it allocates funding through a formula, based on submitted planning and reporting documents from municipalities.

Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy said the funding helps build communities.

“We understand the many pressures on municipalities to keep taxes low because we all serve the same taxpayer and I’m sure this fund will go to great use for the betterment of our communities’ infrastructure needs,” she said.

Some of those dollars in Newmarket stand to go some major reconstruction. The town is preparing to reconstruct Pony Drive by the end of September 2024, including the road base. Work is also continuing on the Queen Street bridge, with the town set to spend time restoring asphalt, sidewalk and driveways this year.

Infrastructure like this is “not as exciting as a new recreation centre,” Taylor said, “but it’s extremely important.”

The Town of Aurora is also receiving OCIF funding, totalling $1,985,334.

Taylor said the public does not care how infrastructure work gets addressed, but they want to see it done.

"Federal governments, provincial governments, municipal governments need to work together to make sure we're meeting the infrastructure challenges that we face today over the next decade," he said.