Funding cuts top of mind as urban mayors meeting gets underway in Guelph

Premier Doug Ford's announcement that municipalities are expected to trim an extra four per cent from their budgets this year will be a top issue at the Large Urban Mayors Caucus (LUMCO).

Leaders from more than two dozen communities will be gathering at the caucus on Friday in Guelph.

Other items on the agenda will include affordable housing, public health and funding for recreational facilities.

Kitchener City Coun. Scott Davey, who is attending the meeting on behalf of Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, said the municipalities are  "in an extremely hard place," since the Premier's announcements are coming long after municipal budgets have been set.

"These changes will have a deep impact on the services that all of our citizens depend on," he said.

For Kitchener, 4 per cent will amount to a $7.4 million decrease in the city's budget.

Davey said he is also particularly interested in discussing reform to real estate development charges.

"There's a misconception basically that reducing or cutting costs of development charges … somehow affects home prices, and that's not really what the data has shown," he said.

Not being able to collect development charges would mean less money for recreational resources like arenas and swimming pools, according to Davey.

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky said the caucus is also an opportunity for mayors to exchange cost-saving ideas that could be transferable to other communities.

"There is a new government in the province. They see there is need for change," he said.

"There's a great opportunity there, of showing the provincial government that we're all in for cost savings, we just need to come together and find them."

The meeting gets underway Friday morning.