Weekly newsletter: September 17, 2024

Greetings, fellow humans!

Just want to quickly wish you a Happy Mid-autumn Festival, 中秋節快樂! Wishing those who celebrate, an opportunity to get together with loved ones for a meal and some mooncake.

Summer 2024 is making a last stand before we head into pumpkin spice and Uggs season.

Yesterday, thinking it was a short drive, I decided to tough it out driving home from a pizza place without air-conditioning. Three hot pizzas do an excellent job of raising the temperature in a car, even with the windows open.

Road resurfacing has started on Woodroffe Avenue between Fallowfield and the railway crossing, expected to take two weeks. To reduce the impact to traffic, works will happen mostly overnight, with some late-evening work.

Sprung structure shelter update

You can find previous updates on the matter at Ward24.ca under the sprung structures tab. Thanks to resident LL for the photo.

Last week, a few residents reached out about some clearing and crews at the site of the proposed sprung structure shelter. The clearing was related to a soil and ground conditions analysis as part of a more detailed and thorough evaluation of each short-listed site.

Presently, nothing is going ahead. The city has yet to receive the federal funding for the structures, nor has a rezoning application been made.

Per my most recent conversation with staff and the Mayor on the topic, other sites not previously considered are being looked at, and city staff continue to re-examine some early assumptions, including conversations with the federal government.

There will be a more substantial update in the coming weeks.

Woodroffe/Deerfox-Stoneway road cuts

Road cut on Stoneway east of Woodroffe scheduled to be smoothened this week.

The private contractor working on the water/sewer connection for the future commercial properties on the west side of Woodroffe/Deerfox repaired the road cut across Woodroffe last week.

The road cut on Stoneway east of Woodroffe is still unrepaired because police are needed on site to direct traffic during the works. Officers are tentatively scheduled to be on site 20 September 2024 to facilitate the repairs.

Though the private contractor is responsible for maintaining the road cut, the delay in the pipe connection was caused by erroneous documents provided by the city.

The pipe work is expected to resume later in the autumn.

Budget directions

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Council will be discussing and voting on budget directions for the 2025 municipal budget.

Budget directions were approved by the Finance and Corporate Services Committee yesterday (Monday), capping the general property tax increase to 2.9 per cent, combined with an overall growth of 1.5 per cent from new development.

Transit is the exception, and where things get tricky.

In the Mayor’s Fairness for Ottawa campaign, a funding deficit of $120 million for transit was identified. Since municipalities are not allowed to run deficits, the following options were presented, all ranges dependent on what support the city gets:

• Funding between $0 and $120 million from the federal and/or provincial governments

• A transit levy increase of between 2.9 and 37 per cent.

• A fare increase of between 2.5 and 75 per cent.

• Other levers including deferring capital projects, looking at the discounted fare programmes, and other considerations like service reductions.

Based on what the Mayor has shared, a worse-case scenario involving the maximum transit levy increase will result in the equivalent of a 9.9 per cent property tax increase, when combined with the general rate.

For reference, the 2024 transit levy for properties in Barrhaven is 0.21 per cent of the assessed value.

You may recall the Mayor’s Fairness for Ottawa campaign, which he launched in August, stated claims of general underfunding by the province when it comes to transit.

His claims were recently backed up by a report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario↗, which reported transit subsidies in the Greater Toronto Area equalled almost $200 per resident, while the same subsidy was $31.91 per resident in Ottawa. (London, Ontario, has it the worst at $15.33 per resident.)

Additionally, the province is wholly funding major transit projects in the GTA, including cost overruns and legal claims, though that is a product of timing and changes in government and policy.

Despite my support for the overall goal of the Mayor’s campaign, I believe we can still do better. My full thoughts on the Mayor’s campaign were shared in the August 13, 2024 newsletter.

In brief, the formula funding transit through the transit levy and fares plus top-ups from other levels of government has been reliable for the last 100 years or so, but no longer works in our current reality.

But because we’ve leaned so heavily on a formula that’s worked for so long, there’s a general lack of creativity in guiding ourselves out of out predicament. Asking for funding from other levels of government really is more of the same.

There are options that leverage the city’s transit land and capital assets to bring OC Transpo towards financial sustainability. Done well, a long-term goal of financial self-sustainability and a sunsetting of most/all the transit levies may even be possible!

A change like that requires a seismic shift in mentality, structure, and administration, which I’m working towards. Interestingly, the model is already used in Ottawa, but not for transit, so it’s not another exercise in comparing us to a European or Asian city (though it’s used there as well).

Our situation has given what I’m working on more purpose, and I’m excited to share it with you soon—just working on some final research to properly mature the idea.

For now, staff will be working within the parameters set by Council to develop a draft budget, to be tabled November 13, 2024. Following that, each Committee will discuss and vote on its specific budget areas before a final Council decision on December 11, 2024.

Like last year, Councillors Brown, Desroches, Hill, and I will be hosting a joint public virtual budget consultation on November 19, 2024. Registration links will be available in a future release of the newsletter and via our Facebook page↗.

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Thanks, as always for reading. Consider sharing the newsletter with your neighbours!

Now, let’s see how long this laryngitis sticks around…

-Wilson