Will Municipal Governments have to Bear the Financial Burden of Climate Change?
The role of municipal governments can be briefly described as service provision. Municipalities provide both legislative and discretionary services, which includes public transportation, affordable housing, long-term care homes, roads, bridges, structural culverts, water and sewer facilities, and parks.
A September 2022 report from the Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario (FAO) highlighted that of the $330 billion transportation infrastructure managed by governments in Ontario, Ontario’s municipalities own $269 billion, or 82% of it. As Ontario begins to see the effects of climate change through bigger snowstorms and rain events, municipalities will have to find a way to maintain and continue to build transportation infrastructure.
The FAO report noted that in a high emissions scenario, transportation infrastructure-related costs may rise between $110 billion to $229 billion by 2100, which is 11–23% higher than in a stable climate scenario. Given that Ontario’s municipalities own the vast majority of infrastructure in the province, municipal budgets will be challenged to pay the price of climate change. In addition, unlike the budgets of their federal and provincial counterparts, municipalities are not allowed to run a deficit. This poses serious questions to how municipalities will afford to keep their infrastructure in good repair, and provide services at a level that tax payers expect. Will municipalities raise property taxes? Reduce the amount of discretionary services they provide? Lower the quality of other services provided?
Many Canadian and American cities are already experiencing the detrimental effects of a changing climate, with Hurricane Fiona creating destruction in the Maritimes, and Hurricane Ian flooding the streets of Fort Myers and Naples. While Ontario will never experience a hurricane, the FOA reports that Ontario will experience more extreme rainfall and heat events. These extreme weather events are happening at an interesting time in Ontario politics, with the municipal election just under a month away.
A number of Ontario municipalities have declared a climate emergency, including some in the Greater Toronto Area like Burlington, Halton Hills, Vaughan, and Mississauga, but do their municipal candidates actually care about the environment? The Mayor of Burlington, Marianne Meed Ward, who is seeking re-election has listed implementing affordable housing, climate change, and transit/mobility plans as one of her topic 5 priorities. However, anything climate- or environment-related was missing from the Mayor of Mississauga, Bonnie Crombie’s, website.
Municipal election candidates need to consider the implications of climate change, and create plans to demonstrate a united response to the crisis, or else they (and we) will pay the price.
