Heather Wright/The Independent

Municipal politicians in Lambton are skeptical rural municipalities will see any of the $8.8 billion in cash the federal and provincial governments are pledging to spend on infrastructure for housing.
And not all believe they should start cutting development charges to make sure they will qualify for it.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement March 30, saying cities who reduce development charges will be eligible for cash for infrastructure projects such as roads and water service.

In municipalities like Toronto, development charges can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a home. It’s 13.7 per cent of the cost of a home in the GTA according to calculations by The Toronto Star.

But in Petrolia, where Deputy Mayor Joel Field pushed to instate development charges, the fees are much less. Still, Field said he’d be willing to consider reducing development charges if there was cash from the upper tier governments to take its place. So far, he’s not sure that would happen.

Field was at the Good Roads Conference when the announcement was made. “Everybody seems to be excited about it, but nobody can really tell me anything concrete yet.”

Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Gary Atkinson is skeptical about whether money will flow to Lambton. And he wouldn’t want existing taxpayers to pay more to fund development. “Maybe this in needed in the GTA but not in rural Ontario,” he said in an email.

Lambton Warden Kevin Marriott agrees the infrastructure cash seems to be tailored for large urban areas. He notes Sarnia may be the only Lambton municipality which would be able to take advantage of the funding.

But he wonders, at what cost. “Of course the devil would be in the details,” says Marriott.