Khanjin sheds light on regional review and cash influx

Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin says the announcement of cash for rural municipalities this week from the provincial government is a show of trust.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark made the funding announcement for rural and small Ontario communities in Innisfil on Tuesday. The provincial government plans to distribute $200 million in one-time funding to 405 of the province’s 444 municipalities.

In an interview with BarrieToday on Thursday, Khanjin says the money is supposed to help small municipalities in their quest to make services more efficient for the taxpayer.

“Because we’re doing this regional review with modernization, this is going to help those municipalities with the regional review,” she said.

Khanjin said that need was determined based on a variety of factors, including population, population density and capacity in terms of town and township staffing numbers.

“We don’t want to tell municipalities what to do, but we recognize that they may need some extra help so we’re providing some extra help.”

According to Khanjin, the one-time funding is intended to help offset the additional staffing and capacity of work that will go along with undertaking the regional review.

“Smaller municipalities like Tiny (Township), or like Innisfil, are going to have limited capacity to plan and manage their resources when it comes to this modernization agenda,” she said. “We didn’t want to handcuff some municipalities that might have some great ideas, but they might need more resources in order to flesh those things out.”

Khanjin said the funding idea came from comments heard by Minister Clark when he attended to speak to municipalities with advisors back in February.

“The minister listened. He understood that not all municipalities are the same. They’re all going to have different suggestions,” she said.

Khanjin points to an example suggested from another municipality also undertaking the regional review process.

“They said that in order to modernize their technology, it would have cost a lot of money upfront. They can now use this money to modernize their IT which will result in cost savings over time. In order to get those cost savings (down the road), they needed to invest in the new technology,” she said.

“Those municipalities can now invest in those efficiencies. They just have to be transparent about where those funds are going. In an ideal world, I imagine local councils will have a meeting with other local counterparts to say, ‘OK, what’s the best investment for this?’” said Khanjin.

When asked by BarrieToday if, since the money is being given straight to the municipalities, that means that the municipalities will be given the control to decide where they want to find efficiencies, Khanjin says that’s absolutely accurate.

“This funding we’ve given to municipalities and to Simcoe County is unconditional. The reason the money was provided straight to the municipalities is because they’re going to have to find smarter ways to deliver services,” she said. “We’re putting the decision-making powers back to the municipalities and are giving them the respect that they deserve.”

“That’s the reason the announcement regarding the regional review was made (in the first place). We wanted to make sure those municipalities are making the suggestions, and it’s not a top-down approach from the provincial government dictating what’s best for them,” said Khanjin.

“For the first time in 10 years, we have a minister who picks up the phone and calls (municipalities) to find out what their needs are and what they’re struggling with, and he hears them. This announcement is coming out of that,” she said.

During the County of Simcoe regional review workshop on Tuesday, councillors expressed concern that they didn’t know what the PC government wanted them to do when it came to making decisions on how to find efficiencies and required clarity. According the Khanjin, it’s the other way around.

“We’re really looking for suggestions from the municipalities. I think, because this is a new way of doing things, where the province is going to municipalities and asking them for ideas and suggestions on how to best manage their level of government, it’s different,” she said.

“They live in it day-to-day, they see where those funds are going. They study this every week. We don’t want to presume that we know what’s best for them,” said Khanjin. “I can understand their apprehensiveness, looking over their shoulder to see what the government will tell them what to do. But this is a different approach. Different approaches are always looked at with a little bit of apprehensiveness.”

“This is the trust we’re putting in our municipalities. We trust them,” she said.

Warden George Cornell said that County of Simcoe staff would be bringing the $725,000 announcement and letter from the province forward to their meeting on March 26.

“My thought would be that we’ll give it back to staff to take a look at and request that staff develop some options that reflect the intent of the money and come back to county council for decision,” said Cornell. “I think it helps us move forward. This funding will help us augment that efficiency drive... to help us provide more effective and efficient services to our residents.”

When asked if she’d be willing to come to county council to provide clarity to county councillors, Khanjin said she hadn’t yet received a request.

“I’d be delighted to speak. If I do receive that request from the County of Simcoe, I’d be happy to appear and I’d be happy to speak to my counterpart, (Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP) Doug Downey to attend,” she said.