The Ontario government is spending more than $5 million in Simcoe County next year on infrastructure improvements — $500,000 is earmarked for Oro-Medonte, $1 million for Springwater and the remainder, almost $3.8 million, for the county.
According to a news release from Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey, the money ($5,310,128) will be delivered in 2025 through the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) and is part of the government’s $190-billion capital plan to build and expand more homes, highways, hospitals, transit and high-speed internet across the province.
Oro-Medonte and Springwater will use their funds – $533,147 and $1,003,086 respectively – for road construction.
“This funding is vital to ensuring our small and rural communities are able to invest in infrastructure to address the growing population needs of our region,” said Downey.
“Partnering with local municipalities on infrastructure projects ensures that funding goes towards addressing the unique needs of each community in a way that makes sense," he added.
In 2025, Ontario will allocate $400 million in OCIF funding to help 423 small, rural and northern communities build roads, bridges, water and wastewater infrastructure. Communities may accumulate funding for up to five years to address larger infrastructure projects.
The OCIF provides funding for local infrastructure projects in municipalities with populations under 100,000, rural and northern municipalities, as well as for local services boards that own water or wastewater systems. Funding allocations are based on a formula that accounts for the different needs and economic conditions of each community.
