Gregor Robertson wants premier and PM to pay more for funding new transit projects

Splitting the cheque can make for some awkward moments, especially if one person at the table feels they make much less money than the others.

That's certainly the view that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is taking these days when it comes to sharing the costs for building transit.

Right now the city, the province and the federal government split the costs on the projects equally three ways.

But while the spending may be equal, Robertson says that does not make it fair, given that municipalities only bring in a fraction of the tax dollars other forms of government do.

And while he hasn't had much luck shaking down Premier Christy Clark for a bigger contribution, he's banking on new allies in Ottawa being more open to a new deal.

Robertson has formally asked the federal government will step up to the plate with even more transit money.

His proposal is that cities across the country pay 10 per cent of the cost of any project with the federal and provincial governments splitting the remaining 90 percent.

"If we can have a formula that recognizes each level of government and the amount of tax they collect then we could have real success in getting transit projects delivered because everyone can show up with the financing required based on the resources collected from taxpayers," said Robertson.

Three cheques, one taxpayer

It's a big ask.

The B.C. government has consistently been reluctant to consider throwing in more than the one third they are required to cover now.

If they were willing to budge it could take the pressure off the city.

But that could mean the province would need to find a new source of revenue, including potentially more referendums at a provincial level for new taxes or introducing tolling across the region.

"I don't think referendums have proven to be a good approach for infrastructure, for absolutely essential investments we have to make," said Robertson.

"I'm hopeful from hearing from both the federal and provincial government there is an openness to talk about this. So far there are positive signs about having a positive conversation."

Premier Christy Clark is on her way to Ottawa this week to have her own meetings and to sit down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time since he was elected.

Clark has already put up a roadblock to committing any more money from her provincial coffers.

"It's fantastic the federal government wants to spend money on infrastructure in British Columbia and we are there with our one third," said Clark "It is all one taxpayer that is paying to support those projects."

Unfair expectations?

For former Vancouver city planner Brent Toderian, there needs to be a change made to who pays what, and it needs to happen soon.

"The transit funding game is fixed against cities, who collect only eight cents of every tax dollar and yet are arbitrarily and unfairly expected to contribute a third of the cost of big infrastructure," said Toderian.

"Where does this one third expectation come from? Certainly not from any logic relative to taxes, funding sources and budgets. It's imposed by upper levels of government based on some false suggestion of fair share."

Toderian argues that passing the burden down to municipalities to pay a hefty share has paralyzed the system.

Paying for delays

Perhaps the biggest downside of that paralysis is the impact on the price tags of the projects. Delays mean the costs of building infrastructure like transit will only get more expensive.

For instance, the goal was to have the Surrey LRT built by 2018, and the expectation was that the Broadway subway line in Vancouver would be completed within the same time period, not to mention projects other jurisdictions are asking for.

But right now those projects are on hold until a solution to the funding conundrum is found.

And unless a new funding model can be sorted out quickly to take advantage of the federal government's fresh commitment to spending unprecedented infrastructure money, it is ultimately going to be the taxpayer will end up picking up an even bigger tab when they are eventually built.