Hamilton rejects raising taxes to pay for more road repairs

Would you pay higher taxes this year if it meant some more roads got fixed? Hamilton city councillors debated this for hours Monday and concluded that you would not.

City council's general issues committee nearly doubled the tax increase for its capital budget. That would have taken it from a 0.52 per cent increase, or $18 per year on the average household,to a 1.2 per cent increase, or $35 a year.

That extra $17 would have gone specifically to roads, which the city says it isbillions of dollars behind on fixing.

But in the end, people's ability to pay won the day. Hamilton households will only pay $18 more this year.

Paired with the upcoming operating budget, the $17 boost meant taxpayers would see a more than four per cent increase well over the rate of inflation, said Lloyd Ferguson, Ancaster councillor. The amount of work the extra $4.4 million would buy isn't worth it, he said.The city already lays more costs on households.

"Every day it's a new chunk of money on each home," Ferguson said of the costs households are shouldering.

"We're spending 45 per cent of our capital budget on roads right now. How is that not taking care of our roads?"

If the city foundmatching grants, the $4.4 million would pay for a couple of road reconstructions and three resurfacings. Arlene VanderBeek, Ward 13 councillor for Dundas/Flamborough, said the city's roads situation is dire.

"Hatt Street in Dundas, at the west end, is crumbling," she said. "There's grass growing through it."

The $18 is on a property worth $323,600. Councillors voted 9-6 not to add the $17.Councillors approved the 2019capital budget overall, which they'll ratify Wednesday. It includes $226 million in capital investments.

Staff answers revealed the city hasn't been spending enough to keep up with its road repair deficit in general.

The capital budget has been increasing about 0.5 per cent every year. Each time, little to none of that goes to roads, said Brian McMullen, the city's acting general manager of finance and corporate services.

Critics of Hamilton's urban sprawl say growing outward has caused the problem, creating new roads when the city can't afford to maintain the old ones.

"We have only ourselves to blame for that," said Maureen Wilson, Ward 1 councillor.

McMullen said over the next five years, the city has allocated $88 million to build roads for new development. Development charges, which are fees paid by developers, will pay for all but 13 per cent of that. The city's share will be $11.4 million.