Mayor's 'Fairness for Ottawa' campaign gets council support

Ottawa city council has unanimously endorsed acampaign by the mayor aimed at gettingmoreprovincial and federal help to cope with financial pressures, especiallythe cost of running OC Transpo.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffehas been championing his "Fairness for Ottawa" campaign since holding a news conference on Aug. 8. He received the formal backing of his council colleagues on Wednesday, whenthey reconvened after a summer break.

Ottawa's top city staff gave council a fulsome briefing on the two issues that have been the mayor's focus: the challenge of running an underused transit system and the municipal share provided for its construction as well asthe lower- than-expected payments in lieu of taxes (known as PILTs) received from federal properties.

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Top financial staff again laid out how the City of Ottawa's 2019 projections for transit ridership and revenue are significantly below target, primarily because they were based on pre-pandemic assumptionthat public servants would commutedowntown five days a week.

Rather than having 112million ridesin 2023 as projected, OC Transpocountedjust 64million rides. In other words, it had 57per cent of the ridership the city had been dependingonwhen it decidedStage 2 of LRTwouldbeaffordable to build.

Staff also drilled into how federal buildings are paying less to the City of Ottawa than before, arguing those federal owners are usinga COVID-era tax break intendedfor struggling businesses.

Details on 2025 budget imminent

The accounting of Ottawa's fraught financial situation, and the mayor's campaign, come as the city's finance committee is preparing to discuss directions for its 2025 budget at a meeting on Sept. 16.

Transit is among the City of Ottawa's biggest expenses, and is currently responsible for the biggesthole.

Chief financial officer Cyril Rogers estimatedthe transit shortfall for 2025 to be $120 million. Without extra funding, that would require an extrasevenper cent tax increase to avoid a deficit.

"That's a huge, huge gap," remarked Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley.

She asked if the city might contemplate further route cuts, less frequent bus service, or alter itsdiscounted transit passes for seniors and youth.

"Everything is on the table," acknowledged transit general managerRene Amilcar, whoprovided few details.

Nor would Sutcliffe, who takes part in a smaller working group related to transit finances, give a sense of the tough choices he would be willing to make on the transit file.

Hedidrecommitto his election promise of maintaining tax increases in the range of 2.5 per cent, pointing to how residents face highercostof living. The city must first try to get increasedfunding and ensure it has the same financial arrangements on transit projects as other cities, he said.

"I'm not going to raise taxes before we do everything we can to protect the interests of local taxpayers," Sutcliffe said.

Municipal message

All members of council backed the mayor's push for support from upper levels government, but some noted the debate should be a broader one.

They pointed tocriticisms they've heard from their residents,and from Kanata-Carleton MP and former Ottawa city councillor Jenna Sudds,about how the cityshould first consider its own spending and tax rates.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menardsuggested the message should be one of advocacy that avoidsplacing blame on upper levels of government.

"There's lots of blame to place around this table, too," said Menard.Cost pressures such as the Lansdowne Parkredevelopment and the expansion of suburbs should be part ofa largerdiscussion of city finances, he said.

Riverside South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desrochescautioned that municipalities should be united in their message and not blame themselves.

Across Ontario and Canada, municipalities have been seeking more ways to bring in revenue that go beyond relying on property tax to be able to pay for the infrastructure and services they provide.

"A big part of our work is to bring the transparency and expose where there is unfairness," Desroches said.