Collingwood is the only town of the County of Simcoe’s 16 member municipalities to not receive funding through the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, and the town’s CAO is wondering why.
In 2024, the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) doled out $500 million to 390 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities. The fund is the province’s main general assistance grant to municipalities, and is primarily intended to support northern and rural municipalities who have challenges.
In an email to CollingwoodToday, Collingwood CAO Sonya Skinner said she thinks there are great reasons for the province to have such a fund.
“That said, in Collingwood, staff are unclear why we are so different from the municipalities near us who are recipients,” said Skinner.
Of the County of Simcoe’s 16 member municipalities (which exclude Barrie and Orillia), all municipalities except Collingwood received funding this year, in the amounts below.
- Adjala-Tosorontio - $565,600
- Bradford West Gwillimbury - $4,000
- Clearview - $962,900
- Essa - $800,400
- Innisfil - $77,000
- Midland - $599,000
- New Tecumseth - $19,800
- Oro-Medonte - $1,377,000
- Penetanguishene - $294,600
- Ramara - $1,129,000
- Severn - $1,142,800
- Springwater - $841,000
- Tay - $1,593,600
- Tiny - $1,802,300
- Wasaga Beach - $943,100
Just outside of Simcoe County’s borders, the Town of the Blue Mountains received $1,350,300 and Grey Highlands received $1,023,200.
Bigger, centrally-located cities also received money this year through the fund, with Owen Sound getting $2,070,900 and Sarnia getting $3,567,200.
“A funding amount similar to that received by Wasaga Beach or the Town of the Blue Mountains could be super impactful and beneficial for Collingwood residents and businesses,” said Skinner.
In Collingwood, a one per cent increase in Collingwood taxes nets in the range of $370,000.
“This funding is the ongoing equivalent of a three- or four-per-cent increase in taxes,” said Skinner.
When contacted this week by email, Scott Blodgett, senior media advisor with the provincial ministry of finance, said that the OMPF distribution is based on a formula that is applied consistently across all municipalities and is based on data from independent sources, including the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and Statistics Canada.
“The Town of Collingwood is an urban municipality with relatively positive fiscal indicators, and as such is not and has never been eligible for OMPF funding,” wrote Blodgett in an email.
This isn’t the first time Collingwood has found itself straddling the lines between being a rural and an urban municipality, depending on how the powers that be define either on any given funding opportunity.
For example, a year ago when the province announced the $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund which assigned housing targets to municipalities expected to hit populations of 50,000 by 2031, and assigned Strong Mayor Powers to go along with them, Collingwood was also left off that list.
As of now, Collingwood does not have a provincially mandated housing target.
“It is important to note that Collingwood is eligible for other provincial support through programs such as the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) and Provincial Gas Tax Fund, as well as the recently announced Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF),” said Blodgett.
Simcoe-Grey MPP Brian Saunderson did not return a call for comment by publication time.
