Municipalities in Ontario have been agitating for new revenues particularly given the sluggish growth in provincial government grants. Well, apparently at least one municipal councilor in Thunder
Bay also believes that cities need more revenue tools. This is in spite of the evidence that Ontario municipalities
have seen their revenues grow quite robustly over time. According to the Financial InformationReturns maintained by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, between 2000
and 2015, total municipal revenues in Ontario more than doubled growing from
$22.7 billion to $47.8 billion. While
the growth rate has slowed somewhat since the 2009 recession, it remains that
since 2000 these revenues have grown at an annual average rate of 5.2 percent. This is much faster than either
Ontario’s population or GDP growth.
