City of Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa is pleased with the federal government’s announcement that it is expanding eligible categories for the gas tax fund.
The gas tax fund is a permanent federal transfer that provides predictable, long-term funding for municipalities to build and revitalize public infrastructure.
The government announced on November 14 that it was making available the second installment of its annual $2-billion federal gas tax fund allocation for municipal infrastructure. As well, the fund will be indexed at two per cent a year in $100-million increments, starting in 2014 and the government increased the flexibility of the gas tax fund to enable communities to use it to meet their unique infrastructure needs.
The expanded categories include: projects supporting culture, tourism, sport and recreation; disaster mitigation; broadband communication systems; highways; short-line rail; short-sea shipping; brownfield redevelopment; and local and regional airports.
“It hits us on just about every cylinder,” Formosa said. “I’m sure these monies will get put to use and will go a long way with our asset management plan.”
Awareness has grown about the mounting issues municipalities across Canada are faced with because of aging infrastructure, Formosa also said. “I think that that, along with disasters, triggered these folks to look at actually relieving pressure from themselves by allowing us access to those funds for things like roads, recreation facilities and other mainstream needs,” he said. “It’s a much welcome confirmation of an indication that we received at FCM [Federation of Canadian Municipalities] that it may be coming.”
In British Columbia, gas tax funding is delivered through a number of programs, including the community works fund, a direct annual allocation to support local priorities.
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