North Bay is looking to the Ministry of Long-Term Care to adjust its Construction Funding Subsidy to include homes that are already under construction.
A councillor motion says the fund was created to encourage new construction and provide financial stability with recent unexpected increases in construction and financing costs.
Councillor Chris Mayne says Cassellholme is excluded because the redevelopment project had already started when the announcement was made last fall.
“Effectively this is adding about $35 million to the municipalities to pay over the amortization period of the mortgage, which effectively represents healthcare costs that are being downloaded to the municipality,” he says. “The province set their funding rates in 2020 and hasn’t changed them at all since.”
Mayne says they’re urging the province to reconsider the funding criteria or even create a new program.
“It’s not fair that the province downloads these kinds of costs onto municipalities,” he says.
The motion, which was supported by council, says Cassellholme’s borrowing rate at Infrastructure Ontario won’t be fixed until construction is completed and has increased in the past year by approximately 2%.
Mayne says that represents about a $1.5 million annual increase to the municipalities.
