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The City of North Bay is receiving a slightly lower allocation for 2021 from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) than it did in 2020.
The notice from the Ministry of Finance lists North Bay's OMPF allocation as $10,094,200 for 2021, down from $10,207,800 for 2020, a reduction of $113,600. In 2020, the allocation for the City of North Bay rose $888,400 from the $9,319,400 received in 2019.
"We’re very appreciative of this year’s OMPF allocation. Knowing how much we will be receiving from the province under the fund is going to help us make decisions as we start the 2021 budget process," says Mayor Al McDonald. "Although our allocation is slightly less than what we received last year, we have been very fortunate in recent months to receive a significant amount of funding from the province under other programs."
The OMPF is the main general assistance grant to municipalities from the provincial government and Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch says, naturally, the City had hoped any funding change would go in the other direction.
"Even the status quo would have been nice. It's going to be a pressure on the budget," she says of the $113,600 shortfall, "and it's not one we have any control over — it's a grant that has some different components to it."
Vrebosch, who is the municipal budget chief says the City's finance department is going over the assessment that came in late last night in a more detailed analysis.
"They'll take a look at the numbers but it will have a negative impact on our general operating budget," Vrebosch adds.
An examination of the allocation breakdown shows most components remained near static from 2020 to 2021 except for the Northern and Rural Fiscal Circumstances Grant Component. For 2020, it was $2,515,500, and for 2021 is calculated as $2,442,200, a reduction of $73,300. For more details on the components and formulas used to calculate the OMPF, click here.
According to OMPF, the program "primarily supports northern and rural municipalities across the province," and its objectives are to:
- recognize the challenges of northern and rural municipalities, while targeting funding to those with more challenging fiscal circumstances;
- support areas with limited property assessment; and,
- assist municipalities that are adjusting to year-over-year funding changes.
Ontario reports it is maintaining the overall structure of the OMPF and funding at the same level in 2021 as in 2020. A total of $500 million will be allocated to 389 municipalities across the province.
