WHEREAS the City of Ottawa does not charge for several Development Charge (DC) eligible service categories that the municipality is permitted to charge for under the Development Charges Act, 1997; and,
WHEREAS these service categories include important services in our city, such as public health, childcare, long term care, waste diversion services, emergency preparedness, and municipally administered court services; and,
WHEREAS from our new municipal administrative penalty system, to new childcare legislation, to a global pandemic, to a crisis in long term care, to unprecedented weather events, these categories represent services that have all been recently and significantly impacted by changing environmental factors and legislative context; and,
WHEREAS this changing context warrants consideration of levels of service and how we fund these services; and,
WHEREAS the city is currently undergoing master plan renewal and a comprehensive development charge bylaw update; and,
WHEREAS the city and this council have expressed that our municipality is facing significant financial shortfalls, and has requested that higher orders of government provide financial relief; and,
WHEREAS reviewing what revenue streams we are not currently collecting but could be under existing provincial legislation is warranted in this context; and,
WHEREAS capital costs that are not funded through development charges are instead funded by taxpayers;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff, as part of the comprehensive DC bylaw update scheduled for next year, review the feasibility of implementing additional DC eligible service categories that are currently not charged for, including:
- services related to public health; and,
- child care and early years programs and services under part VI of the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and any related services; and,
- services related to proceedings under the Provincial Offences Act, including by-law enforcement services and municipally administered court services; and,
- services related to emergency preparedness; and
- services related to long-term care; and,
- waste diversion services.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT this review also include:
- a consideration of the potential for reduced financial pressure on taxpayers of implementing additional DC eligible service categories; and,
- a consideration of the potential advantages of establishing a level of service analysis where none currently exist; and,
- a recommendation on whether or not council should implement additional DC service categories.