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Monday,
May 1, 2002
EXRESSWAY HITS NEW ROADBLOCK
Rick
Hughes, Municipal Affairs Reporter
The Hamilton Spectator
Three
suburban councillors say building the Red Hill Creek Expressway
will bankrupt the city and are calling for a immediate referendum
on the project. Councillors Margaret McCarthy (Ward 15),
Dave Braden (Ward 15) and Russ Powers (Ward 13) yesterday
issued a joint statement saying the city's dire budget picture
makes it necessary for council to reconsider the costly
highway.
"This singular project is taking us on the slippery
slope toward bankruptcy," Powers said. "If it
goes through, the only thing we will be able to maintain
as a city is the most basic of public services. Financially
we won't be able to move forward with new initiatives for
a long, long time."
Expressway
supporters, however, argue the roadway is an investment
that over the long term will improve the city's economic
status.
But
the suburban councillors rely on figures provided in the
city's budget documents to support their position.The budget
report notes that the city still has to issue $79 million
in debt for the road, which will add between $30 and $70
to the average tax bill for each of the next 10 years.
The
proposed total tax increase this year (for an average assessment)
is $115, or about 4.3 per cent.Over the time the expressway
will be financed, the city's debt will double, which "is
cause for concern for our credit rating agencies."
But
beyond the numbers, the councillors — supported by
staff — say that building the $200 million road will
significantly curtail the city's ability to address a host
of other needs. Foremost among them is overdue investments
in roads and sewer infrastructure.
The
budget document notes: "Unless substantial changes
in funding variables occur, the city will not only fall
further behind in infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation
and replacement, but also the approval of new capital projects
will become financially prohibitive."
Braden
argues the referendum is needed because the community has
to make a fundamental choice, beginning with this budget.
"This (the budget report) tells me in very direct terms
that we can have either the Red Hill Creek Expressway or
everything else. It's one thing or everything else."
The
"everything else" includes things such as a quad
pad arena and a badly needed overhaul of Wentworth Lodge,
both of which are considered unaffordable.
McCarthy
sees the choice the same way. "We won't have the ability
to maintain the infrastructure costs, much less anything
else if we go ahead with this roadway. It's sucking the
city dry to fund the expressway."
The
group offered no details on how a referendum might work.
The
councillors' move is an attempt to reopen debate on the
expressway project at a time when the city is closer than
it has been to building it in more than a decade.
The
referendum call does not represent a significant shift in
support for the expressway at council. The three suburban
councillors and Ward 2's Andrea Horwath are council's only
consistent opponents of the project.
Expressway
supporters were not impressed with the idea.
"I
think the time for debate on this project has passed quite
some time ago," said Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins.
"The
issue of the referendum calls into question the need for
the project and the support that is out there. I think we've
demonstrated that both are there."
Collins
said the use of the budget figures amounted to a scare tactic.
Ward
8 Councillor Frank D'Amico called it political grandstanding.
Councillors
yesterday moved into actual deliberations on their budget,
deciding what services and programs can survive, which should
be cut and which enhanced.
Councillors
are faced with a grim budget picture and are struggling
to reduce a proposed 5.5 per cent tax increase, while hoping
to preserve core city services.
Ward
4 Councillor Sam Merulla and Ward 6 Councillor Tom Jackson
both argued that rather than being a way into deeper financial
troubles, the expressway is a way out of financial distress.
"To
suggest that we cannot afford to build it is somewhat ludicrous,"
Merulla said.
"This
community cannot afford not to build it, with respect to
the future of the community," Jackson said.
"We
need assessment growth as well, we need good transportation
corridors, we need to get the heavy truck traffic off the
local roads."
Ironically,
it was pro-expressway people who were pushing for a referendum
several years ago as a way of proving once and for all that
the expressway had majority support.
City
staff say they can begin to build through the valley sometime
next year.
While
opponents of the road argue for the preservation of the
valley because of its value as a natural area, they have
also been pushing the affordability issue for years.
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