Several years past, a movement to go to a single tier government in the Regional Municipality of Sudbury resulted in the creation of the City of Greater Sudbury, a beamouth among Northern municipalities.
Western Island municipalities that have been courted to amalgamate with the Municipality of Gore Bay might well have been taking a lesson from the outlying communities that were incorporated into the boundaries of the “new” Sudbury.
Single tier government was long touted by its proponents as an opportunity to remove duplication in municipal services and find economies of scale in their delivery. Those proponents urging single tier governance were not great students of political organization and the way regional government worked.
Now-retired Laurentian University Political Science professor Rand Dyck wrote the book on that subject, boiling it down to a simple concept of “big pipes—little pipes.” Regional government, he posited, looked after the “big pipes” while local governments handled the “little pipes.” There was, in fact, very little duplication and not much in the way of savings to be had through economies. Too bad not enough people in the Region of Sudbury read his book instead of relying on ideology.
In plain point of fact, the end result for the smaller outlying largely rural communities over the intervening years following the implementation of single-tier government has been a combination of higher taxation and a dwindling pouch of services—a sort of municipal stagflation if you like. There are few in those communities who are not suffering buyer’s remorse as the promised savings from single-tier government never fully materialized.
In order for smaller communities to be willingly enticed into joining with a larger neighbour to create a larger entity there has to be some benefits accrued.
The truth of the matter is that there are few groups with tighter grip on the public purse that small town, rural politicians. Sometimes, it could be argued, that grip is too tight—pennywise and pound foolish as the old adage goes, but overall, few pennies get spent in small municipalities without some resistance coming at the council table. Proving pocketbook efficiencies through amalgamation is a hard sell.
That being said, it is reasonable for the Town of Gore Bay to seek amalgamationwith its neighbours (at least in their ratepayers and council members’ minds) given the residents of those communities are able to take advantage of the services and opportunities presented by the larger entity—in Gore Bay’s case, maintain the local arena quickly springs to mind.
It is a plain fact of municipal life that arena user fees simply do not cover the costs of maintaining such facilities—usually paying less than half of the associated costs—often one of the main expenses of a municipality and one that is not easily removed from the balance sheet. Woe betide any municipal council that closes their arena—even if they have more than one, witness the ongoing debate in Central Manitoulin over their two facilities in the amalgamated communities of Carnarvon and Mindemoya.
It always seems that the smaller partner is the one who loses—while ending up paying more. The current proposal for a new multi-use complex would likely see substantial increases in costs to ratepayers in both Mindemoya and Providence Bay, but would be located (sensibly to be sure) in the former community.
If Gore Bay is to entice neighbouring communities into meeting them at the altar, they had best be bringing a substantial dowry to the union and it is difficult to see what could be offered beyond the decidedly unpalatable offer a potential for higher taxes and less local control.
In the Harris years of the last Conservative government had expressed interest in annexing Dawson and Robinson unorgnaized townships, but those far west townships rejected the idea.
Still, the current situation for Gore Bay is hardly fair to that community, as the surrounding municipalities’ residents are able to utilize the assets and services of Gore Bay without ponying up a fair share.
The best compromise solution would be for the smaller communities to make contributions to the cost of maintaining those public assets, but there is that aforementioned parsimony of the small-town council members that comes back to haunt. There is strong resistance to meeting the level of support needed due to the added costs for the ratepayers.
Forced amalgamation is hardly a route that anyone really wants to go down, but should the province be convinced that it is the only way to make the Town of Gore Bay sustainable, history has shown that the “bigger is better” crowd still hold considerable sway in at Queen’s Park.
At the end of the day, fair is fair, and smaller municipalities should recognize that one can only keep cake on the table for so long if none of the diners is willing to pay the baker. The residents of Gore Bay deserve to be treated fairly, and everyone needs to come to the table to work together and to help make that happen.
As unpalatable as it may be, closure of arenas and cutting back of services may well become the only viable option, and that will not be in anyone’s interests.
