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Mayor says development grants lead to financial strain

August 28, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Mono attempts to avail of any grant money possible.

Anthony Hosein, a town resident, said other Dufferin County municipalities are securing grants for infrastructure and road improvements. He asked council during its Aug. 26 meeting if Mono has a goal towards grant money for projects that the 2025 capital budget didn’t permit.

Mayor John Creelman said some of the grants being awarded to surrounding towns are for housing initiatives.

“Big housing developments,” he said.

The funds aren’t available for such projects as paving existing roads.

“They have to do with growth,” Creelman said, and added that Hosein raised an interesting question for the municipality.

“Do we embrace that or are we skeptical about it from the standpoint of whether or not that growth ultimately pays for itself?” Creelman said. “My position is it does not pay for itself.”

Such grants are “a sugar rush,” and those communities that avail of them will likely find themselves in financial trouble in the year to come.

“What they are accepting by way of development is not paying for itself either through development charges or these one-time grants,” the mayor said.

“It’s a much broader, accusatory question from a person (Hosein) who seems to watch what we’re talking about here every couple of weeks,” Councillor Melinda Davie said, and added that the meeting included an agenda item about that very topic.

Davie said she was offended on behalf of the town staff who work hard to find additional funding sources for the municipality.

“If you watch the meetings, you’ll find that it’s true,” Davie said.

“Our staff and the town goes after every single grant dollar we can possibly access,” Creelman said. “We leave no stone unturned, as Melinda has said.”

Audited statements presented to council earlier in the meeting showed the “precipitous decline” in available provincial grant money.

“Not us not asking for it,” Davie said.

“We do our best,” Creelman said. “We sometimes are successful and other times are not. The days of the province being a partner with us in terms of bridges and roads seems to have long passed, unfortunately.”

Coun. Elaine Capes said some surrounding communities have experienced huge growth and, likewise, have huge debt, with infrastructure challenges.

“So development does not pay,” Capes said.

A drop in grant revenue from $1 million to about $400,000 exacts an impact on the capital purse.

“I think we need to all put some pressure on the people (provincial and federal governments) who are not playing nice,” Capes said.

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