Kirwan Supports The Use of Municipal Bonds
to Fund Infrastructure Deficit
  

Date:                     September 30, 2014

To:                        Media

From:                    Robert Kirwan
                             Candidate for Councillor of Ward 5

Re:                        Kirwan Supports Use of Municipal Bonds to Fund Infrastructure Deficit

_________________________________________________________________

I want to announce that I am totally in favour of the use of a combination of municipal bond issues and long-term borrowing to tackle our backlog of infrastructure and road construction projects. The first thing we need to do is re-examine the projects that we have on the table to identify the ones that are absolutely necessary in order to stimulate growth in all sectors of the community. We cannot wait any longer for the provincial and/or federal governments to bail us out with matching grants. Our infrastructure deficit is holding back our growth in all areas and we must deal with it now before we get so far behind we will never recover.

Over the next four years we should be able to clear up the backlog. While that is happening we can implement a number of other strategies simultaneously that will stimulate growth in our housing and commercial sectors, which in turn will create jobs and attract more residents as well as more businesses to the area.

In addition to direct borrowing and the issuing of municipal bonds, I would also recommend the implementation of the following three-step strategy:

  1. The immediate elimination of the development charges in place for new residential, apartment and commercial buildings.
     
  2. The immediate elimination of off-site charges to developers, allowing developers to use their resources to prepare the infrastructure on their own land for their development instead of being forced to come up with exorbitant fees charged by the municipality.
     
  3. Selling industrial park land to businesses with the option of paying for the purchase of the land over a 20 year interest free term.

The above three measures along with clearing up our infrastructure backlog will be the economic stimulus that this city needs in order to get back to building 500 new single detached houses per year, encourage apartment construction, and attract new industries which will create jobs in the city.

We can wait no longer. This is a plan that will work and will allow us to reap the benefits of increased growth and increased municipal revenue so that we can then take of some of the other major projects that we have been looking at for some time, including an Arts & Culture Centre, a multi-use sports complex, and several other public private initiatives that have been suggested over the years.

At the same time we will be using the four years to gradually eliminate non-essential positions at Tom Davies Square in an effort to set in place long-term efficiencies that will allow us to get more value for our tax dollars.

For more information visit Robert Kirwan’s web site at www.robertkirwan.ca

ANALOGY
The City of Greater Sudbury has avoided getting a "mortgage" to renovate our home, preferring to do patch work with the money that is left over from our annual "revenue". The problem is that we don't have enough left over from our annual revenue to keep up with the repairs that are needed. So each year we end up with more to repair than the year before and we have to use more of our annual "revenue" to try to keep up, but it is futile. At some point the time is reached when you can take out a mortgage to do all of the repairs and then use the money from your annual revenue to make the payments over time. It costs you the same but at least you are living in a renovated house while you are making the repairs and not chasing your tail trying to keep up with the repairs. In the meantime, if your revenue increases because you don't have to spend all of your time doing repairs, but instead can go out and increase your revenue, it means that the mortgage payments take up less of a percentage of your annual revenue. I think the time has come for our "family" in Greater Sudbury to consider taking out a mortgage.

PUBLISHED IN THE SUDBURY STAR ON OCTOBER 2, 2014
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2014/10/02/borrow-to-fix-sudburys-roads-kirwan-says


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