Scant support for BWG mayor’s big-ticket items

By Meade Helman AWARE News Network November 2 2012

Last week, Bradford West Gwillimbury council had  a workshop to set the “strategic priorities” for the upcoming budget sessions. Interestingly, two of Mayor Doug White’s pet projects, the $54 mil 5th line interchange and the $250 mil infrastructure upgrade for Bond Head received very little support from council, except from Councillor Hordyk and Councillor Crake.

Transit, which the Mayor and Councillor Crake and Councillor Hordyk have been opposing, received high marks from the rest of council. The full report on this session isn’t yet available, more when the report of the session is available.

Budget sessions followed the same pattern. Transit approved, despite opposition from Mayor Doug White, Councillor Crake, and Councillor Hordyk.

 The 5th Line interchange and the Bond Head infrastructure are stalled due to a lack of funding. The developers involved don’t want to fund the infrastructure in advance. NOTE even if the developers provide funding, they will only fund 80-90%, so out of the $300 mil + the town would still be responsible for $30-60 mil on an annual budget of $16mil  EDITORIAL COMMENT: Isn’t it interesting that the developers think funding the infrastructure isn’t profitable enough for them, yet they want the town to take on the expense and the risk.