“The key benefit of this plan is that we are showing the backlog today,” Rogers said. “In the past we didn’t do that. We are showing a path to resolve that backlog in the next 10 years.” While the financial plan was applauded for its “honesty” in laying out the reality of the funding gap, “the devil’s in the details” for some mayoral and council candidates, who expressed concern over the many uncertainties associated with current economic complexities. Among the councillors who voted against the
plan was 2026 mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper. For Capital Coun. Shawn Menard, the long-range report represented an opportunity for the city to start reflecting on the decisions that led it to this point. “This is real and it has major impacts today and into the future,” Menard said at council. The funding gap has grown for a variety of reasons, the report said, including rising construction costs since June 2017, when the last long-range financial plan was approved. “Policies, master plans and motions approved by
council since 2017 that require replacing existing assets with enhanced versions that meet modern standards for climate-change accessibility and service delivery are now adding a premium cost in addition to the infrastructure needs identified in 2017,” the report read.
Ottawa, city council, long-range financial plan, funding gap, backlog, Jeff Leiper, Shawn Menard, construction costs, climate-change accessibility
10 years? Cool cool…
So they’re “showing the backlog” now, but what about actually fixing it? Sounds like the gap just keeps growing and everyone’s arguing semantics. Honest or not, we still pay either way.
I saw “climate-change accessibility” and immediately thought they’re just making everything more expensive for no reason. Like, why does accessibility = construction costs going up since 2017? Seems like they’re blaming the weather and calling it a plan.
Jeff Leiper voted against it? That doesn’t shock me. Half the time these long-range plans are just politicians covering their butts, and then the details get ignored when the budget comes due. “Devil’s in the details” is the same line they use before everything turns into a million meetings. Also rising construction costs since 2017… okay but what about waste and delays? Nobody’s talking about that part.