Social assistance rates, Inclusive Orillia, floodplain mapping, and Orillia Power’s financial thresholds are among the items up for discussion during a relatively light council meeting on Monday.
Scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Orillia Council Chamber, the full council agenda may be found here.
Inclusive Orillia
Inclusive Orillia officials will request $9,900 in start-up funding from the city to assist with forwarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues locally.
The plan is to roll out events, community outreach, DEI roundtables, and support to help Inclusive Orillia become a community and educational resource.
The funding will help pay insurance and legal fees, communications and marketing, website development and hosting, and will make the organization eligible for additional grant opportunities.
Floodplain Mapping
City consultants are requesting an additional $46,000 in funding for an ongoing floodplain mapping study.
In 2023, the city retained WSP Canada to update floodplain mapping of Mill Creek and Ben’s Ditch. The city’s floodplain mapping has not been updated since 1991.
The study also provides opportunity for the city to update its floodproofing policies “to ensure new development will be adequately floodproofed to mitigate potential risks for future flood events,” states a city staff report.
Consultants have requested the additional funding due to “additional effort” required to carry out the study, as well as to carry out an additional study to identify the limits of the floodplain east of Ben’s Ditch.
Among the additional efforts, consultants experienced difficulty addressing extreme storm, climate change scenario technical requirements, as well as updates to the study’s GIS elevation data.
If approved, the budget for the study will climb from $157,000 to $203,000.
Orillia Power
Council will consider a postponed motion from December 2023 that could set financial threshold limits to Orillia Power’s future capital expenditures and acquisitions.
If approved, Orillia Power will be limited to spending a maximum of 25 per cent of the corporation’s net book value, in any given fiscal year, for capital expenditures, acquisitions, or strategic alliances and joint ventures.
The motion also proposes financial thresholds for Orillia Power’s ability to sell assets, also at 25 per cent of the corporation’s net book value, in any given fiscal year.
Previous coverage of this issue may be found here.
Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program
Following a resolution passed in the Town of Goderich, Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford will seek city council support of the town’s call for the provincial government to review its Ontario Works and ODSP financial assistance rates.
The Goderich resolution notes poverty is taking a “devastating toll on communities” and that people on social assistance have been “legislated into poverty,” with Ontario Works rates frozen at $733 per month since 2018.
According to the resolution, ODSP rates fall below their 2018 values when adjusted for inflation, despite a 6.5 per cent increase in 2023, and fall “significantly below the disability-adjusted poverty line ($3,091 per month).”
The resolution calls on the provincial government to “at least double” Ontario Works and ODSP rates and to index them to inflation, and to commit to cost of living increases “above and beyond the rate of inflation to make up for the years they were frozen.”
