My office recently received a letter from the Minister of Transportation, the Hon. Caroline Mulroney, outlining Burlington’s allocation from the 2022-2023 Gas Tax Program. A copy of the letter is available via the link or further down this post.
The City of Burlington is eligible to receive $2,396,267 for this program year towards municipal public transit funding. It will go towards supporting transit operating expenditures, including Burlington Transit’s conventional bus replacement program, and the City’s transit capital program.
The allocation is part of the Ontario government’s total funding of $379.5 million to help 107 municipalities operate and improve local transit. The funding is being delivered through the gas tax program and can be used to extend service hours, buy transit vehicles, add routes, improve accessibility or upgrade infrastructure.
Funding for the gas tax program is determined by the number of litres of gasoline sold in the province during the previous year. Municipalities that support public transit services in their community receive two cents per litre of provincial gas tax revenue collected.
To make up for reduced gas sales due to ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s gas tax program includes one-time additional funding of $80 million to help ensure municipalities can continue to support their transit systems.
Click/tap these links for the Provincial Government News Release and Backgrounder.
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February 23, 2023
Dear Mayor Meed Ward:
I am pleased to announce the launch of the 2022-23 Gas Tax Program and to advise you of your funding allocation.
Our government is committed to working with municipalities to improve Ontario’s transportation network and support economic growth. Investing in transit will reduce traffic congestion, create jobs and help businesses to develop and prosper.
The City of Burlington will be eligible to receive an allocation of $2,396,267 for this program year.
In the coming days we will be distributing, through the Transfer Payment Ontario Network (TPON) system, the electronic versions of your Letter of Agreement, along with program guidelines, reporting forms and the Canadian Content for Transit Vehicle Procurement policy. The primary staff contact at the City of Burlington will be notified when these documents are available.
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) recognizes that COVID-19 impacted gasoline sales in 2021-22. As a result, the province has committed an additional $80 million in supplementary funding for the 2022-23 Gas Tax program. This additional funding maintains the funding envelope at the level of the 2022-23 program year as the province recognizes transit systems are continuing to build back their ridership levels.
For the 2022-23 Gas Tax Program, MTO is using a five-year average of ridership from 2017 to 2021, and will be using the highest level of reported municipal spending from 2017 to 2021 when calculating municipal allocations.
Sincerely,
Caroline Mulroney
Minister of Transportation
c. The Honourable Parm Gill, MPP, Milton
The Honourable Jane McKenna, MPP, Burlington
Effie J. Triantafilopoulos, MPP, Oakville North—Burlington
