A small northern Ontario township facing financial ruin has been handed a lifeline by the Ford government — with major strings attached — as provincial officials continue to investigate how it accumulated millions in debt.
The Township of Fauquier-Strickland caught the province’s attention at the end of June, when it announced it would lay off all its staff and stop providing its 500 or so residents with services in the face of massive debts.
The township, located north of Timmins, Ont., said it had $2.5 million in accumulated operating deficits and had utterly exhausted its reserve funding.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing responded by telling the local mayor and councillors they could not stop offering services.
The province sent in financial investigators to look at its books.
Now, a new letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack, addressed to the town, is offering it $300,000 in one-time funding to keep the municipality afloat while further investigations take place.
The money, according to the letter, can be used for “certain expenses that would enable the continuation of municipal services to residents” and will be paid in monthly installments.
The funding will only be sent to the township if it agrees to certain conditions, including cancelling its plan to lay off all staff and end municipal services, as well as agreeing to freeze discretionary spending.
The request is on the council agenda for the town on Thursday, with councillors required to pass resolutions agreeing to the terms in order to unlock the funds. It had previously planned to lay off all staff on Aug. 1.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing stressed the one-time nature of the funding to Global News, saying the money was to get the township through the next few months while work continued to investigate the cause — and solution — to its deficits.
When council passed a resolution to suspend all municipal staff at the end of June, it said the only alternative would have been to implement a property tax increase of 190 to 230 per cent on residents, which would have tripled most tax bills and potentially forced families from their homes.
The municipality says it has been operating with zero cash reserves for over a year, relying heavily on credit to fund ongoing operations. In 2024, property taxes were increased by 26 per cent in an effort to address the growing problem.
— with files from Global News’ Prisha Dev