North Bay wants to see ‘unique’ pilot infrastructure fund made permanent

Council in North Bay is hopeful the Northern Ontario Resource Development Fund (NORDS) won’t be coming to an end.   

They’re calling on the province to make the pilot infrastructure funding program permanent and expand program eligibility.    

NORDS was introduced to help municipalities in the north address infrastructure pressures resulting from natural resource sector activities.   

Officials say money from multiple funding programs has gone into the $11 million Seymour Street Widening project, including $2 million from NORDS. 

“Being able to do so has allowed the city to divert different funds from the capital levy to other projects,” says Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield. “Having that opportunity to stack and accumulate has been beneficial for the city and I am hopeful this continues.”  

Councillor Mac Bain says the five-year pilot is coming to an end.  

“You don’t have to have an engineering report done before you apply for the money,” he says. “Municipalities are able to use it for all of their capital projects and the fact that we can stack it for multiple years and also stack it with other programs is quite unique.”  

Along with sending the motion to various provincial ministries and municipal groups, councillors plan to discuss it with their cohorts at the upcoming Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.

Richard Coffin has been a reporter and news anchor on the radio in North Bay for over 25 years.  From premiers to people in the neighbourhood, he enjoys connecting with newsmakers and writing stories that matter to area listeners on a variety of topics including healthcare, education, politics, sports and more.