Lesson 4: Your Municipality

Municipalities in Ontario Ontario is separated into 444 different communities called municipalities. A municipality can be called a city, town, village, township, county or region.

Powers and Responsibilities Municipalities are given their powers and responsibilities by the provincial government. Examples are: Roads and sidewalks, transportation systems/public transit, social housing, waste removal, community centres, and water and sewage.

Key Features of Municipalities Municipalities share several main features: 1)A defined geographic area 2)The power to tax 3)An elected council

Taxes Property taxes is the main form of revenue (incoming money) for municipalities. If you own a property, you will pay a certain percentage of its value in taxes every year. This money is used to pay for services that benefit the community such as police and the building and maintenance of roads, sidewalks and parks.

Single-Tier or Two-Tier Municipalities in Ontario are either part of a single-tier or two-tier system. A single-tier municipality has one government and local council and it operates on its own. A two-tier system involve two layers of government and two councils. – A lower-tier municipality has a local municipal council and government. – A upper-tier municipality has A regional council and government, and joins together two or more lower-tier municipalities.

Local Council A local municipal council (single-tier or upper-tier) is made up of a head of council, known as the mayor or reeve, and several council members, known as councillors or aldermen. Heads of council are elected by all voters in the municipality. This is called a at-large system. Council members can be elected either at-large or by a ward system of voting (where the municipality is broken down into sections).

The Role of Council Council members work together to govern the municipality and they take responsibility for its safety and future growth. Council members talk about issues of concern with the people in their municipality. These issues are then discussed with the whole council in order to make necessary changes (creating and amending by-laws).

Final Thoughts Do you like living in your municipality? Why? Is there anything in your community that you would change or would like to improve? Is your municipality run efficiently?