The City of Windsor is hoping to get more funding from upper levels of government to deal with anticipated costs associated with the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac is worried about which level of government will get stuck footing the bill.
"It's not fair,” Gignac said in council chambers after Monday’s meeting. “It's not fair and it's not reasonable that municipal taxpayers should carry the burden of additional costs."
Gignac is reacting to a funding formula released by the province which will see monies flow to municipalities on a 'per-household' basis.
She says border cities like Windsor will likely see higher costs because of an influx of tourists looking to try legal weed.
The province has said it will provide $40 million across Ontario over the first two years of legalization to help offset those escalating costs.
But some observers believe that won't be enough to pay for the extra costs of things like policing and bylaw enforcement. It’s expected that public health and other first responders will also be impacted.
The mayor says he’s met with provincial officials and can’t disclose the nature of some of those meetings. He would divulge that he’s been loud and clear about the city’s position.
"We're in a border city here, and we expect things to be different here than you would see in the city of Toronto or other cities across Ontario,” Dilkens said. “I'm hopeful that things, as they roll out, we'll have an opportunity to have a really serious discussion and look at the impacts and the costs that we've incurred as a municipality going forward."
