"A pleasant surprise."
That's how Lakeshore mayor Tom Bain is describing a $2.9-million funding boost from the province through the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.
Bain says the municipality typically gets roughly $1.7-million each year and the extra funds are going to be a big help as council prepares for its 2022 budget deliberations next month.
He says the funding will help free up some cash for some much needed road repairs.
"It's great in that we've been wanting to step up our roads program, but because of all the COVID problems and costs we just haven't been able to do that and did not want to go back and put more on the taxpayers," he continued. "So this will allow us to do some extra roadwork."
Bain says some road projects that may have been deferred during budget talks will now be able to move forward.
"We'll now move to the next one on the list that was probably cut in order to keep the budget down. We'll be able to re-install in back in. We're going into a budget deliberations and this will allow us to continue on with projects that we've been waiting on."
He says the funding boost will have a direct impact on the 2022 tax rate.
"The great thing about it is we're not going to have to go to the taxpayers with a high increase on their taxes to accomplish it, or to delay it for another year or two. We'll be able to go ahead with plans as scheduled," Bain said.
As part of the province's announcement, Leamington also received $2.6-million, the Township of Pelee got $100,000, while Chatham-Kent received $10-million.