Plans for new schools in Bradford West Gwillimbury will continue as normal, despite school board trustees voting for a bylaw that will likely cost them millions in lost revenue.
“It doesn’t impact the plans at all,” said Brian Jeffs, the Simcoe County District School Board’s superintendent of business and facility services.
The public school board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board met last week to vote on a new education development charges (EDC) bylaw.
EDCs are collected from developers as the boards’ only means of funding the purchase of new school sites.
The boards had been working for months on updating the bylaw, which had not been done in five years, so a nearly 300-per-cent increase was proposed.
However, earlier this month, the provincial government ordered boards to freeze their rates while it conducts a review of the process, meaning the Simcoe County boards had no choice but to approve the EDCs at their current rates for one year.
It is estimated that by not hiking the EDCs to reflect increasing land values, it will cost the public board about $13 million and the Catholic board about $5 million.
“(We will get) 30 per cent of what we calculate we require. We’re going to continue to run a deficit,” Jeffs said. “The Ministry (of Education) is aware. All school boards are doing this.”
Simcoe County District School Board approved the expropriation of a 2.2-hectare property at 742 Simcoe Rd., which is just north of Canal Road, for a new elementary school in BWG — a couple weeks before the provincial government announced the EDC freeze.
There are also plans for another new elementary school and an additional high school in BWG.
“We’ll continue to acquire sites as we need to acquire sites. That Bradford north site has been approved,” Jeffs said, adding he is “not sure it matters” how board members feel about the freeze.
“We’re dealing with the current legislation the best way we can.”
— With files from Nathan Taylor
