Late in 2006, the Ontario government made a pledge to work with municipalities to solve the massive funding gap between provincial transfer payments and the cost of providing social service programs (estimated at more than $3 billion).

Here we are today, halfway through 2008, and it seems we haven't moved any closer to sorting out this incredibly important milestone.

The Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review promised a wide-ranging review of the partnership between the two levels of government, including social services.

The review, which the government said would take 18 months (and should have been released this past spring), will include funding, service delivery and service governance, and it will look at all areas downloaded to municipalities under the Who Does What initiative of the former Mike Harris government.

These include emergency services, social services and affordable housing, shifted down to municipal taxpayers in the late 1990s in exchange for education.

So why are we still waiting?

Since coming to power in 2003, the Liberal government has helped assist Hamilton as it faces an annual cash-crunch during the budget process. Cap in hand, Hamilton council has been forced each year to beg the province for extra funding. Without this money, Hamilton council would have had to make tough decisions on whether to raise taxes even further, or cut much-needed social programs.

Earlier this year, as council scrambled to finalize its 2008 budget, the Liberals came through with $12 million for social services. Council has fallen into a bad habit over the past years of banking on money from the province instead of making necessary adjustments to the budget.

The facts are very clear in this matter. Hamilton has the highest poverty rate in Ontario and is struggling to help the estimated 94,000 families living below the poverty line.

In 2003, the city received $19 million to offset its social services costs. In 2004, the provincial government, in an attempt to restructure how municipalities receive government funding, eliminated the Community Reinvestment Fund and created the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, which provided Hamilton with about $15 million in funding. In 2005, Hamilton received $15 million, and in 2006, $19 million.

Ontario is the only jurisdiction among G7 nations that funds social programs through local property taxes. This experiment, a spoiled test tube handed to local taxpayers by the former Harris Tories, has proven to be a catastrophic failure.

The time has come to shift funding for social service programs back to the provincial level. Providing services and programs for those in need is the responsibility of every Ontario taxpayer. Social service programs are mandated by the provincial government, and thus, local municipal governments have no choice but to meet these requirements. Those in need often migrate from smaller communities and rural areas into larger cities, where better programs and services are offered.

The question is, what will municipalities take back in return for uploading social services back to the provincial level? Local roads?

Since announcing his government would seek to address the clear inequities in the current municipal-provincial relationship through the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review, McGuinty has conveniently pushed back the timetable for recommendations from Who Does What The Sequel. First, it was pushed beyond the October 2007 provincial election. The report was supposed to be released in spring 2008. Now, the government says maybe this fall.

When the process is completed, we can only hope the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review will recognize the time has come for a fundamental change in the relationship between municipalities and the province. Cities need to adapt to the 21st century, and this includes receiving additional powers to raise revenue through various taxation venues and more control over governance structure.

We appreciate a review of this magnitude requires extraordinary diligence. Let's hope it's worth the wait.