For too long now Hamilton has become dependent upon the Ontario Liberal government’s yearly cash infusion so the already financially-strapped city can meet its budget obligations.

Councillors were nearly apoplectic in 2007 when the province gave the city “only” $12 million. They were expecting $19.5 million. The shortfall forced councillors to actually consider some tough financial decisions to keep the average tax rate at 3.6 per cent.

Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin stated in an interview Hamilton has become a cash addict, with its hands constantly outstretched for even more money.

Over the last five years the city has received about $70 million in social services funding from the province.

“At some point,” he said, “money can be an addiction just like crack cocaine.”

Not only has Hamilton received millions in social services funding, but it has gotten bushels of dollars such as gas tax revenue for public transit, money to save the Lister Block, $30 million from the province for Randle Reef, cash for its hospitals, money for McMaster’s Innovation Park, and more funding for skills training and its education institutions. And to top it off, in August, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a $1.1 billion infrastructure fund for municipalities, which includes $48 million for Hamilton.

It was, said Mr. McMeekin, the largest infusion of unsolicited money in the city’s history.

Mr. McMeekin even told Hamilton politicians after last year’s announcement this was the last time and to prepare for the future.

Somehow, though, they either forgot, or Hamilton officials and politicians have become so desperate for the annual provincial bailout money, they ignored provincial warnings.

“(The money) is like a rubber crutch,” said Mr. McMeekin.

Politicians, he said, can go around saying ‘taxes are going to rise because of the funding shortfall’. But when the supplier provides the money, the city still raises taxes, which councillors have done every year since 2003.

Mr. McMeekin lamented that even though the province provided $48 million, the city is still forecasting a 9.3 per cent average tax increase, and a 0.5 per cent capital tax hike.

“Maybe they should say, ‘we don’t need to have a tax increase this year,’” said Mr. McMeekin. “Municipalities have to take responsibility.”

To Hamilton officials, they argued the province hasn’t done enough for the city. Ever since former Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris dumped provincial responsibilities onto the backs of municipalities without any corresponding sustainable revenue, cities have been overburdened in paying for what was provincial programs, such as social services, affordable housing and infrastructure.

A report prepared by Hamilton politicians and staff a few years ago states the city should be receiving about $25 million per year in extra funding as proper compensation, not the paltry $12 million.

The Liberal government has compounded the problem by ignoring the friction with municipalities. They delayed releasing a report on the downloading problem to this fall instead of the spring.

It is expected to be released at the end of October, and Hamilton politicians are hoping it will basically save them from themselves.

Mr. McMeekin, a member of the task force group, cautions the report will “make nobody happy”, but it will improve the funding formula.

But the cabinet minister’s main message, which somehow Hamilton politicians continue to ignore, is to prepare for the worst and start curtailing the city’s spending.

Still, Hamilton’s embedded financial problems such as a lack of revenues, stagnant economic development, and a spending habit that has grown exponentially since amalgamation won’t be solved with a provincial review.

The city’s addiction to new cash is systematically ingrained in its political culture and only a thorough internal cleaning can prevent yet another season of tax and spend policies the city is unable to afford.