Commission wants airport property transferred to Brantford from Brant County

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A regional airport under the jurisdiction of the City of Brantford would better the community, says the chair of the airport commission.

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“It’s the right thing to do because it would benefit both municipalities and the surrounding area,” Mark Littell said. “As a commission we’d like to see the airport grow and provide even more economic benefit to Brantford, Brant County, Six Nations and the surrounding area.”

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Littell made the comments after the commission voted to request the city ask the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to transfer the airport property to Brantford.

At present, the city owns and operates the airport but the land is part of the county. That means the city pays property taxes to the county and development charges generated by developments on the property go to the county.

City officials believe there is a lot of potential for economic development at the airport. But Brantford is reluctant to spend millions of dollars to service airport land when most of the benefits are enjoyed by the county.

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Brantford city councillor Greg Martin supported Littell’s proposal.

“We’ve gone to the county a couple of times to see if they’d be willing to work with us on this but we’ve been turned down every time,” Martin said. “We asked them to split the property taxes with us 50-50 on any new construction at the airport but they said no.

“Then we asked them to help with some much needed upgrades including runway lighting and again they said no.”

The idea of splitting new property tax revenue would give the city more incentive to build more hangars at the airport which, in turn, would increase revenue for both municipalities.

County of Brant Mayor David Bailey voted against the motion, but did not comment during or after the meeting.

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Brant County Coun. Lukas Oakley however, in an interview and in a social media post said the commission’s resolution contains inaccuracies and is an incomplete characterization of the county’s position. The Ward 2 county councillor is not a member of the airport commission but was made aware of the proposal on Monday.

Oakley said the county received a request for $241,800 from the city to cover half the cost of proposed airport upgrades. But the request came without context, presentation or business case as to the benefits for county residents.

A good faith proposal would have included a presentation with the opportunity to seek clarification, Oakley said.

Other services provided jointly by the county and city are based on population and split 30-70 with the city handling the greater share. Meanwhile, the county voted “to receive” the request rather than approving the funding outright, Oakley said.

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Moreover, Oakley said the county approached the city in October 2024 to reach a long-term solution as it relates to the airport, taxation and development charges. The only caveat was that the topic of amalgamation not be broached by the city.

A couple of months later, Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis requested a report on amalgamation.

Oakley said he has long advocated for further joint action between the county and the city.

“I am a strong believer that the gaps in collaboration hurt both our communities,” Oakley said.

But Oakley said it must be based on mutual respect.

Davis meanwhile said “receiving” the request for a 50/50 split for the upgrades has the same effect as turning it down. It means the request will not move forward.

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Brant County “could have referred the request to its budget committee to be reviewed during budget deliberations,” Davis said. “If they didn’t want to pay 50 per cent, they could have come back to us and said we’ll pay 30 per cent, 20 per cent or even 10 per cent.

“But they didn’t.”

On the question of amalgamation, Davis supports collaboration.

“The best way to avoid amalgamation is to work together,” Davis said. “It’s when municipalities don’t work together to the detriment of their communities that the province starts paying attention.”

Littell meanwhile said people need to remember what the commission’s resolution says.

“It’s asking that the airport land be transferred to the city,” Littell said. “That’s all and it’s something that would benefit the entire region.”

Vball@postmedia.com

@EXPVBall

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