Mayor Brings $100,000 College Funding Motion to Last Meeting Before Election Restrictions
The motion wasn't on the agenda and no staff report accompanied it. Council waived notice to pass it, less than a month before nominations close.
Owen Sound council agreed Monday to give Georgian College $100,000 over four years, beginning in 2027.
The motion was not on the agenda. Mayor Ian Boddy brought it under additional business near the end of a meeting that ran to 8:53 p.m., without a staff report and without a financial impact analysis.
He asked council to waive notice first; that is, the requirement that a motion be introduced at one meeting and voted on at the next. His reason: July 27 was the last scheduled meeting before council becomes restricted under section 275 of the Municipal Act, which caps what an outgoing council can commit the next one to ($50,000) once the restricted period begins.
Council waived notice, with six in favour.
Boddy said he met the college’s president and senior staff in June. Georgian has closed two campuses and cut programs under frozen tuition, falling international enrolment and provincial underfunding, he said, and Owen Sound was spared.
He cited economic impact figures he dated to 2023, and a recent college labour market study he said he had been unable to find a copy of.
Barrie has pledged $7.5 million to its Georgian campus, Boddy said — $750,000 a year, or about $5 per resident. Matching that here would mean roughly $100,000 a year, which he said the city cannot afford. The motion works out to $25,000 a year. He called it a drop in the bucket and symbolic, and said he hoped future councils would give more.
Councillor Jon Farmer cast the only vote against. He said one municipality cannot backfill a provincial system, that $25,000 a year is less than the cost of a single employee, and that nothing in the agreement requires the college to keep operating in Owen Sound.
The city has no granting program, he said, and has told other organizations seeking money to approach community foundations. He argued for lobbying the local MPP and offering in-kind support instead.
Councillor Suneet Kukreja declared a conflict of interest as a Georgian College employee.
Councillor Marion Koepke asked how the pledge differed from money council has given the hospital. Boddy said $250,000 a year for three years toward an MRI. Staff recalled $50,000 over two years. A third figure, $25,000, came from the floor. Council voted without settling it.
The motion carried.
The wording read aloud — $100,000 payable in instalments over the next four years — could be read as $100,000 annually, though Farmer's reference to $25,000 a year indicates council took it as the total.
And whether council will in fact be restricted under section 275 depends on nominations, which close August 21. The restriction applies only if fewer than three-quarters of members return.
Boddy is not seeking re-election.
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