The City of Barrie will be seeking $5 million from the Ontario government to cover the tab for traffic calming measures to replace speed cameras.
Last Thursday, Premier Doug Ford's government passed legislation to ban automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras and to remove them across Ontario in two weeks.
On the day before the bill was approved, councillors at the finance and governance committee meeting passed a motion that staff apply to the province for $5 million for traffic calming measures in Barrie and that capital project traffic calming measures be increased by $500,000 - $50,000 per ward - to be funded in the interim from the ASE reserve fund.
"Each member of council is responsible for their own ward to direct where the dollars go, how they're spent," the mayor said. "We had set up the ASE cameras to fund traffic calming measures and not to go into some sort of general ledger at the city, and we have some of those dollars right now."
Ford has said speed cameras don't work to slow drivers down, though evidence collected by municipalities and the Hospital for Sick Children researchers says otherwise, and believes measures such as speed bumps, roundabouts and signs with flashing lights are more effective.
He has said there will be a new fund to help offset some of those costs, but the government has not yet provided an amount.
"I don't want to wait," said Nuttall. "I think it's appropriate to give each member of council an additional $50,000 of traffic calming measures for 2026 with the overall $5 million request to the province, meaning there would be roughly $500,000 per ward in traffic calming measures."
"We want to focus on areas that are school-related or community safety zone-related. We need to make sure that traffic in these local areas is safe."
In September, Barrie city council approved a direct motion that ASE cameras would stop on December 31, 2025, unless otherwise directed by the province, and that staff be authorized to negotiate agreements to implement a red-light camera program in the city. The direct motion also said any agreement to implement a red-light camera program in Barrie would be based on an evaluation of best value to the city.
At that council meeting on September 24, Nuttall said the city needed to focus on red-light cameras.
"That's where we need to turn our heads, ASAP, so that we can get the (provincial) funding to be able to institute them."
In March, city councillors approved a motion that city staff investigate the feasibility of installing red light cameras in Barrie, identify the characteristics of an intersection that best supports red light cameras, and then identify the top locations on city streets.
Revenue collected from the ASE program in Barrie since its launch in December 2023 is $1,246,684, according to the latest figures from the city. Operating costs are $711,000, which means a surplus of $535,684.
The premier has repeatedly stated that speed cameras are a "cash grab" for municipalities.
The mayor has rejected that suggestion and made it clear at the September 24 meeting that Barrie was not among the bad apples.
"I think that we did conduct ourselves in a responsible manner when it came to how we unveiled and then executed the speed cameras in the City of Barrie, " Nuttall said at the time.
Barrie has 27 community safety zones. According to the city's website, community safety zones were identified for the ASE program based on data collected that shows areas where drivers regularly go over the posted speed limit.
Nuttall's motion that the city seek $5 million from the province for traffic-calming measures still requires approval at general committee and city council.
With files from The Canadian Press
