Jordan StevensonFor Port Hope Mayor
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Platform pillar 01

Affordability, Infrastructure and Reliable Services

Fix the basics with honest numbers

Reliable roads, pipes, facilities and services depend on honest choices about operating costs, capital work, reserves and debt. The answer is not a slogan. It is a budget residents can inspect and a council willing to own the trade-offs.

The short version

At a glance

What changes first

  1. Publish three budget choices showing the consequences of no increase, the recommended budget and enhanced infrastructure investment.
  2. Publish a plain-language dashboard showing infrastructure condition, project cost, funding, delays and service performance.
  3. Review major contracts, consultants, software, vacancies, facilities, fleet, energy use and recurring operating costs.

Who pays

Existing services are funded through municipal revenues. Every new commitment must identify its recurring municipal cost, reserve or debt impact, grants, partnerships, user fees or external contributions before approval.

What success looks like

  • Recurring savings are documented.
  • The infrastructure gap moves in the right direction.
  • Fewer projects are deferred without explanation.
  • Reserve, debt and service-performance trends are publicly visible.

What Jordan supports

  • A published affordability framework that exposes the budget gap
  • Three public choices: No increase, Recommended budget and Enhanced infrastructure investment
  • Lifecycle planning for roads, water, wastewater, stormwater, buildings, fleet and equipment
  • Common-sense climate and resilience work with meaningful environmental, financial, safety or quality-of-life benefits

What Jordan will not support

  • A tax-freeze promise made before the books are available
  • Treating every consultant as waste or declaring Town Hall bloated without evidence
  • Replacing functional equipment before the lifecycle, service and financial case supports it
  • Deferring maintenance without publishing the future cost and service risk

Concrete commitments

What changes

  • Publish three budget choices using the resident-facing labels No increase, Recommended budget and Enhanced infrastructure investment
  • Review major procurement, consulting, software, vacancies, facilities, fleet, energy use, duplication, service delivery, grants and revenue opportunities
  • Publish significant consulting contracts, deliverables and the reason outside expertise was required
  • Publish asset condition, priority, cost, funding, timeline, delays, risks, deferral consequences and project status
  • Use lifecycle economics for suitable cleaner equipment and buildings while investing in flood, stormwater, heat and natural-system resilience

How it works

The mechanisms behind the position

Three public budget choices

Every budget should let residents compare the real choices.

  • No increase: identify the services, repairs, staffing, reserves or capital work that would be reduced or delayed
  • Recommended budget: state the amount, why it is recommended and what it preserves
  • Enhanced infrastructure investment: identify the additional work, its cost and why it may be justified

Consultants should leave knowledge behind

Outside expertise is sometimes legally or technically necessary. Significant contracts and deliverables should be public, with an explanation of why staff cannot perform the work.

  • Avoid buying substantially similar advice twice
  • Build internal municipal knowledge
  • Use qualified local expertise where appropriate
  • Retain licensed and independent professionals where required

Practical climate and resilience work

Use lifecycle replacement for suitable equipment and vehicles. Improve municipal buildings with LEDs, controls, insulation, heat pumps and solar where appropriate.

  • Flood resilience, stormwater capacity and heat planning
  • Trees, wetlands and natural drainage
  • Protection of agricultural land
  • Senior-government funding for broader climate objectives

Responsibility

Who controls what

Jurisdiction sets the route to action. It does not end the conversation.

Port Hope controls

  • Municipal budgets, service levels, procurement and capital priorities
  • Reserve, debt, asset-management and facility plans
  • Local fleet, buildings, parks equipment and many stormwater decisions

Cooperation required

  • County services and shared infrastructure
  • Provincial and federal grants and climate programs
  • Utilities, conservation authorities, industries and project partners

Measure progress

Residents should be able to check the result

  • Recurring efficiency savings and consultant spending
  • Infrastructure gap movement, delays and service-level performance
  • Reserve contributions, debt and lifecycle obligations
  • Energy savings, emissions reductions and resilience milestones

Keep reading

The same governing standards apply across the platform

Authority must be assigned clearly. Responsibility for the resident's experience must not disappear between institutions.

No wrong door. Show the work. Fair rules and meaningful recourse. One Port Hope. Change course when the facts change.

How I'll GovernStraight Answers

Help improve the platform

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