Halton Region Council threw down the gauntlet yesterday with a resolution that says to developers and Queen's Park: Give us more money for infrastructure, or we'll freeze growth.

"What we are saying is that we are serious about things and we are not going to do the same thing we have done in the past," chair Gary Carr said yesterday of the looming showdown. "This is a new council with a new attitude that is going to change the way we operate and the province needs to understand that."

Passed unanimously without debate, the resolution expands on a clause in the region's Official Plan that would allow the region to refuse sewer and water pipe connections to as many as 40,000 new homes in north Oakville and Milton, until financing arrangements are acceptable.

With his council's backing, Carr will go to a planned meeting with Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman in early December to make his case that growth has not been paying for itself – and things have to change.

When the ultimatum first arose a month ago, a spokesperson for Smitherman confirmed the meeting but accused Carr of grandstanding and stated the province's position that Halton was receiving significant infrastructure funding.

The region has until next spring to consider whether the financing is "acceptable" before it could begin rejecting final approvals on development applications.

Halton wants more provincial money for capital costs such as new and renovated hospitals and roads, as well as soft services such as ambulances. It also wants the development industry to pay what it considers a fairer share of the cost of servicing new homes.

For years, fast-growing municipalities could rely on development charges – fees paid by builders – to fully fund infrastructure necessitated by growth, such as new parks, libraries and transit as well as the community portion of the cost of hospitals.

But in 1997, the Conservative government under Mike Harris changed the rules, amending the Development Services Act to allow the municipality to reduce to 90 per cent the developers' share of a number of services. (Builders still pay 100 per cent of the cost of new roads and sewers.)

The tipping point for Halton, which has had to hike property taxes repeatedly to make up the difference, has been the issue of hospitals. With two new hospitals needed in the region and two expansions in the works, councillors are balking at being forced to pay what the province considers the region's share – as much as one-third, or about $300 million – to provide facilities sufficient for an expected population growth of 100,000 over the next 13 years.

Gary Gregoris, vice-president of Mattamy Homes, the GTA's biggest builder, was present at yesterday's meeting and said he believes regional councillors are serious.

He warned, however, that development charge increases would just be passed on to consumers when builders factor them into the price of a new home. If housing prices continue to tumble "and the costs don't go down, then something has got to give."

Carr responded by saying that any decision on whether to proceed with future development would have to be made by the development industry, because regional taxpayers could not afford to subsidize them any more.