From the Milton Canadian Champion

Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champion

Town staff presented the budget committee a 2011 budget with a 4.86 per cent hike and included options to bring that percentage down to 1.66 per cent. The committee approved a 2011 budget with a 4.58 per cent tax increase.

A passionate debate extended into the early morning and left council divided, after a motion to introduce a last-minute hospital expansion tax narrowly passed with a 6-5 vote.

The motion to establish the 1 per cent levy came late in the budget deliberations, after the budget committee, which is made up of the mayor and all councillors, had settled on a 3.58 per cent increase on the local share of residential taxes (29 per cent of the property tax bill).

Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau introduced the motion, which was followed by an impassioned speech that drew applause from the gallery in Council Chambers Monday night.

“You can try every way to say this community has grown to point where this is such a critical need that we as a council will go out on a limb, before we know what the price is, to get our piggy banks ready,” she said of the levy, which translates to a yearly increase of $8.89 for the average Milton home.

“It’s a small amount, but it will never be used for anything else but local share expansion. We need to show the Province we really are ready. There are a lot of communities out there saying they need a hospital — we have to say that we’re a community you can count on.”

Along with Lunau, voting in favour of the levy were councillors Colin Best, Sharon Barkley, Arnold Huffman, Rick Di Lorenzo and Zeeshan Hamid. Voting against the increase were Mayor Gord Krantz and councillors Tony Lambert, Greg Nelson, Mike Cluett and Rick Malboeuf — the harshest critic of the levy.

“You’re saying we’ll be sending a message to the Province,” he told Lunau. “My concern is we’ll be sending the wrong message. The message being, look what Milton did. They’re prepared to pick the pockets of taxpayers to fund something we (the Province) should be paying for.”

However, Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) President John Oliver said setting money aside for the expansion is “critical” in influencing the Province to move forward with the much-needed expansion.

“It’s almost a given now; from Sault Ste. Marie to Niagara you’re seeing communities having to step in with the local share burden.”

Last week HHS asked the Town of Halton Hills for $4.5 million for the Georgetown Hospital expansion.

Di Lorenzo said planning for the future renovation well in advance is the fiscally responsible thing to do. “If you think a four per cent increase now is difficult, if we don’t start saving money we’re going to be seeing eight, nine, and 10 per cent increases.”

Huffman added: “It’s our job to make tough decisions, and maybe those decisions are not popular. If I’m wrong, maybe I won’t be elected in four years. But I can do without $10 (a year) to support the beginnings of a new hospital and show the Province we’re serious about this.”

While none of the councillors opposed to the levy were opposed to the expansion, some felt a public meeting was in order before finalizing the increase.

“Where I have some difficulty is the fact mere months after being elected — and after many of us around this table talked about accountability with regards to the voters — I have a very difficult time accepting a 1 per cent tax levy with very little, if not any, public consultation,” said Cluett.

The same sentiments were echoed by Nelson, who reminded council when they voted to support HHS with a contribution for the local share of the expansion this past summer, a new tax was a “last resort.”

“We haven’t even seen the funding options for the hospital yet from finance (department) as to what our options are,” said the downtown councillor. “Is there an urgency —absolutely. But we have time at this point to consult with the public. We 10 people can’t come up with all the answers. We need to research more on the issue.”

The budget committee passed the 4.58 per cent tax increase in a 6-5 vote, with the same councillors who voted against the hospital levy voting against the budget.

Krantz said he wished council would have been able to come to a consensus on the budget, but throughout the evening the mayor maintained he wouldn’t support a local levy above the rate of inflation.

The 1 per cent hospital tax rate adds $2.54 for every $100,000 of residential assessment.

Combined with the regional, local and educational components of residential taxes, which account for 44 per cent, 29 per cent and 27 per cent respectively, Miltonians are looking at an overall tax increase of 2.2 per cent in the urban area and 2.09 per cent in the rural area.

The 2011 budget will be voted on during Monday’s council meeting 

From the Milton Canadian Champion

Teen robbed of cell phone outside Memorial Arena

Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, two males approached a 16-year-old youth outside Milton Memorial Arena, police said.

The two males proceeded to detain the victim, by holding onto his backpack, and steal his Blackberry.  The suspects fled, crossing Thompson Road.

The first suspect is described as five-foot-10 and in his late teens or early twenties. He was wearing baggy jeans and a black puffy jacket.  The second suspect has a thin build and short spiky hair.

Both were possibly of Middle-Eastern decent, police said.

Cameras stolen in break-in

A Cannon Rebel camera along with its 55mm lens and an Olympus camera were taken from a Sixth Line home near Derry Road last Thursday.

The break-in occurred between 2 and 3 p.m.  The culprits smashed through the home’s front door to gain entry.

Break-in at shop

Pro-Nail on Main Street East was broken into after the front door and window were smashed overnight Friday.   During the incident, two containers of nail-hardener, with a combined estimated value of $350, were taken.   Loose change was also taken from the shop.

CDs and DVDs stolen from car

Overnight last week, a Kia Sedona was broken into at a residence on Trudeau Drive.   During the incident, CDs and DVDs were stolen.  Police said the car was unlocked.

Two vehicles broken into

Overnight January 12, cars on Switzer Crescent and Cousens Trail were broken into, police said.  During the first incident, a wallet, which contained identification, credit cards and cash, was taken from the unlocked car.

In the second incident, the same items were taken from a locked 2009 Jeep.

There has been lots of discussion on the Hawthorne Villager web forum on the aftermath of the 2011 Milton budget that was passed by the committee on Monday.  You can follow it here.

I made a comment on one of the threads regarding the importance of public involvement in the budget process that I’ll post here as well.  For those that don’t know, the budget process just doesn’t happen at the end of the year.  Its a result of many months of work from town staff, reports to council and public feedback.

Its important that the residents of Milton are involved in that process, and as I outline in my post on the Villager, we have many new faces on council that are “connected” and available to get that important feedback from taxpayers and in this coming year we will be looking at the 2012 budget.  (I know we JUST finished with 2011 and now were on to 2012!)

Next year will be even more of a challenge as further operational costs from the Milton Centre for the Arts, the new library and the Milton Sports Centre come online.  There’s the challenge of what kind of state our economy will be in and how it will affect long term projections.  Its important we get the feedback from the public on what you feel the town’s priorities should be.

Next Monday is the council meeting where we will be reviewing the last budget committee report and passing (?) the 2011 budget.  As I said, after this, we look forward towards 2012 and what Milton will look like then, what we will be spending money on, what roads will be developed or set into the pipeline and you need to be part of it.

Here’s my post from the Villager.  Feel free to comment there or here.

The beauty of having so many new councillors who are “connected” online and very active in the community is that this coming budget process – which is a public process – will become MORE public. Meetings will be promoted through councillors websites, through this board and others and hopefully more throughout the local media (Champion, MiltonTodayTV, TV Cogeco etc)

I KNOW my collegues will work together to have even MORE budget town hall meetings through this process to get even MORE input from the public. Its not a criticism of the past, but more of a comment for the future.

Budgets aren’t on everyone’s top 10 lists of things to do during the week but hopefully we can get more feedback from Milton residents on what they want. A continuation of sorts from the election campaign. I campaigned on continuing to knock on doors between campaigns and I intend to do so and challenge my council friends to do the same.

We are fully aware of mistakes made in the past by other municipalities like Mississauga and Bramtpon to name a couple and we want to ensure that doesn’t happen here.

As long as the process is open as much as possible to the public and they have their say on major issues like a further tax levy for hospital expansion for increases in spending for transit, we will have done our job.

Ive talked with all my council friends and said that when we look at these budget figures to look at them like were doing our home budgets. Wants vs needs and if we can find savings or further efficiencies we have a duty to do so. We also need to look at both the long range and the short term as well. Is the economy doing well…what is the outlook for the next few years…what is the long range outlook for the next ten years. Some questions are easily answered and some are more difficult and will require debate. We have to look at the long range goals of the town of Milton…what demands are placed on us from other levels of government like the Region of Halton and the Province of Ontario (which directs our growth goals)

If you thought the last few years saw a lot of change, as the old saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Changes are happening from all directions…Milton Education Village, Derry Green Corporate Business Park, Boyne Survey, the possible hospital expansion and the intensification of Main Street.

Im open to any and all suggestions and if they make sense, we can move forward on them. Democracy is like a conversation…it cant be one way…which is why we need your input and feedback. That’s what a majority of us were elected on this past October and now were in office we cant forget those reasons.

Keep the debate coming …