Town council was told recently by the budget department of Milton that an 8 per cent increase in taxes for 2008 and a further increase of 5 per cent in 2009 will be needed in order to sustain existing service levels.
8 %? Thats not a small increase now is it? Back in 2007 taxes only went up a minimal 2% but that was just before a municipal election. We are now close to a year into the term and this comes up for discussion.
This would mean an approximate increase of $55 for residential taxpayers and $ 46 for rural taxpayers based on $300,000 value of the home. Thats just to keep things where they are now.
The town of Milton recently spent over a million dollars on new transit buses for the town. The question is do we really need them now. The quick answer is yes, but not right now. We could have maintained our transit system with the current buses acquired from the Town of Oakville.
Transit in this town is quite the issue. Some believe we need it and some say, why bother. The only hard part of this is finding out how much its being used. If it is, then it can be justified. If not (and I’m leaning towards the latter) then we can take some time, analyze ridership numbers and make those decisions later. BUT, its a done deal. Now if we didnt buy those buses, could they have come back with a smaller increase in taxes? Quite possible. But we’ll never know.
Over the course of the next few months there will be some public meetings on budget matters, and thats where Milton residents can have their say. Now, we get to see if pre-election promises match post-election actions.
In a statement I found most shocking, Councillor Jan Mowbray of ward 3 stated it would be a waste of time to ask town staff do a report for a zero increase budget. Doing what we can to save taxpayers dollars is never a “waste of time.” Thankfully her motion was defeated and town staff will look at what they can to reduce the impact.
What’s required of us? Communication. It may be summer and at this point dealing with summer vacations, soccer practices, barbq’s, and preparing our kids for school next year might be in the forefront of our minds, but we need to let our elected representatives know what you’re thinking. Phone, fax or email your councillors to let them know what priorities they should have. If the tax increases go through, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
In all reality, the tax increase might not be as high as 8 % because the town staff always asks for more and then its negotiated down to a more reasonable level. Thats just negotiations. But still, one year after a tax increase we’re hit with the possibility of even more money coming out of our pockets is hard to take.
I dont know about you but Im tired of being told its “ONLY going to be another X amount of dollars.” It seems we’re told that every time theres an increase. My response is, it its ONLY going to be that amount, then find the savings or stop spending money. This council has prided itself on being a pay as you go council. We’ll soon see.
Here is the link to the Champion story by Stephanie Hounsell.
Town’s taxes could jump up 8% in 2008
Budget process begins
Residents can expect to pay anywhere up to eight per cent more in taxes next year, and will now play the waiting game as the Town’s 2008 budget process begins.
A budget call report — which outlines what the anticipated tax increase will be for the next year and sets directions for staff in preparing the budget — went before council Monday night.
Town director of corporate services and treasurer Linda Leeds told council a 9.36 per cent tax hike would be necessary next year to maintain existing service levels as well as a five per cent increase in 2009.
But council directed staff to prepare packages showing what the operating budget would look like at a maximum of an eight per cent increase ($55.67 more for urban residents and $45.97 more for rural based on a $300,000 assessment), as well as with no tax increase, a three per cent tax hike ($20.88 more for urban residents and $17.24 more for rural) and a five per cent increase (urban, $34.79 and rural, $28.73).
To get down to a zero per cent increase, staff would have to look at reductions in various services, Leeds told council.
Amongst the items driving up the 2008 operating budget are staff wages, new debt payments, the cost of inflation and a decrease in funding from provincial grants.
Ward 3 councillor Jan Mowbray said it’s a waste of Town staff’s time to have to crunch the numbers for a zero per cent increase.
“It seems like it’s a ridiculous exercise to put staff through,” Mowbray said.
She put forward a motion to that effect, but it failed.
Council also approved a recommendation that the $738,000 funding received from the Region of Halton for 2007 GTA Pooling be included as a funding source in preparing the capital budget.
At this point, it’s expected budget packages will go out to the budget committee by November 26, and the committee will meet for deliberations December 11.
Final council approval of the budget could be given December 17.
Stephanie Hounsell can be reached at sthiessen@miltoncanadianchampion.com.
Bang on again Mike.
Its a shame you didn’t get elected in November. You seem to have a common sense approach that’s needed at town council.
Great post Mike.
Milton is at the point where yes, we need to communicate with each other and our councillors. Things are happening so fast and most of us are so busy with our day to day lives that we just sit around and trust our councillors will do the ‘common sense’ thing (and I’m as guilty as anyone). Then you hear about Jan Mowbray and you wonder….
I also agree with Mike on the transit issue. I wait for a GO Bus every morning and watch several empty Milton Transit buses go by me… Yes, transit is important, but again, before spending this kind of money, some studies should have been done – my thought is that we probably could have waited a few years to upgrade to the larger buses – I don’t see a large number of people using them at this point. Milton, because of its rural location, means that most residents get around by car. I think that money could have been saved for now…
Anyways Milton – it’s time to question our councillors and make them accountable. Make sure they’re doing the job YOU hired them for.
Its something that is taken for granted it seems at all levels of government. Communication is needed from both sides.
Councillors need to make an effort to communicate with the voters in their wards. Only a few councillors have websites and even fewer use them as a tool of communication.
We as voters need to speak out when we dont agree with the direction things are going. Its either that council is doing an amazing job and no one has any issues or people arent paying attention.
There needs to be an in-depth discussion on Milton transit and should we or shouldnt we have it. I am a believer that Milton does need a reliable transit system and that people would use it. The only problem is right now, not many people are. Buses are regularly running empty or with only a few riders.
Ill try to find some ridership stats and blog about it at a later time. The commitment that Milton’s made to increase the number of buses while not knowing the full picture on ridership numbers shows that council is making decisions based on theory and not actual practice.
I think it’s a great idea for Councillors to at least have some kind of bare bones website or a blog to keep their constituents in the loop. Just an update weekly to let the people know what topics are coming up for discussion and allow people to leave comments so the Councillor can get an idea as to what his/her Ward is thinking…
As someone who commutes into Toronto for work, has two young children and all of the demands that go with them as well as other side projects in my ‘spare time’, I think it’s more likely to assume people aren’t paying attention rather than council doing an amazing job.
A councillor who has a website or blog updated regularly is sure to have an advantage with voters I would think.
Jan Mowbray has a website that she updates quite often. http://www.janmowbray.ca I think it is. During the election campaign some candidates started up websites, saying that they would continue to update them to keep people informed and a quick glance of them all (you can google their names if you like) none of them have been kept up to date. So much for pre election talking and post election action.
These days its hard to find anyone without a computer or some form of internet access. Will blogs and websites change the way elected representatives interact with voters? Someday it will. Maybe on the higher levels it might, but on the local level its more difficult.
In the bigger cities you have councillors who use these tools and they find them to be quite helpful.
Town councillors are part time positions in the town of Milton. It becomes a full time job when you are a regional councillor like Barry Lee and Colin Best. Its not too difficult over the course of the term in office (now 4 years) to pick a weekend, pick a neighbourhood, and go out and talk with people. Communication is a two way street and right now we have both sides saying to themselves “no ones listening.” Its time to make some noise then.
[…] We talked about the same things last year. Town Staff recommended close to an 8% increase and we came out with less than that but still a pretty hefty increase of around 6%. Looks like history is repeating itself or as a neighbour mentioned, broken record. […]