Last nights council meeting had a number of items on the agenda. In fact some of the people in the gallery were placing bets on when it would end. I had predicted 11:50PM but I was about 20 minutes off.
One of the highly anticipated items on the agenda was the 2011 Budget Call Report which outlined staffs recommendations or reasons why the town needs to increase the mill rate by 6.91% in 2011. There are a number of factors why the increase is “needed’ including the costs for the new Arts & Entertainment centre, Milton Sports Centre among other items. I blogged on this the other day and you can see that post here.
You will find the Budget Call Report on the Town’s website here. Its 33 pages long and not the most interesting reading, but its important to understand where the town is coming from when it tries to justify such a large increase in property taxes.
There were a few delegations to the meeting but most of the discussion was on traffic calming zones near schools and a number of questions from Councillor Paul Scherer. Some delegates proposed that the town propose a zero per cent increase for 2011, given the fact that Milton residents will not be able to afford it.
As the town grows, so will the demands on services they provide and as new facilities come online, there are additional pressures to staff them, electricity, heating and maintenance that will increase costs. I have stated before that the tax increase shouldn’t be more than the rate of inflation if at all possible. A zero per cent increase should be the goal, but anything higher than the inflation rate would be deemed unacceptable. When the budget meetings begin in December, the starting point should be zero, instead of working from a higher number and then work from there.
Outside of that, there wasn’t much discussion on the numbers included in the report. The dynamics of this council are now much different as they will now be referred to as “lame duck council” This happens when they are nearing the end of their term on council before an election and they are quite limited in the decisions they can make coming up to the new council being sworn in.
There could have been a little more discussion and questions of staff as to this report but it seems that most were content to deal with it after the election. Most of the incumbents are running again for either the same or different positions (local vs regional council) and outside of a few new members (hopefully including yours truly) most will be there in December.
Over the next few weeks, I hope that I could get some input from you on what your thoughts are about the proposed increases. Shortly after the new council is sworn in, there will be a series of meetings to approve the 2011 budget and I want to make sure I am armed with questions and comments from the voters in my ward AND in the Town of Milton.
Post a comment here on the thread or send me an email mike@mikecluett.cawith your questions and if I am elected on October 25th, I will bring them to council during the budget approval meetings. Over the course of the next several weeks, I will also endeavour to have meet & greets around the ward to sit down with you as well. If you would like to host one of these events, please let me know.
Only by getting direct input from voters will council have the right priorities in mind when it comes to approving what will be a very important budget setting a course for the town of Milton in the coming years.
I look forward to your input and until then, I’ll see you at the doors.
Just for the record, I won the pool for when the meeting would end 🙂
I did want to comment on your statement that most incumbents will be there for the next council. While that may or may not turn out to be true, remember that we are guaranteed that at least four of them will be gone. Wendy Schau is not running, Best and Mowbray are running against each other, Nelson and Boughton are as well (although I’ll be replacing both of them, of course), and Barry Lee will have to run against a fellow incumbent if he runs at all.
Just looking at local councillors, at least half of them will be new faces. That’s pretty extraordinary given that after the last election there was only a single new local councillor and one new regional. This is exciting!
You have a great site. I`ve been a frequent reader of your posts and of course continue to do so. The content is very valueable! Excellent job. Keep at it!
I’d like to see a cut in “Staff’s” and Council’s salaries by 6.91%!
Actually, Paul Scherer brought up a possible wage freeze for all non union salaried employees. Included in the meeting items that seemed to have been overlooked was an increase of 7% in benefits for town employees. I think with that kind of benefit change a freeze on salaries might be called for.
6.91% is a pretty big increase and pencils need to be sharpened come December.
What about Union salaries? When are their contracts up for negotiations?
I think they are nearing the end of a 3 yr deal but I could be wrong.
Yep, I think salaries are a good one to look at as they are the single biggest line-item expense for the town. I also like the idea of hiking non-resident user-fees for recreational facilities access. The residents are the one paying for the facilities out of our taxes. Let’s take a closer look at other municipalities resident&non-resident fees.
After much discussion with yourself and Colin Best on the hospital issue, I’ve changed my mind about starting a fund right away – especially this year with the various increases due to HST and such. There’s alot more complexity there and maybe is it best to wait maybe a year or two in hopes a few more details can be nailed down with the province.
Another little thing to at least ask the question is regarding the hydro for general operation and street lighting. Are we using the most energy efficient bulbs in our lights? Could changing timing on the street lights a bit be done to reduce useage without affecting saftey? Are office lights on a timer/motion switch? Promoting more conservation in the town offices could help reduce that amount. Are general office lights turned off/down after-hours? These are small things that can add up to big savings as we found at my workplace.
My only other question is why aren’t the growth related expenditures keeping up with growth-related income?
Good questions Kim.
As for the hydro related questions, I’ll be sure to try to get answers on those. It does make sense for our street light system in town to be as efficient as possible. We should always be looking at ways to save…both fiscally and environmentaly as well.
A good portion of the increase is due to health care benefit increases (roughly 7% increase) as well as the costs associated with bringing the Arts Centre/Librbary/ and Sports Centre online.
These arre costs that unfortunatley we have to absorb because it wouldnt make sense to build these site and then not open them up. Ive stated before Im not a big fan of these locations … built too soon. As the stimulus money was there, I understand the reason for them going ahead but with the advent of the HST, downturn/fragile state of the economy and costs associatied with bringing these places online…the town would be stretched financially and it shows with this budget.