Ive received a few emails from people asking when the Town of Milton budget documents will be ready. As I’ve posted here before we are expecting those documents to be ready around the 26th of November for our review. This will give councillors 14 days to review the budget, receive input from the public and make those decisions at our budget meeting on December 10th.
I personally am not happy with this timeline as it doesnt give us much time to review the finalized budget, consult with you and get more background information to make those decisions. In the meantime, for you budget junkies out there 🙂 the Region of Halton budget is online for your review. It contains roughly 570 pages of background information, capital budget items, operating budget items as well as a 10 year plan for the region.
Overall the tax rate increase will be 0% not including the police services budget which is included as a separate item.
As a reminder, Regional Councillor Colin Best will be holding a budget information session at the Sports Centre on November 28th at 7pm Room number 4 and you will find yours truly there and maybe a few other of my colleagues to answer any questions you might have about this or the town of Milton’s budget.
You can find the documents here at www.halton.ca/budget
Here are some of the key investments and highlights from the Halton website.
Key investments proposed in the 2013 budget include:
- $1.6 million to deliver new Assisted and Affordable Housing Units as identified in the Comprehensive Housing Strategy
- An additional 100 child care fee subsidies for low income families and additional special needs services for 20 children
- 10.4 paramedics to staff two 12-hour ambulances in the Region to ensure wait-times for ambulance services continue to meet standards ($1.1 million)
- New waste diversion programs including a three bag garbage bag limit and expansion of the blue box program to include additional recyclable materials to extend the life of the landfill site resulting in long-term savings
- $810,000 advanced funding through the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative to support Halton’s low income residents
- Increased investment in the Region’s water and wastewater maintenance program ($3.1 million) and state-of-good-repair capital program ($8.7 million) to ensure the existing infrastructure is appropriately maintained to provide service to the residents of Halton
The 2013 Regional budget will go to Regional Council for final approval on December 12th. Halton residents are invited to provide input or comments at budgets@halton.ca
Property Tax Impact of Regional Government Services – Typical Residential Home: $350,000 cva*
| 2012 Actual | 2013Budget | $ Change | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Services | $807 | $807 | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Police Services** | $448 | $458 | $10 | 2.3% |
| Total Regional Taxes*** | $1,255 | $1,265 | $10 | 0.8% |
If you have any questions on the budget you can submit questions to me mike.cluett@milton.ca or comments on this blog.
As soon as the Town of Milton budget documents are ready, I will post them here. Let me know what you think!