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Councillors to debate hospital tax levy

Milton council will debate whether to provide cash, perhaps through a dedicated tax levy, to assist Halton Healthcare Services Corporation’s as yet unapproved plans to expand Milton District Hospital.

At Monday’s council session, Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau introduced a notice of motion, which Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer indicated he would second, stating the Town would “endeavour” to help HHS cover its share of the costs to redevelop the half-century-old hospital, which hasn’t undergone a major expansion since the mid-1980s.

The motion states the Town would research and identify potential funding mechanisms including the possibility of including a special property tax levy beginning next year. Council will debate and vote on the motion at the June 28 council session. Lunau said she wanted the long lead time for the community to have an opportunity to provide feedback and plan to attend the session.

Under Provincial funding guidelines that began in June, 2006, Ontario pays for all of the planning costs and 90 per cent of the bricks and mortar for hospital capital projects. Previously, most capital cost share rates varied from 50 to 80 per cent depending on the project, the Province stated at the time.

However, the hospital corporation is still responsible for the remaining 10 per cent of construction costs along with covering the full cost of building revenue-generating facilities such as cafeterias, retail areas and parking lots as well as the medical equipment inside the hospital.

In total, depending on the equipment a hospital needs, that means the Province will cover around 70 per cent of the total project costs, with the hospital corporation paying the remaining portion, dubbed the local share.

The hospital has three ways to pay that local share: its own revenues from, for example, parking lot fees or stores; fundraising done by the Milton District Hospital Foundation; and through financial assistance from municipalities.

The problem Milton council tried to wrap its head around Monday is that HHS won’t provide the municipality with an estimate right now of how much money it would need. “At the end of the day, if we put too much (money) away, that’s fine,” Scherer said to HHS President John Oliver during Monday’s council session. “But we need a starting point.”

Oliver said he understood council’s frustration but he doesn’t want to float a dollar figure that would inevitably turn out to be wrong years later after more detailed planning has taken place.

The hospital provided a preliminary cost estimate when it presented its business case for the expansion to the Ministry of Health in September, 2008 but Oliver said after the council meeting that number is already out of date and he doesn’t wish to release it.

“It’s not just inflation, the original size and scope has evolved from the original business case,” he explained. He said he also doesn’t want to jeopardize a competitive bidding process by leaking expected total costs.

However, Oliver did provide council with a benchmark for comparison when he said the redevelopment planned for Milton’s hospital is at least as big as the one proposed for Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital. The first phase of the redevelopment of Jo Brant is projected to cost $312 million, with the local share pegged at $120 million. In December, Burlington’s city council committed to covering half of that cost, or $60 million, and has already started a dedicated property tax levy this year. The City of Vaughan last year committed $80 million to a proposed new hospital for its community. Both projects are also unapproved and are in competition with the Milton hospital expansion to get on the Province’s next 10-year list of infrastructure projects, to be released next year, likely as part of the 2011 budget.

However, the competition is not just among those three hospitals. The Ministry of Health is currently prioritizing at least 50 other proposed hospital projects before submitting its list of requests to the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which will ultimately decide on the 10-year capital plan.

Other ministries are also prioritizing their own lists of proposed capital projects, one of which includes the proposed Wilfrid Laurier University campus in Milton. That prioritization is expected to take place over the next three months, said Jason Grier, a professional lobbyist from Hill and Knowlton working on behalf of HHS.

One of the things the Ministry of Health will be looking for during this time when prioritizing projects is whether the hospital corporation has a firm plan to meet its local share commitments, Grier said after council Monday.

“They don’t want to move forward on projects that aren’t going to have that local share commitment because then the project isn’t going to happen,” explained Grier, who served as executive assistant to George Smitherman when he was health minister in the provincial government.

Oliver told council it would help the hospital if the Town made a firm commitment of financial support. “I don’t know if you need to put a dollar figure behind it right now.”

Well That Was Interesting

May 18, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

Last nights council meeting had it all. Expectations were running high by some members of council that it could either be a very short meeting or a very long meeting.

I had reported before that council salaries would be discussed at this meeting but apparently it went through on consent items and didn’t even make a blip on the radar.

Ward 3 councillor Cindy Lunau had a notice of motion to include a quick presentation by Halton Healthcare Services to Milton Town Council to give them an update on Milton District Hospital and its possible expansion.

John Oliver from Halton Healthcare made a presentation outlining the fact that expansion of the Milton DH is essential and must happen. The provincial government has put a freeze on capital projects and will be reviewing them for the 2011 budget. He made it very clear that Milton needs to be on the radar and get approval fast. Even if they were given the green light today, it would be at least 2-5 years before anything will happen.

Regional Councillor Colin Best was frustrated with the process, as all councillors are, and with the fact the provincial government KNOWS Milton is growing but is doing nothing to help out. We are being mandated to grow our population and size but yet have a hospital that is well under the required size for our community. Mayor Krantz also shared in that frustration as well.

Mr. Oliver also outlined his pleasure with the community as a whole that came out as a result of the Friends of Milton Hospital campaign when over 35,000 people signed a petition to raise awareness with the provincial government that we need something done and soon.

He said that more work is needed and the community and council need to get behind this full force.

Councillor Lunau also put forward a notice of motion for staff to review possible ways for Milton Town Council to fund expansion, as if it were to happen, the local level of government would be required to put money forward. Council’s idea is to start saving soon for that eventuality.

The problem council faces is where do you start? And how much do we save for? John Oliver couldn’t give us a number, although pressed by Councillor Paul Scherer a few times, as legally he could not give a number. Council was advised to review other area municipalities and what their costs were as a starting point.

These possible funding options include, but are not limited to:

Increase of Development Charges; Special Tax Levy on Milton taxpayers to go to a dedicated hospital expansion fund only to be used for that purpose; Combination of the two. Another possibility is using the GTA funding poll that has been collected from Milton taxpayers to support Toronto (don’t get us started on that) and now is no longer needed as another source of funding.

Needless to say, this will be something that will require community support like we havent seen before. Last year, 35,000 people came to the table and to go forward we will need more!

There were some other discussions last night about parking on Queen Street, which is not allowed. Councillor Greg Nelson failed in his attempt to put forward a motion to reopen the discussion to allow parking on either one side or both. But after a very convincing presentation by the Milton Fire Chief, which included pictures of the street with one emergency vehicle and how it would impede traffic and cause a safety issue, it was voted down and parking on Queen Street will not be allowed.

And of course, the highly anticipated motion from Ward One Councillor Rick Day was ruled out of order. Im not going to get into it here, but if you wanted to read what he was going to talk about, here is a link to his proposed notice of motion.

I also experimented with live Tweets from the council meeting last night. Judging from some of your emails and comments to those posts, it was pretty successful. I will try for future meetings to post updates via Twitter, which of course you can keep track by going to www.twitter.com/mike_cluettor follow here on the home of the Mike Cluett.

As always I welcome your emails and comments so keep them coming. Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Council Salaries To Be Discussed At Monday’s Meeting

May 16, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

From the Milton Canadian Champion

Kim Arnott, SPECIAL TO THE CHAMPION

Councillors to consider pay raise

A pay hike for local politicians is likely to be a hot topic of discussion at next week’s council meeting.

On Monday night, the Town’s administration and planning committee voted to recommend a 2 per cent pay raise for non-unionized staff employed by the Town.

However, the committee recommended that councillors not receive the same raise. Salaries for Milton’s non-unionized staff are reviewed annually, and compared to those paid in seven nearby municipalities. According to a staff report, non-unionized employees working for area municipalities have seen an average 2.39 per cent wage increase this year. The report recommended a 2 per cent increase for Milton staff, effective July 1. It also recommended that councillors receive the same raise.

Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson moved to eliminate the council increase, saying he was uncomfortable with voting himself a third pay raise for this term of council. Councillors and non-unionized staff received raises of 3 per cent in 2008 and 2.5 per cent in 2009. However, Town of Milton CAO Mario Belvedere said the aim of reviewing the salaries annually is to ensure they don’t fall behind as inflation and growth occur. “What you see before you is the policy we’ve been following for years,” he told the committee, noting that staff and council raises have been linked for about seven years.

Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau isn’t a member of the administration and planning committee, so she didn’t have a vote. However, she said she favours providing the pay raise to both staff and councillors. “I wouldn’t want a good candidate for council to be discouraged by an inadequate remuneration,” she said.

Local resident Mike Grimwood, the only delegation speaking to the matter, argued that Town staff should receive raises based on individual excellence and initiative, not simply as an across-the-board bonus “just for showing up.” Noting that 2 per cent is above the rate of inflation for the year, he said, “Milton taxpayers’ pocketbooks seem to be depleted on a regular basis for the sole reason that others are doing it. This is ludicrous.”

The provincial government recently imposed a two-year freeze on the salaries and benefits of all non-unionized employees in the Ontario public service, including school board, hospital and provincial government workers. That included extending the current salary freeze for MPPs from one year to three years. Regional politicians also voted to freeze their salaries for the year, at a meeting in December.

The pay increase would only be applied to employees not represented by bargaining groups. Raises of 2.5 to 3 per cent have already been approved for the Town’s unionized employees, including Milton firefighters. The cost of a 2 per cent increase for non-unionized staff was included in the approved 2010 budget.

The issue will be considered by the full council at a meeting Monday.

New Lights Coming

May 16, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

As I mentioned in a previous entry, there have been a lot of concerns raised while out at the doors about the area around Thompson Road and Kennedy Circle/Louis St Laurent. After talking with some candidates in the ward across the street (ward 7) those concerns are shared by a lot of people.

I received an email from the engineering department at the town of Milton informing me that some changes are coming. They told me there will be a set of lights installed at the intersection of Clark Blvd and Thompson Road, possibly up and running by the end of July. Further studies have been and will be done again for the following intersections: Thompson & Hepburn, Thompson & Kennedy Circle and Thompson & Louis St Laurent.

Now before the “too many lights” people start raging, this doesn’t mean that there will be lights at each of these intersections. In order for that to happen that intersection needs to meet certain warrants (traffic totals in each direction) before anything happens.

I got further clarification of what is required for a signalled crosswalk, the most popular choice of people living in these areas, to be installed. During a period of study there needs to be approximately 200 pedestrians crossing the street in an 8 hour period. I don’t know exactly when these studies were done in the past but Im sure it comes close to that amount during the summer time.

People on the west side of Thompson Road directly across from the Metro Plaza have repeatedly told me and other Ward 7 candidates that its a challenge to walk to that mall. While they live less than 1KM from the plaza, they are forced to get into their cars and drive over for the fear of crossing Thompson Road. The same goes for the people on the east side of Thompson (our ward 6) trying to take advantage of the beautiful park and soccer fields. We shouldn’t have to get into our cars, to go to a park or go shopping when we live so close.

A signalled crosswalk would be beneficial for these and other people who want to walk in the town of Milton. Who knows when the lights will be put in at Louis St Laurent. LSL is slated for a major expansion this year and next in order to keep up with the growth of the Boyne Survey. There needs to be something at this location sooner.

Send me your email at mike@mikecluett.ca to add your name to a list of people interested in finding out if and when we can get a signalled crosswalk there sooner.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

It’s an election year!

May 11, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

That was the comment I heard most last night at the special council meeting at Town Hall.

The meeting started early yesterday and I missed the first portion of the towns report on the potential changes to the official plan. That in itself is a large post and I will endeavour to get that up as soon as possible. You can find information on the official plan from the town’s website here.

The second portion of the meeting was the towns report on the Boyne Survey. Again, a lengthy post and I will come out with more details soon. Here is the link to the town’s site for more information.

The item that quite frankly, I thought would be lost in the shuffle was a report from staff on the application for market adjustments in pay for non union town employees. This category includes town council and if it had passed as written, it would have been the fourth salary increase in four years for town council. Members of town council are included in this category and according to Mayor Krantz last night, they are caught in a “lose-lose” situation.

You would’ve had to be under a rock for the last 2 years to NOT notice our economy wasn’t doing so well. Many people have lost their jobs, and companies were closing their doors including major employers in Milton. Yet through all of the cut backs and job loses, one industry managed to make MORE money over these 3 years. The public sector.

Milton CAO Mario Belvedere outlined to the gallery and to council last night the methodology of how these pay increases come about. A citizens committee reviews the salaries and benefits of similar sized cities and towns in the GTA (when you look the report in detail you will see exactly which ones) and then comes up with an increase for Milton. Some of these municipalities have increased the salaries of non union employees by over 3 % and some a little lower, so Milton chose 2%.

The idea behind it is employee retention. The fear of someone quitting the town of Milton and going to work for Ajax or Mississauga is so strong they want to ensure they are paid well to keep the quality of workforce here in town. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

The staff at the Town of Milton is top notch and probably the best at what they do.

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say they should be paid more for what they do. Unfortunately we are faced with something called an economic reality…the bottom line.

There are those who feel that council members should be paid more for what they do. Most of them being members of council. The job of town councillor (of which I am running for) is a part time position but I am under no illusion that it will be part time hours. My eyes are WIDE open on this. Dealing with the public, going out to events, answering emails and phone calls takes time. I work full time, as most council members do, and that keeps me busy. My two children and wife will also keep me busy, but they understand what I’m doing and are fully supportive.

Town councillors in Milton are among the lowest paid elected officials in Ontario. Should they get more? Possibly. Can we do it now? Quite frankly, no.

Again, its that nagging little thing called the bottom line that SHOULD stop a lot of spending like this.

Councillor Greg Nelson put forward a motion to pass the 2% increase for non union employees and exempt the increase for town councillors. This as you would assume caused a lot of discussion. Jan Mowbraysaid the increase was so small (according to her numbers it amounts to $43 / month) then why bother making the changes. My response would be, since its so small town councillors wont notice the difference.

Councillor Schau commented that she’s worried that given the lower than the average salary might deter some good candidates from running in the election. Candidates, like myself, should go into this with eyes wide open. I’m not looking to run for a part time position for the pay. That isn’t the motivator behind my candidacy. If it was then I should just quit. The salary for the town council position is roughly $27,000 per year (with some of that being tax free). If someone is running for this job for the salary….they’re running for the wrong reasons.

Its about leadership. Just imagine if a motion like this was put forward at the beginning of the term? What would our numbers be like if the 3% from 2008 and the 2.5% increase from 2009 were limited to say 0.75% or 1%? How much money would the town have been able to save? “Nickels and dimes”, as they have been described my some members of council over the years, add up. Would a limited pay increase caused a massive exodus to other towns and cities from staff workers? Highly unlikely. But the “nickels and dimes” would have added up to savings. Voters in town would have seen council take a leadership role and feel that the bottom line was being addressed. Only a few current council members actually take note of costs of items that pass every month. It should be the majority of council looking at the bottom line.

With people in the private sector having to deal with salary cut backs and no increases to their salaries, its hard for them to accept the almost automatic pay increases of public sector workers. This doesn’t help increase their confidence in elected officials. It’s just one of the factors behind record low voter turnouts the last several years.

As I left someone made an interesting comment saying that no one on council brought up the provincial governments recent freeze on public sector salaries (albeit the provinces “freeze” has more holes in it that a sponge). Discussion was had on the issue for about 10 minutes and eventually passed and will be finalized at the next council meeting. This means our current council has only had 3 pay increases in their last term instead of 4.

Regular readers of my blog will know I’ve talked about the other pay increases ad nauseum here and here.

There will be those who say the pay increase was small and wont amount to much, but for me its about leadership and confidence. My only issue with it, it took 3 years and the fact its an election year to finally bring it out.

Milton needs to elect leaders around the council and we have an opportunity on October 25th to do that. If you are one who believes it needs to change, it’s up to do get informed, ask questions and get out and vote. mike@mikecluett.ca if you have any questions.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Enumeration Forms Have Been Mailed

May 5, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

Just as a reminder to everyone, if you havent already received them, the MPAC Enumeration Forms have been sent out to homes in Milton. Some may not receive this form as they are sending it out to people who’s information might be outdated or incomplete from the last time.

This is the form thats used to help update the voters list for the upcoming municipal election on October 25, 2010.

When you receive the form, you are supposed to verify that all the information is correct such as address, occupancy status and what school board you will be voting for (english / french – public or seperate). If everything is correct, sign the form and return it to MPAC by June 1, 2010. If there is any incorrect information, make the changes and send it back to them as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, or if you havent received this form, call MPAC at 1-866-296-MPAC (6722)

Dont miss out on your chance to vote on October 25, 2010! Have your say!

I’ll see you at the doors.