greg nelson

Even More Feedback on Milton Budget & Tax Levy

Mike Cluett

Continuing with some of the feedback I posted earlier last week, here is another letter to the editor of the Milton Canadian Champion in todays paper.

A re-do needed on Town budget

Dear Editor:

Milton council appears to be out of touch with the reality of today’s economy.

The country is in a recession, thousands of Canadians are unemployed, and citizens are still reeling from the introduction of the HST and hydro cost increases. And still Milton council feels increasing our property taxes at twice the rate of inflation represents good government. It doesn’t.

The Bank of Canada is projecting a 2 per cent inflation rate for 2011, which should represent the absolute limit for property tax increases this year. Town council needs to get back to work and have Town staff provide them with spending reductions that will keep the tax increases within the 2 per cent target.

These reductions should include, at a minimum, a freeze on the hiring of new employees, unfilled positions being left vacant and capital projects being reduced, as they eventually create ongoing operations and maintenance expenses. The Town should also be looking to contract out any services that it performs that can be more cost-effectively provided by the private sector.

The 1 per cent hospital tax levy should be rescinded. Ontario residents are already burdened with high Provincial taxes to support health care. The Town shouldn’t be creating a ‘stealth’ health-care tax  through our property taxes.

One of the more pleasant surprises I experienced when I moved to Milton over a decade ago was reasonable property taxes. To keep these taxes reasonable, council needs to recognize that prudent management of our tax dollars is expected of our elected members of council.

The budget for 2011 needs to be re-opened and spending reductions introduced to lower the Town portion of property taxes to a maximum 2 per cent increase.

Sean McCafferty, Milton

Committee Meetings

Mike Cluett

Tonight is the first of our “non-council” meetings throughout the year.  As I’ve mentioned here before, Milton Town Council is divided up into two standing committees (Community Services Standing Committee & Administration and Planning Standing Committee)  Half of council is on one and the other half is on the second with the Mayor sitting on both.  The Community Services Standing Committee consists of Regional Councillor Tony Lambert ( Wards 1, 6, 7 8 ) Local Councillors Greg Nelson (Ward 2), Local Councillor Rick Malboeuf (Ward 4), Local Councillor Arnold Huffman (Ward 5), Local Councillor Rick DiLorenzo (Ward7) and Mayor Gord Krantz.

The Community Services Standing Committee consists of the five Councillors and Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act. These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

Our first meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee is tonight at town hall (7pm) and while I don’t sit on that committee, we do attend these meetings without a vote.  Council members are not required to be there but the standing tradition is that they attend when possible to provide any additional information and feedback from the community that other councillors might not have.

The agenda for tonights meeting is here.

One of the items on tonight’s agenda is the by-law to be passed regarding the 4th Line / Britannia Road intersection closure slated for March to April of 2011.  You can find the report here.

Some of the questions Ive received over the past couple of weeks that I had my posting on the blog was to find out if the traffic lights set for Britannia Road (during the closure, Britannia Road will be reduced to one lane instead of two) and if the temporary lights will be unmanned and / or timers set to accommodate morning/afternoon rush hour traffic.

I received an email from Joe Proietti at the Region of Halton who assured me the lights will be unmanned but set up on timers and those timers will be set to recognize the increased amount of east / west traffic through the mornings and afternoons on Britannia Road.  This isn’t the most ideal situation and hopefully the Region of Halton will complete their work as soon as possible during this time.

Its imperative that the traffic flow along Britannia Road not be hindered during this time as it just adds to confusion and frustration of drivers looking to leave and enter Milton during the day.

I’ll keep you posted during the meeting via Twitter for any other updates.  Thanks to everyone who sent me emails about this.

Feedback About 1% Tax Levy

Mike Cluett

From The Milton Canadian Champion – Letters to the Editor

Hospital levy should be rescinded; taxpayers engaged in discussion

Dear Editor:I read with interest the article in the January 20 Champion entitled ‘Hospital levy increases tax hike by 1%.’

Reporter Christina Commisso wrote that in a 6-5 vote Milton council approved a 3.58 per cent tax increase, plus an unprecedented 1 per cent tax surcharge to help fund the possible future expansion of Milton District Hospital.

Any 6-5 decision is a bad decision, and this one is no exception.

It’s little wonder that Mayor Gord Krantz and councillors Mike Cluett, Tony Lambert, Greg Nelson and Rick Malboeuf didn’t support the 2011 budget. The 4.58 per cent tax hike is more than twice the 2 per cent inflation rate estimated for 2011 by the Bank of Canada. The 2010 inflation rate was 1.7 per cent.

Worse, monies will be set aside for a hospital expansion that isn’t even in the Province of Ontario’s current health infrastructure plan.

Our community’s ability to absorb a 3.58 per cent tax hike, let alone a 4.58 per cent tax increase with a hospital surcharge, is doubtful.

We’re in tough economic times and seniors on fixed incomes, young families with mortgages and local manufacturers and retailers that create jobs and drive municipal assessment revenues are all at risk.

Very few will see business revenues or personal incomes rise 3.58 or 4.58 per cent this year.

A re-do is in order.

Re-open the operating budget and reduce it to inflationary levels.

It’s time to rescind the unprecedented hospital surcharge and engage taxpayers in an open discussion about its future.

Council should also request Queen’s Park to immediately include the hospital expansion in its health infrastructure planning and require  it be funded through a public-private partnership, rather than using municipal property taxes.

John Challinor, Milton

Also…

Hospital tax levy tough to swallow

Dear Editor:This letter is in response to the 1 per cent tax levy approved by council for the hospital expansion.

At the time of planning for growth, where on the list of priorities was the expansion of Milton District Hospital? This should have been a top priority. How is the hospital supposed to cope with this new growth?

We already pay taxes to the Province for hospitals. Could money the Town gets from the Mohawk slots not go toward the hospital fund?

To me, there has been some poor planning shown by our governments.

Cecilia Thorpe, Milton

Milton Town Budget Barely Passes

Mike Cluett

From Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champion

Town budget barely passes

Council divided in approving Milton budget that will see municipal taxes rise by 4.58%

The 11 members of council spent little time discussing the increase during Monday’s marathon meeting, which saw only six of 11 councillors vote in favour of the controversial budget. Much of the divide and discussion came down to a 1 per cent tax levy that will establish a hospital expansion reserve fund.

Though Milton continues to enjoy one of the lowest property tax rates in the GTA, the 4.58 per cent increase was still too much for some councillors, including Milton’s mayor, to swallow.

“You’re always going to get differences, but a council split down the middle doesn’t send a very good message to the community and it doesn’t show a lot of confidence,” said Mayor Gord Krantz. “It sends a message that a lot of people are not comfortable with what’s going on. I hope it’s not a prelude of things to come.”

Voting against the budget were Krantz and councillors Tony Lambert, Greg Nelson, Rick Malboeuf and Mike Cluett. Voting for the budget were councillors Colin Best, Sharon Barkley, Cindy Lunau, Arnold Huffman, Rick Di Lorenzo and Zeeshan Hamid.

The increase isn’t nearly as steep as staff previously predicted was necessary, when an initial budget report suggested a levy of close to 7 per cent was needed. The report presented to the budget committee last week showed a 5.72 per cent levy, with options to bring that amount down to 2.08 per cent.

While a lot of Town Hall’s priorities were set during the previous council term, newly elected and returning councillors did make some slight changes to bring the increase closer to the rate of inflation. A $100,000 bike lane implementation program was reduced to $50,000 to be spread out over four years. The opening of the Milton Centre for the Arts and the new main library was delayed from April to June and a snowplow advertising campaign was eliminated from the budget.

The changes saved about $143,000.

The Town’s $164.2 million budget includes 80 infrastructure projects that total $85.6 million. The capital budget was largely influenced by eight multi-year projects pre-approved in 2010, which include the Main Street grade separation and several new facilities that should be operational by the year’s end.

On a $350,000 home, the 4.58 per cent increase translates to a $40.70 increase in the urban area and $34.05 for rural homes.

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 ($19.41/$100,000 of assessed value) and 2.09 per cent in the rural area ($17.48/$100,000 of assessed value).

Milton’s Budget Passes & Levy With A Twist

Mike Cluett

Just an FYI… according to reports today CPI rose to 2.4% in December.  Rate of increase in town portion of budget spending was 3.58% (add in 1.0% levy) for 4.58%. 

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2011/01/25/inflation-canada.html

Last night council continued its marathon discussions on the budget and other items almost until the wee hours of the morning.  Since taking office we have yet to finish a meeting before 11pm.  Tiring pace to say the least, but that’s why we were elected.

In addition to debating the 1% tax levy for hospital expansion, the meeting included a number of pubic sessions for input on future developments around town.  One of the contentious items was looking at the zoning for the north side of Main Street near Thompson Road.  Business owners made a pitch to council, of which some of it made sense, about allowing certain types of zoning for that area that will help them decrease their vacancy rates and have more businesses in town.  They are right.  This area is the new gateway to the community with the Milton Centre for the Arts and the Superstore at that intersection.  The zoning that is being allowed is still quite flexible but staff and council still had concerns when it comes to the types of zoning and the potential parking issues that might arise.  Its not a dead end for the business owners, as they can still apply for zoning changes.  The big thing that had to be considered is the development of the Main Street underpass and what the area will look like in the future.  Thats getting underway this year and next…hopefully it wont take too long.  My personal opinion is that this underpass should have already been started so that when its complete it can compliment the Arts Centre.  As it stands now, we might have some traffic issues from people on the west side of town coming towards that area using residential streets like Woodward, Nippising and Childs to get to the Arts Centre…but that’s a debate for another day.

After all the public meetings were complete, council moved to discuss “ITEM 18” from the budget which was the 1% tax levy for the hospital expansion.  Many of the same arguments were brought up again both on the pro and against sides of the arguement so really nothing new was discussed.  In the end, via a recorded vote, the results were the same.

In Favour of the 1% tax levy:  Clr Di Lorenzo, Hamid, Best, Lunau, Barkley, Huffman.

Against the 1% tax levy:  Clr Cluett, Nelson, Lambert, Malbouef and Mayor Krantz.

We could continue to debate this forever on the “how” we get the funding until sometime next year.  The points that I made were simple.  We needed to have public input on this item as we HAVE the opportunity to do so.  Some have stated taxes only as a last resort, but I honestly don’t feel that we’re there yet.  We have the time to garner input and support from the public on this and move forward in less of a fractured way.  The Chief of Staff at MDH along with the COO of MDH made presentations last night in support as they feel a fund is “critical” towards getting approval from the province.

The original staff motion in this budget was to have $100,000 from the community fund (funded by slot revenues and not tax dollars) placed into the reserve fund as a deposit to get it going and show the province we’ve put hard dollars into place.  The tax levy motion introduced by Councillor Lunau replaced that $100,000 with the 1% on taxpayers bills.  That $100,000 was later put back into the community fund through a notice of motion from Councillor Huffman to start a “matching” program with Milton service clubs.

An interesting development occurred last night when the Town Clerk informed us that the wording of the motion went against the municipal act.  You cant initiate a tax levy on just one taxpayer.  It has to be included in everyone’s tax bills including commercial, industrial and retail taxpayers.  This complicates the issue even more as many of the businesses in town (downtown Milton etc) are small businesses.  I know many of these people and they find it quite difficult to stay afloat and now we have added an additional 1% to their tax bill as well.  Again, without any consultation with the public whatsoever.

The reality is that the tax is here.  I did my best to convince my colleagues that it wasn’t the right thing to do right now.  We have more time and we should use it to get the job done right and involve the people in the decision making process.  The job now is to work with residents to educate them on whats going on in this process with the province, and what we will have to do in the future to fund this hospital expansion fund….without going BACK into taxpayers pockets with this levy.

I’d like to thank everyone over the past week who has emailed, called or personally spoken with me on this issue.  Some of us will disagree with what happened but an overwhelming number of you were in support of the public consultation process and wish we did more.  I promise I will do my best in the coming weeks and months to help that process along so that way we don’t have any more surprises like this and we work together as a town and most importantly as a unified council to get the desired result.  Only time will tell if it’ll work of if it does, we wont really know if by doing this it made the difference.  Milton is in competition with about 55 other municipalities who are struggling to do the right thing as well.  They are raising money…a lot more than we are. 

The need is there for Milton.  That’s not in doubt.  I will continue to pressure local officials to help me in convincing the province to recognize Milton, Canada’s fastest growing municipality, is in dire need of expansion of any kind to help improve the quality of health care services in town.  Whatever services our new hospital will have … we need something now.

Lets work together now to ensure that happens.

Hospital Levy Increases Tax Hike By 1%

Mike Cluett

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