It’s now that time of the year folks. Town Councillors with bleery eyes trudging through hundreds of pages of documents working on the 2011 budget for the Town of Milton.
You can go to Milton Town Hall and purchase a paper copy (I think its $40 but I’ll try to find out) or you can go to the Milton website and download them for free.
2011 Proposed Budget Documents
- Guide to Understanding the Budget – A Companion Document
- Forward & Introduction
- Capital Budget Summary
- Operating Budget Summary
- Departmental Details
- 2012-2020 Capital Budget Forecast
- 2012-2013 Operating Budget Forecast
- Reserve & Reserve Funds
- Supplementary Information
The Town Council will be meeting on the 17th and 18th (if necessary) to wade through the hundreds of spending items and we are looking for as much public input as possible. You can send your comments to me directly at mike@mikecluett.ca
From the Executive Summary (page 9)
The proposed 2011 budget will result in a Town property tax increase of 5.72%, which represents an increase of $45.63 in the urban area and a $36.45 increase in the rural area for a residence assessed at $300,000.00
Remember, this is ONLY the Town portion of your tax bill. There are other levels of government yet to approve their budgets including the Region of Halton, and the education portion yet to be determined.
I can speak from experience that many of the councillors are going through the budget documents in detail reviewing all spending and see what we can do without, postpone or what we have to pass on to taxpayers. With the new Arts & Entertainment Centre/Library and the Milton Sports Centre additions coming on -line this year, there are HUGE impacts to the operating budget, and in turn the tax rate for Milton taxpayers.
What I’d like to hear from you is what you think is a priority, what do you think we can postpone or do without in the coming year. Some of the items we are discussing as options are delaying the opening of the Milton Centre for the Arts, the Central Library, delaying the installation of bike lanes, eliminating the budget for Friday evening and Saturday transit services. The details of staff recommendations for this increases/decreases can be found in the Operating budget on pages 69-71. The staff recommendations are looking at the budget increase from 4.86% to a target of 3.03% with options to go lower.
UPDATE: Here are the links to the Schedule A (Budget Recommendations to reach 3.03%)
This council is committed to listening to taxypayers and we want all the input we can get. Take some time, review the documents and submit your comments or questions either here on the blog or email and I will get back to you.