mayor gord krantz

Looking for something to do New Years 2015 in Milton

Mike Cluett

Plans for New Years Eve in Milton?  If you don’t, why not head down to Milton Town Hall and ring in the new year….literally!

Here is some of the action from 2011.  You, your friends and family can come down and help ring the big bell to launch into 2015.  All the fun starts at 11:30pm on New Years Eve.  We hope to see you there!

As well, dont forget to come to Milton Town Hall on January 1st 2015 beginning at 1pm to share in fellowship and meet Mayor Krantz and my fellow members of Milton Town Council for the annual New Years Levee.

This is a day where Milton Town Councillors literally serve the residents…tea, coffee, cookies and good cheer.

So whether its New Years Eve and bell ringing or having some holiday cheer with your council members, we hope to see you there.

All the best for the holiday season and a happy, healthy & prosperous 2015!

When the chips are down…

Mike Cluett

…Regional Councillor Tony Lambert left Milton high and dry.

The following video is from yesterday’s Halton Regional Council meeting.  After a marathon 4 hour plus meeting an in camera report came up for a vote.  This report is a result of 3 years of discussion regarding ROPA 38, which is the Regional Official Plan Amendment that affects many areas in Halton, including Milton.

Our council representatives Mayor Gord Krantz, Councillor Best and Lambert received this detailed report less than 24 hours before the meeting before having to be asked to vote on it.  I wasnt part of the in camera discussions obviously, but what came out of it was a motion by Mayor Krantz to defer the report until such time that Town of Milton staff and legal teams could look into it in more detail.  This comes on top of an announcement from the provincial government regarding a change to the Places To Grow Act that will now, once complete, bring a total of 1,000,000 people to the Halton region, and MANY of those to Milton.

When its all said and done, the province of Ontario has deemed Milton to grow to over 350,000 people by 2041.

You can see that due to this development and the fact that Milton will be the location of the majority of that growth, our councillors representing the best interests of Milton would want to take a look at it some more.

If you watch the video, you will see that some of the discussion on Mayor Krantz’s deferral motion.  The results of the vote were 11-3 with our 3 regional representatives voting for the deferral, so it lost.

Then the vote on the main motion came up and this is where the head scratching begins.  When Milton needed to stand united on an issue that will affect this town for 20-30 years down the road, Tony Lambert first opposed the report by voting FOR the deferral, and then after that motion was lost, voted FOR the original report.

Regional council voted against the deferral and in turn lone Councillor Tony Lambert chose to support it in the end leaving Mayor Krantz and Colin Best standing alone. When the chips were down and Milton needed to stand united, for whatever reason he might come up with, Lambert chose to flip flop and change his mind to in essence desert Milton’s long term needs.

As regular readers of my blog will know, THIS is why there has to be change in representation for Milton at the Region and why I intend to run for the regional councillor position for wards 1,6,7 & 8 in 2014.

3 years of on the job training has not worked. Sadly as it is, this isnt the only example of erratic voting behaviour.

With all of these changes and important issues facing Milton in the coming years, we need someone who will stand up for Milton when the chips are down.

Happy New Year Milton

Mike Cluett

Thank you to everyone who came out to the annual New Year Bell Ringing at Milton Town Hall last night.  Over 100 people braved the chill in the air to join Mayor Krantz, myself along with some other councillors to help ring in the new year.

This tradition goes back to 1967 when Jim Dills started it.  Every year there is an honourary bell ringer to start us off.  This year was a young girl named Cara Slade who throughout the year had been job shadowing Mayor Krantz to learn about how local government worked and politics in general.  Look out Gord…shes gunning for your job!

Joining us this year as usual was the world’s most famous hockey dad Walter Gretzky who helped the kids and other adults cheer and ring in 2013.

It was a great night…to be followed by the Mayor and Councillors New Year’s Levee on January 1st.  I’ll post more about that later this week.

Happy New Year Milton!!! Have a wonderful, peaceful and prosperous 2013!

Official Opening of Craig Kielburger High School

Mike Cluett

It was more like a rock concert than an opening!  All the students of CKSS were in the gymnasium of their new school to celebrate in the opening of Milton’s newest high school.

The CKSS Spartan’s squad lead us with some great music and dancing.  There was singing by the glee club followed by student after student talking about what makes them different, yet the same, as each one of them declared afterwards that they “are the face of CKSS”

The excitement continued to build until what many were waiting for happened…Craig Kielburger was introduced to a standing ovation.  He talked about is journey as a 12 year old speaking to politicians and government officials to do something that many want to do…change the world.

He spoke passionately about his teachers, his parents and his family.  Everyone who supported him in his journey.  Many would have said a 12 year old couldn’t make a difference in the world…but he has.  Craig told us stories of people who inspired him in other countries to continue his quest and how deeply honoured he was to be there today.  Looking around at the students in attendance, you could see they were hanging on every word.  The opening ended with a mini concert from the band Neverest.  Once it was over students surrounded him to shake his hand and meet with him personally.  Like I said, it was like a rock concert.

Thank you to everyone involved in the organization of today’s event and I am very honoured to have been invited to attend along with Principal Donna Taylor, Mayor Krantz, Halton school board trustees Donna Danielli and Nancy MacNeil and the teachers of CKSS among others in attendance.

Congratulations on a fantastic opening and good luck with the rest of the school year and the years to come.  Im very proud that in 2 years my son Anthony will be able to attend CKSS as they are laying the ground work of a successful curriculum and a great learning environment.

AMO Coverage in Milton Champion

Mike Cluett

Milton politicians stress need for more schools at AMO – Key concerns discussed at provincial conference

Julia Le – Milton Canadian Champion:  A need for more schools was among the key concerns Mayor Gord Krantz and eight councillors raised last week during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.

Krantz, councillors Sharon Barkley, Arnold Huffman, Mike Cluett, Rick Di Lorenzo, Cindy Lunau and Zeeshan Hamid, Tony Lambert and Local and Regional Councillor Colin Best were joined by Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr and Halton District School Board Trustee Donna Danielli as they met with Deputy Education Minister George Zegarac at the conference held in Ottawa to explain the challenging situation they are finding the Town in and the dire need from the Province to commit to building more schools to support the fast growing communities and the families and young children moving into them.

The meeting was originally schedule with Education Minister Laurel Broten, however likely due to the issues surrounding the current negotiations with teachers’ unions and school boards, Broten was unable to attend the conference, held each year to bring together municipal and provincial leaders and offer panels, discussions, and keynotes on a selection of municipal interest topics led by industry experts.

The group served as a united front in presenting Zegarac the reality Milton faces.

Danielli, the school trustee for the Milton 2, 3, 4 and 5 areas, said if it wasn’t for the repurposing of the old E.C. Drury High School, P.L. Robertson Public School was projected to have 40 portables by 2014. The old high school will now host a satellite location for P.L. Robertson as a temporary measure until a new school is built.

“It’s the best solution we have, but it certainly isn’t an ideal situation,” she said, adding that there’s no real place for full-day kindergarten and that families will have to be split up at different locations.

The group also lobbied for more funding to keep older schools up-to-date technologically and physically.

Danielli added the funding formula the province uses to dole out money to school boards needs to be revised.

“When you look at the 11 boards that are closest in area (to us), we’re at the bottom of the list in terms of per pupil funding,” she said.

The 56,000 students in Milton are receiving $1,000 to $1,500 when compared to surrounding school boards.

Krantz said he believes the group put its best case forward to the Ministry of Education and Zegarac, who seemed to be well versed in the town’s concerns.

“Was there anything ultimately resolved, well that’s hard to tell at this point, but I refer to it as keeping issues on the radar screen,” he said. “I think being in their face with your issues is just as important. (It shows) we’re not going away until we get some of this stuff sorted out.”

Danielli was more optimistic about the outcome of the meeting.

She said Zegarac seemed empathetic, even going as far as to say Milton was the “poster child of why we need capital funding.”

She doesn’t believe anything will be resolved until teacher negotiations have been settled, but hopes the Town will get the green light sooner rather than later to start construction before the end of the year.

Other issues Krantz and councillors discussed with the appropriate provincial ministers at the conference included making sure the hospital expansion was kept on the radar and the effect the Slots at the Racetracks program closure will have, not only on the horse racing industry but on the town.

The Province announced earlier this year that all payments made to the horse racing industry, including Mohawk Slots, through the Slots at the Racetracks program will end as of March 31, 2013.

Krantz and Lunau met with Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin to discuss the importance of keeping the horse industry alive. 

AMO Update – Post Ottawa

Mike Cluett

Over the next couple of days, I will get a more detailed accounting of what Milton councillors did on our 3 day conference in Ottawa.  I promise 🙂

For those that don’t know, myself along with a number of Milton Councillors attended the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference in Ottawa.  This gives local elected officials an opportunity to meet, discuss ideas that are important to their constituents, attend workshops and seminars as well as network with provincial government officials as well.

Last year a number of councillors went to the conference in London Ontario to meet with the infrastructure minister as well as the provincial health minister to stress the importance of the expansion of Milton District Hospital.  At that point we were armed with over 6,000 plus fresh signatures from the Grow Milton Hospital campaign as well as the previous Friends of Milton Hospital’s 35,000 plus signed cards from residents to let them know the number one issue in our town was the hospital.

You’ll remember that shortly after that (and a looming provincial election in the coming weeks MIGHT have had a LITTLE something to do with the announcement /end sarcasm) we received word that the expansion was going to move forward.

This year there were a number of issues that face Milton as we continue to grow in leaps and bounds.  Unofficially our population ticker is over the 100,000 mark and headed even higher.  There is a lack of schools being committed in Milton, which is one of the main reasons that our Halton District School Board Trustee Donna Danielli attended the conference for this meeting.

We were originallytrying to meet with the Education Minister Laurel Broten, but given the high pressure of the teachers negotiations, she was nowhere to be found in Ottawa (same as the finance minister oddly enough 🙂 ) but we ended up with Deputy Education Minister instead.

The deputy minister knew of Milton’s needs well before we got there as we are one of many municipalities that are facing these school shortages.  Donna was our “point person” during this meeting as she faces these issues on a daily basis, hearing from residents about when new schools will be ready, why there are 30 portables in each location and when will it stop.  Milton council members don’t have jurisdiction in this at all.  I got emails from folks telling me that we shouldn’t be bothering since we have no control.

Its true.  We dont have an official say in this and our presence there was mainly symbolic.  But it did make a point to every minister we met that Milton meant business.  If you follow the news at all, you know there is a lot going on right now with the education ministry and the “negotiations” with school boards and teachers, which was probably the reason she didnt make it to the AMO conference.  I am confident that we will be hearing some good news soon regarding some of our much needed schools in Milton, after everything else is being dealt with.  So stay tuned for that news.

That wasn’t the only meeting myself and the other councillors attended in the 3 days.  There were a number of meetings with government ministers to discuss items like slot revenues, the horse racing industry and MPAC issues we are having. 

As outlined by Kim Arnott in the Milton Canadian Champion recently, we could be possibly facing an issue of property tax increases here in Milton and other areas due to MPAC being delayed in their reassessment of homes.  Here’s the article.

Assessment issues could impact Milton property taxes

A “hair-raising” property tax increase could be in the works for Milton as a result of assessment issues that are beyond the Town’s control.  A combination of delayed assessment updates and resolved assessment appeals could result in a property tax impact of as much as $2 million, or a six to seven per cent increase on local property taxes.When combined with education and regional taxes, the result could be an increase of two to three per cent on the combined tax bill that’s mailed to local residents.  

“It’s making the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” said Councillor Mike Cluett. “This is very important.”A report delivered to council last night by Milton treasurer Linda Leeds outlined the challenges for the coming year.  The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), the provincial body responsible for assessing properties and assigning values for taxation purposes, will be conducting a province-wide reassessment next year.

Prior to the completion of that reassessment, an attempt is currently underway to resolve outstanding assessment appeals from prior years, with a focus on commercial and industrial properties.  However, that means that assessors are involved in hearings and not available to undertake assessments of new properties so they can be added to municipal tax rolls.

This is particularly problematic for rapidly-developing municipalities like Milton. The assessment and addition of new properties throughout the year — known as supplementary assessments — allows the Town to begin collecting taxes from those properties.  A delay in adding new properties to the municipal tax rolls means the Town needs to finance the expansion of services to accommodate new residents and business while it waits for the cash to come in.

In the 2012 budget, taxes from supplementary assessments were anticipated to be $2 million. However, so far this year MPAC has assessed only 116 of more than 800 new residential properties, for a total of only $77,413 in property taxes.

Staff is particularly concerned with the possibility that new commercial and industrial properties – which typically carry large tax bills – may not be assessed in a timely fashion.  The attempt to rapidly resolve outstanding assessment appeals could also impact on the town’s finances.

When property owners appeal their assessments, they are required to pay the full assessment until a decision is made on the appeal. If an appeal is successful, the Town issues a refund for taxes paid.   

As the 2012 budget was established prior to the announcement of the plan to try and resolve outstanding appeals, only $230,000 was budgeted for refunds arising from successful appeals.  However, with 94 individual non-residential properties in Milton combining for 591 appeals (some dating back to 2001), the town could easily be on the hook for refunds that far surpass the budgeted amount.While the town has no direct control over MPAC, councillors did pass a resolution to ask MPAC to undertake the necessary supplementary assessments, and resolved to bring the issue to the attention of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

One of the seminar/workshops that AMO had this week was an update from MPAC by Chair of the Board Dan Mathieson and Antoni Wisniowski, the new CAO and the status of a number of things, and whats to come.  Needless to say it didn’t have a lot of answers to questions during the presentations, but they did do a Q&A with attendees afterwards.  As you would expect, Regional Councillor Colin Best was right up there for the questions and highlighted many of our concerns raised in that motion Milton council passed.

From what we were told at the conference, the slides and possibly video of some of these sessions might be available so if and when it does, I will post here on my site.

I will get into more detail soon regarding the different sessions myself and members of council did attend.  We were there en masse and we tried to spread ourselves out to maximize our numbers but there was still some overlap in some of the sessions.

If you have any questions or want some specific information on sessions I attended on behalf of the Town of Milton, either post a  comment or send me an email Mike@MikeCluett.ca