mike cluett

Halton Region to Vote on 1.3 % Tax Increase Today

Mike Cluett

From Kim Arnott at the Oakville Beaver 

Halton Region to vote on 1.3 per cent tax increase

While Halton’s police officers will receive a 3.1 per cent salary increase this year, the remainder of the region’s staff could see their pay increases limited to 2.25 per cent.The region’s budget committee set the upward limit on union settlements and non-union pay-for-performance increases on Monday, as it finalized a 2011 budget recommendation that features a 1.3 per cent tax increase.

“I think that the public is looking for us to show some leadership and keep in line with the private sector,” said Halton Hills councillor Jane Fogal.

Fogal introduced the motion after the defeat of a similar motion from Burlington councillor Jack Dennison that would have seen pay increases capped at 1.9 per cent.

Dennison argued that the lower cap was reasonable because the region is a desirable place to work, and past arbitration decisions have often awarded pay increases in that range.

While the vote on capping pay increases took place publicly, councillors went into closed session for about 45 minutes beforehand to discuss the salary issue.

Although Burlington councillor John Taylor questioned the need to discuss the issue privately, Halton region CAO Pat Moyle urged the move into closed session, noting that the region will soon begin negotiating collective agreements with seven employee groups.

The decision to adopt the cap on salary increases resulted in a 0.2 per cent tax decrease on all regional services except policing. While the average taxpayer will have to fork over about $20 more this year, that extra money will pay for additional policing costs.

Earlier in the budget process, councillors questioned $2.4 million in wage and benefit increases that helped drive up the Halton police budget by 6.9 per cent this year. Although the region has the responsibility for collecting taxes for policing, it has no say in the police budget, which is approved independently by the police services board.

The most recent collective bargaining agreement with police spread out a 9.2 per cent wage increase over three years.

However, regional chair Gary Carr says he is pleased with the budget and proud of what he describes as “without a doubt, the best record on taxes across the country.”

Pointing to four years of near tax freezes at the regional level, Carr credits the philosophy of ensuring growth pays for itself through development charges. He says that has allowed the region to almost triple the amount of money it spends on transportation projects without passing along costs to taxpayers.

However, the region has also been helped by the phase-out of GTA pooling to contribute to Toronto’s social services costs. For 2011, the savings for Halton amounted to $5.8 million.

And while this year’s tax hit might be light, residents will see water and wastewater rates – paid through local hydro companies – increase by 4.1 per cent in 2011. For the average household, the increase means homeowners will pay $798 a year, up from $767 last year.

The budget will be considered by the full regional council on Wednesday (today).

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 

Milton Police Blotter – January 20 2011

Mike Cluett

From the Milton Canadian Champion

Teen robbed of cell phone outside Memorial Arena

Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, two males approached a 16-year-old youth outside Milton Memorial Arena, police said.

The two males proceeded to detain the victim, by holding onto his backpack, and steal his Blackberry.  The suspects fled, crossing Thompson Road.

The first suspect is described as five-foot-10 and in his late teens or early twenties. He was wearing baggy jeans and a black puffy jacket.  The second suspect has a thin build and short spiky hair.

Both were possibly of Middle-Eastern decent, police said.

Cameras stolen in break-in

A Cannon Rebel camera along with its 55mm lens and an Olympus camera were taken from a Sixth Line home near Derry Road last Thursday.

The break-in occurred between 2 and 3 p.m.  The culprits smashed through the home’s front door to gain entry.

Break-in at shop

Pro-Nail on Main Street East was broken into after the front door and window were smashed overnight Friday.   During the incident, two containers of nail-hardener, with a combined estimated value of $350, were taken.   Loose change was also taken from the shop.

CDs and DVDs stolen from car

Overnight last week, a Kia Sedona was broken into at a residence on Trudeau Drive.   During the incident, CDs and DVDs were stolen.  Police said the car was unlocked.

Two vehicles broken into

Overnight January 12, cars on Switzer Crescent and Cousens Trail were broken into, police said.  During the first incident, a wallet, which contained identification, credit cards and cash, was taken from the unlocked car.

In the second incident, the same items were taken from a locked 2009 Jeep.

More 2011 Budget Feedback

Mike Cluett

There has been lots of discussion on the Hawthorne Villager web forum on the aftermath of the 2011 Milton budget that was passed by the committee on Monday.  You can follow it here.

I made a comment on one of the threads regarding the importance of public involvement in the budget process that I’ll post here as well.  For those that don’t know, the budget process just doesn’t happen at the end of the year.  Its a result of many months of work from town staff, reports to council and public feedback.

Its important that the residents of Milton are involved in that process, and as I outline in my post on the Villager, we have many new faces on council that are “connected” and available to get that important feedback from taxpayers and in this coming year we will be looking at the 2012 budget.  (I know we JUST finished with 2011 and now were on to 2012!)

Next year will be even more of a challenge as further operational costs from the Milton Centre for the Arts, the new library and the Milton Sports Centre come online.  There’s the challenge of what kind of state our economy will be in and how it will affect long term projections.  Its important we get the feedback from the public on what you feel the town’s priorities should be.

Next Monday is the council meeting where we will be reviewing the last budget committee report and passing (?) the 2011 budget.  As I said, after this, we look forward towards 2012 and what Milton will look like then, what we will be spending money on, what roads will be developed or set into the pipeline and you need to be part of it.

Here’s my post from the Villager.  Feel free to comment there or here.

The beauty of having so many new councillors who are “connected” online and very active in the community is that this coming budget process – which is a public process – will become MORE public. Meetings will be promoted through councillors websites, through this board and others and hopefully more throughout the local media (Champion, MiltonTodayTV, TV Cogeco etc)

I KNOW my collegues will work together to have even MORE budget town hall meetings through this process to get even MORE input from the public. Its not a criticism of the past, but more of a comment for the future.

Budgets aren’t on everyone’s top 10 lists of things to do during the week but hopefully we can get more feedback from Milton residents on what they want. A continuation of sorts from the election campaign. I campaigned on continuing to knock on doors between campaigns and I intend to do so and challenge my council friends to do the same.

We are fully aware of mistakes made in the past by other municipalities like Mississauga and Bramtpon to name a couple and we want to ensure that doesn’t happen here.

As long as the process is open as much as possible to the public and they have their say on major issues like a further tax levy for hospital expansion for increases in spending for transit, we will have done our job.

Ive talked with all my council friends and said that when we look at these budget figures to look at them like were doing our home budgets. Wants vs needs and if we can find savings or further efficiencies we have a duty to do so. We also need to look at both the long range and the short term as well. Is the economy doing well…what is the outlook for the next few years…what is the long range outlook for the next ten years. Some questions are easily answered and some are more difficult and will require debate. We have to look at the long range goals of the town of Milton…what demands are placed on us from other levels of government like the Region of Halton and the Province of Ontario (which directs our growth goals)

If you thought the last few years saw a lot of change, as the old saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Changes are happening from all directions…Milton Education Village, Derry Green Corporate Business Park, Boyne Survey, the possible hospital expansion and the intensification of Main Street.

Im open to any and all suggestions and if they make sense, we can move forward on them. Democracy is like a conversation…it cant be one way…which is why we need your input and feedback. That’s what a majority of us were elected on this past October and now were in office we cant forget those reasons.

Keep the debate coming …

2011 Budget Increase of 4.58%

Mike Cluett

*EDIT* I was incorrect with the amount of the increase.  It wasnt 4.56% it is 4.58% increase (3.58% plus 1% tax levy)  I apologize for any confusion.

First off want to thank the many of you for sending your comments, questions and input for the 2011 budget.  Over the past couple of weeks since posting the information online, I have received close to 100 questions from concerned taxpayers on the direction of where your tax dollars should be spent.

After a long meeting that went past midnight, the budget committee approved a budget increase of 3.58% for the 2011 year.  This of course did not come easy as there was some spirited debate on a number of items including transit and the hospital expansion fund.

Once the capital and operating budgets were reviewed and staff recommendations approved or declined was complete and that we came to the 3.58% increase, council moved forward to the final section of the budget debates … the hospital expansion fund.

The proposal that was before us was to put $100,000 into this fund as a way of showing the provincial government that Milton is serious about getting MDH approved for expansion.  This $100,000 allocation would be coming from the Milton Community Fund which in turn is funded from OLG Slot revenues.  Many municipalities have made intentions known that they will do it, and this would show that we are indeed serious about improving the quality of healthcare services in Milton.  Councillor Lunau put forward a motion at the end of the meeting saying that a 1% tax levy should be applied to Milton taxpayers and those funds be directed into the expansion fund.

The decision came down to either having $100,000 as a start up amount or having the proceeds of the tax levy (roughly $300,000) as the start up amount.  Debate on the issue went back and forth with everyone on council agreeing we need to do something.  So it was either taking some money from the OLG Slot revenues that Milton receives every year (not guaranteed by the way) or going to the taxpayers directly with the levy.

I brought up some concerns I had with the motion to my fellow members of council.  Last year, council (of which I wasn’t a member) approved a motion stating that we would move forward in establishing this fund and from the discussion that was raised, council had the intentions of using property tax increases as a last resort.  We are NOT at that last resort stage yet.  We haven’t even started.

This council has only been elected since October 25th and in our first budget we are going to tell Milton residents that we are going to institute a 1% tax levy for this hospital expansion fund.  No one will doubt that we need to do something and I think we are all unified in this town that the hospital is a major priority.  Where we differ is the “how” and not the “why”

I mentioned to council that evening that I don’t feel comfortable voting for this extra tax increase without input from the community.  As one councillor stated “we were elected to make these tough decisions” but I think when it comes to property tax increases, we need to consult the public before we take any more money out of their wallets.

If we remember back in the days of the previous election, it didn’t take much to get the Milton Sports Centre filled to capacity when we wanted to discuss Pristine Power and the proposed power plant in Milton.  With the hospital and its expansion being tops of many Miltonians lists of priorities, I don’t think it would be hard to repeat that feat and once again fill the rooms of the Sports Centre to discuss options to fund this expansion fund.

In the end it came down to a close vote of 6-5 to approve the 1% tax levy.  The final budget will come out to a 4.58% increase over last year.  We have been given an assurance that these funds associated with the levy are to go towards that local portion and ONLY for that use.

This coming Monday, Milton Town Council will meet again to approve this budget and set the course for 2011.  This past campaign, many candidates made promises to voters to gain support.  Some of them wanted to keep taxes as low as possible so we can enjoy one of the lowest taxes in the GTA.  Others said they will do their best to keep taxes in line with the rate of inflation.  What was almost unanimous amongst the candidates and future elected representatives was the assurance of accountability.  Myself included.

If you go back in this blog and throughout the election campaign, I stated that I wouldn’t support the 2011 budget if the increase was over the rate of inflation.  Depending on what study you look at, inflation in Canada is roughly between 2% to 2.5% That’s where I would have felt comfortable in approving the budget this time around.  The town portion of the budget only represents 29% of the tax bill so the rate of increase on your tax bill is roughly 2.2%

My quandary is with the increase in the rate of spending during a time in our economy where things are in a state of flux.  Our neighbours to the south are spending TRILLIONS of dollars quarterly to help improve their economy with not much to show for it.  It was important that at this point in our economy, we be careful as a municipality with spending.  If our closest trading partner sneezes, chances are Canada might catch a cold.  We have to be careful.

This coming Monday, as I did this past Monday night, I won’t be able to support our budget.  It’s unfortunate that as a council we cannot be unanimous in approving it but for the reasons I stated above and in keeping with my commitment of accountability and making public input a priority, I won’t be able to stand in support of the 2011 Milton budget.

I thank you for your comments over the last couple of days and look forward to hearing more from you before Monday’s meeting.  As always you can post comments here, or email me mike@mikecluett.ca or call (647) 888-9032.

I’m here to listen to you and what you have to say.