milton town councillor mike cluett

January 2013 Ward 6 Newsletter

Mike Cluett

Just a quick post to say HAPPY NEW YEAR and for you to download a copy of my newsletter for January 2013.

HERE is the link for the Newsletter.

I will be working on a delivery system where you can opt in via email and have them automatically sent out as they are ready.  Slowly but surely.

One of my resolutions this year is to be more effective in communicating with residents in Milton.  I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts on my video newsletters…should I do it more often….themes/topics of discussions…”VLOG” like postings? Let me know as I’m open to any idea.

Lets hope 2013 is happy and prosperous for you all and I look forward to seeing you at the doors.

Town of Milton Population Hits Six Digits

Mike Cluett

Town’s population hits six digits

From Julia Le, Milton Canadian Champion

Milton is ending the year with a bang.  With the population hitting the 100,000 mark by year’s end, according to Town planning estimates, the town is staying true to its ranking as Canada’s fastest growing community.

Milton Acting CAO Bill Mann said the Town is excited about seeing its vision for the community come to fruition.

He said Milton truly embodies a place where you can live, work and play.

Over the last 15 years, the Town has made a considerable effort to attract people through affordable housing and businesses that will in turn create employment opportunities, according to Mann.

He added the Town has also been creating more neighbourhood parks and building a complete community that has recreational facilities, an arts centre and other amenities, while ensuring residents have the required essential services.

Mann cited that Milton is home to large distribution centres for Target and Lowe’s. The Target distribution centre set to open in May 2013 will be a 1.3 million-sq.-ft. facility and will employ hundreds of people, while the Lowe’s distribution centre, which broke ground last August, will be a 626,000-sq.-ft. facility also expected to employ hundreds of people.

Mann said the Town is guided by the principles of growth engrained in its strategic plan.

He said in 1997, the Town’s official plan anticipated Halton Region’s delivery in 2000 of ‘The Big Pipe’ carrying Lake Ontario water up from Oakville to Milton, and a population that would grow to about 165,000 people by 2021.

Mann said the Town is keeping pace and may exceed that estimate, considering the population grew from 31,471 residents in 2001 to 53,889 in 2006 and 84,362 in 2011, according to census data.

“If we’re able to generate intensification, our population may be 185,000 in 2021 and then by 2031 we’re looking at a minimum of 236,000 people,” he said, adding that Milton has the potential to grow out to 300,000 to 350,000 people. “(If so) Milton will ultimately be larger than Burlington and Oakville.”

But developing and shaping Milton hasn’t come without a price.

“As you can appreciate in any community that is growing as fast as we are, we are experiencing growing pains,” said Mann.

The Town is doing everything in its power to ensure schools, transportation and transit and the hospital keeps up with the population boom.

He said Craig Kielburger Secondary School opened this year and a new catholic high school will open the following year.

Mann added the Town is working with the Region to widen Regional Road 25 and Tremaine Road. Tremaine Road has already been widened between Main Street and Derry Road and next spring there are plans to widen it from Derry to Britannia roads and then from Main Street to Steeles Avenue.

There’s also a long-term plan to expand transit service, have two more GO stops within Milton and encourage the community to get out of cars and walk, cycle or use public transit.

The hospital will also be expanded, with the first patient likely to be seen in December 2017 or January 2018.

“If you look at the last census, the average age dropped down to 34. That’s the youngest age in any community,” he said. “And when you look at the birth rate, we have the highest birthrate at 1,500 births a year, which is phenomenal, hence our need to expand the hospital.”

He said the Town is taking on the challenges head-on and planning for the future.

Other major projects down the line include seeing the Milton Education Village come to fruition and encouraging the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to work with Mohawk Racetracks to have a full casino and entertainment complex built. He said it would include a hotel and golf course.

Mann said Milton may be expanding, but it hasn’t lost its roots.

“We’re still maintaining that small town atmosphere,” he said, adding that the town has a tremendous historical fabric. “One of the most beautiful things about Milton is people are on a first-name basis.”

He said with the Niagara Escarpment as its backdrop, Milton is really the place to be.

“There is tremendous opportunity within Milton,” he said. “Growing pains will always be there, but they’re manageable and will diminish as we move forward to ultimate state of Milton.”

SNOW PLOWING INFORMATION

Mike Cluett

Ive had quite a few emails this morning as to when streets will be plowed and other snow information.

Here are some links for SNOW

http://www.milton.ca/en/live/resources/ … -roads.pdf

This link is the target snow clearing timelines in town….which roads (arterial, collector, etc) get done first.

http://www.milton.ca/en/live/snowremoval.asp

This link is the main snow page on the Town of Milton site.

Dont forget if you can avoid it at all…do not park on the road to allow for the snow plows.

Allow the Plow!

We all want our street cleared of snow quickly, but nothing slows down the work of snow plows more than cars parked on the street.

Please remember:Mascot named Allow the Plow

3-hour parking unless otherwise posted.
Cars must be off the road during snow plowing (3-hour parking limit does not apply).
Cars impeding snow plowing can be ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense.
Keeping your car off the street will speed up snow removal.

If your street has not been cleared within 24 hours after a storm has ended, please call the Snow Control office:

Engineering Services
Phone:905-878-7252 ext 2500

Council Approves Another Tax Increase 3.04%

Mike Cluett

Here is an article from the Milton Canadian Champion with a very brief summation of the budget committee meeting this past Monday at Milton Town Hall.  The meeting went on for over 4 hours and our initial goal was to be at 2.95% increase or lower but it went in the other direction.

There were three main items that council approved that helped send this increase in the budget over the rate of inflation (which is the number I normally support).  The items include an increase increase for parking control because of the change in policy from 3 hour parking to 5 on Milton streets ($55,000), Saturday transit service starting in September 2013 (4 months $76,000) and finally an infrastructure reserve “levy” so to speak ($100,000 every year).

During the budget debate I opposed these three measures (Saturday transit service you can find in another blog entry) and the other two items listed I didn’t support and were subject to a recorded vote.  I did find it interesting that a councillor who voted in support of the transit & parking control measures (which amounted to $133,000 or just over 1.0% of the budget) ended up voting against the budget as a whole.  If they had NOT supported this measure I can understand voting against it.  Isnt that like having your cake and eating it too?

I’ll be posting more on this and other issues as we get closer to Monday night’s council meeting (my birthday by the way 🙂 ) and no doubt these and other items will be discussed over the next year.

Proposed Town budget to go to council next week

After spending hours debating what to include in the Town’s 2013 budget, members of the budget committee Monday night approved a 3 per cent tax hike for urban residents and a 3.05 per cent tax hike for rural residents.

If the budget passes next week, the average rural resident and urban resident will pay an extra $23.17 and $26.46 respectively on a home assessed at $350,000.

The budget committee voted 6-5 in favour of the proposed budget. Councillors and staff spent the night crunching the numbers in an attempt to meet or lower the staff’s recommended hike of 2.95 per cent.

Voting in favour of approving the budget were councillors Colin Best, Sharon Barkley, Cindy Lunau, Arnold Huffman, Rick Di Lorenzo and Zeeshan Hamid.

Voting against it were Mayor Gord Krantz, councillors Rick Malboeuf, Tony Lambert, Greg Nelson and Mike Cluett.

Hamid said it was a complicated budget to work with.

“I don’t think any one of us are happy with what we have, but it’s a compromise,” he said.

“I’m hoping that we recognize that we all came up with this document collectively.”

Krantz said he had hoped for the increase to be closer to the inflation rate of about 2 per cent.

An infrastructure renewal reserve fund was added to the budget Monday night to address future needs. An initial $100,000 to establish the fund increased the proposed tax hike from 2.75 per cent to about 3 per cent.

Barkley argued that the difference Milton residents would be paying next year is a few dollars extra.

Other amendments, additions and deletions to the budget include:

• Allowing the library to open a half hour earlier at a cost of $16,448.

• Permitting the main library to be open on Mondays at a cost of $69,702.

• Discontinuing the Talk of the Town publication, which will save the Town $12,000

• Reducing the budget for catch basin cleaning, which will save the Town $20,000

• Cutting the number of councillors who attend the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference to the mayor and three other councillors, which will save the Town $8,000.

The capital portion of the budget projects a $65.4 million investment in about 100 projects related to new infrastructure and the rehabilitation of existing assets like facilities, roads, bridges, parks and equipment. About 82 per cent of the investment would go to projects to address the current and future needs of the community while 18 per cent of the investment would go to the renewal and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure.

The operating part of the budget, which looks after the delivery of services required to meet the needs arising from growth in the community and to support the quality of life that residents expect, is projected at around $94.4 million. It’s divided among the Town’s departments, with engineering services, community services and planning and fire departments providing the most direct services to the community.

Enhancements include hiring five additional fulltime firefighters at the new James Snow Parkway station, improved economic development resources to develop an innovation centre, extended transit services to include Saturdays, and parking enforcement to accommodate a proposed five-hour parking regulation.

Town staff said Milton continues to have one of the lowest tax rate in Halton and Peel regions.

The Town’s portion of the overall property tax bill is now estimated at 31 per cent. The regional and education taxes are proposed to make up 43 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

That means Miltonians could see an overall tax increase of 1.61 per cent in the urban area and 1.57 per cent in the rural area on their 2013 property tax bills.

Why Saturday Transit in Milton Can Wait

Mike Cluett

As many of you will read in the Milton Canadian Champion, Town Council recently approved (yet to be ratified) a property tax increase of 3.04% urban and 3.05% rural for 2013.  This budget included many needed capital and operating projects that will help improve the quality of life in town.

I can speak to those measures in another blog, but I wanted to bring to your attention the budget committee’s approval of offering Saturday Transit service.  Earlier this year, when the concept of Saturday transit was on the table before council, we had voted to defer the program until we had an opportunity to review the Milton Transit Master Plan.

This master plan will help set the course of where transit would go in Milton from 2013 and beyond.  To date we have still not received that report.  Many councillors, including myself, had attended the public meetings over the summer to help provide input in that master plan.  This report is slated to be reviewed by council in January, although it was initially supposed to be presented in November, which would have given us a chance to reviews its findings and make decisions at that time.

Minus the Milton Transit Master plan, I felt it was necessary to not support the Saturday service.  This service is slated to begin in September of 2013 at a cost to Milton taxpayers of $76,000.00 for 4 months.  Through this measure, we have now committed this and future councils to an annualized cost of $228,000.00 + per year for this service.

Some have asked me why did I not support it.  The short answer is that its not time yet for such a service despite some public feedback that we need it now.  I am supportive of the concept of expanding our transit services in the coming years, but not right now given some of the numbers I have been reviewing.

This blog post is to serve as the “long” answer to that question of why not now.

With a proposed $76,000 in operating expenses for Saturday service beginning in September 2013, and a targeted Revenue : Cost ratio (set by staff) of 45%, the revenue required to reach the R/C goal results in 671 fares per Saturday. To be fair, the current R/C ratio is 40%, resulting in 596 fares per Saturday, to maintain the status quo.

76,000 x 45% = 34,200 / 3.00 Fare / 17 Saturdays = 671
76,000 x 40% = 30,400 / 3.00 Fare / 17 Saturdays = 596

Based on the most recent Monthly Ridership Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from October 2012, Milton Transit totalled 31,697 boardings that month.  There were 23 days of service. The result is a daily total average of 1,378 boardings. So at first glance, all Saturday service needs to do is operate at half the capacity to meet the 45% R/C target.

However, 930 of the conventional ridership were School Specials and Evening Drop Offs (which will not be included in Saturday service). Also to be noted, October 2012 was an anomalous 5,000 riders higher than any other month, ever. Using the annual average (with the inflated October numbers) of 25,527 boardings per month, the daily average is 1,109 boardings (based on a 23 day service month). Therefore Saturday transit service will need to operate at 60% of conventional weekday service to reach the R/C target, and 53% of the current R/C ratio. Keep in mind, approximately 930 riders (October numbers) of the monthly ridership will be automatically voided due to the fact School and Evening routes will not be offered.

But clearly, this increase in the budget has been called upon by the majority of residents in order for Council to deem it a valuable expenditure? Hardly. Of the 1290 recorded Customer Comments from 2012, 190 (14.7%) were related to weekend service.

But then, Milton Transit must be showing numbers of increasing growth which would demonstrate the need for service growth? Again, hardly. The first graph below indicates that while Milton Transit has been steadily growing since Q1 of 2010, with the biggest spike between Q3-Q4 2010, 2012 has not been a growth year. In fact, this has marked the first year since 2008 where quarterly numbers failed to meet the previous quarter back-to-back (ie. 2012 Q2 was less than 2012 Q1, and 2012 Q3 was less than 2012 Q2).

The next chart confirms the findings of the chart above, but shows the actual numbers, not the percentage.

While the overall ridership has grown dramatically, Milton Transit has reached a point where actual ridership is being lost.

The last graph shows that Milton Transit has already experienced the boom on ridership Annual Quarter to Annual Quarter.

Example – the biggest argument you will hear from staff is that numbers are always down in the summer. That is true. And numbers pick way up come September. Also true.

So I have compared the growth between Quarters in subsequent years. Notice that the greatest increase (almost unforeseen in Transit) was almost 90% growth! That was when Milton Transit attracted the most riders, and since that time, Annual Quarter to Annual Quarter has dropped significantly – almost to the point of stagnation.

Clearly, these are not promising numbers to a system that wishes to add service.  My opinion is that this is a way to promote conventional weekday service through offering the Saturday service. Which for $76,000 is a cheaper way to advertise, while still offering the service.

Add to that the findings from Dillon Consulting that 56% of all Milton Transit trips start or end at the Milton Go Station. It is not a stretch to submit that the majority of those riders are Go Service users (specifically, Go Train).

Considering the fact that the Go Train does not operate on Saturdays, I would also submit that to attain any reasonable level of ridership without Go Train users (and hence Evening Drop Off’ers), and School Specials, is highly improbable and I would challenge staff or Milton Transit to divulge any relevant statistics or findings to indicate otherwise.

I believe this to be a case of ‘We Should Do This Because That’s What Cities Do’, not ‘We Must Do This For The Betterment of Milton’.

Regional Chair Gary Carr – Advocating for Halton

Mike Cluett

From time to time the Regional Chair Gary Carr outlines a report on what the Region of Halton is doing in our area to help assist all levels of government provide the services we need and enhancing the environment for creating much needed jobs and assisting in bringing businesses to our area.  Here are some highlights in is his most recent column as printed in the Milton Canadian Champion.

Advocating for Halton

Advocating for the residents of Halton is one of the priorities of the Citizens’ Priorities Action Plan.

Ensuring that growth pays for itself is of critical importance to Halton Regional council and we will continue to advocate for long-term predictable funding to ensure that taxpayers do not bear the burden of growth.

Regional council recognizes even though there are many of levels of government, there is only one taxpayer.

Halton Region has one of the best records in all of Canada for keeping taxes low — 2013 will make the seventh consecutive year in which we have had an average of a 0 per cent tax increase for regional programs and services.

The future that Halton Regional council envisions includes important partnerships with both the provincial and federal governments. The support of both levels of government in the form of long-term predicable funding is essential to ensuring Halton remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire.

On behalf of the residents of Halton, I will continue to meet with Halton’s MPs, MPPs and elected officials of all political stripes to bring Halton’s issues to the forefront.

***

Regional council has also urged the Ontario government to make appropriate decisions to prevent the collapse of the horse racing industry. At council’s Oct. 3 meeting, councillors unanimously supported a motion to endorse an interim report that identifies the benefits of a strong equine sector and horse racing industry and the need to make immediate decisions to ensure its long-term viability.

Recently, Regional council also supported a motion in support of the Town of Milton’s efforts to build more schools to house its growing population. Investing in Halton’s future is important to ensure our region will continue to prosper for generations to come and remain a location of choice for new businesses.

If you have any Regional concerns or comments you would like to share, please feel free to e-mail me at gary.carr@halton.ca. You can also find me on Twitter @garycarrhalton or on Facebook.