region of halton

Smitherman ignores Halton's needs

Mike Cluett

Voting has started in the Canadian Blog Awards where yours truly has been nominated as “BEST LOCAL BLOG”. First round voting continues later this week and hopefully I can make it to the second round and beyond…so vote early and often 😉

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As reported in the Milton Canadian Champion, Ontarios Energy and Infrastructure Minister George “Future Toronto Mayor” Smitherman says that Haltons growing pains “aren’t unique” and cant promise any additional funding. He proclaims that his government under Premier Dalton McQuinty has provided more funding for infrastructure than any other government. If they have, ID like to see it.

This comes on the heels of a proclamation from the Region of Halton to halt any future developments until this matter is resolved. Growth is mandated by the Province and the Liberal government is telling regions, like Halton, to grow to meet the needs of the people. They are however telling them to do it, with little or no help from them.

The Oakville Hospital expansion has been delayed … yet again … with no clear course of action on Milton’s hospital and the needs of the fastest growing municipality in Canada. More and more people are moving here and the heels of our municipal leaders seem to drag further and further with no end in sight.

According to the article, “The region has repeatedly argued that it can’t accommodate the thousands of new residents called for in the province’s Places to Grow plan without significant funding help for infrastructure.”

It can be argued that the growth in this region, being led my Milton, IS unique to the province and requires a long term plan and more focus by the provincial government. You simply cant say to the regions “build” and then sit by and not provide the funding.

With the economy in the tank and deficits coming from both provincial and federal governments, we in Halton can look forward to more delays as they will most certainly use the “we cant afford it” excuse. Infrastructure has been an issue for years and will continue to be an issue until we have a government that will take it seriously.

Also, the Region of Halton took further steps on this issue by a unanimous resolution to potentially slow down development in Oakville and Milton if the province doesnt provide any potential solutions to the problem other than they are “not unique”.

This isnt over yet…

WLU coming to Milton?

Mike Cluett

I was able to take sometime tonight to attend a Milton Town Council meeting and as the old saying goes….

Breaking news!!!!

Milton CAO Mario Belvedere is making a presentation to council about the proposed education village in Milton. During his report he made official that Wilfred Laurier University has entered into a memorandum of understanding to work on bringing a campus to Milton.

The proposed site would be on Tremaine Road south of Derry Road and north of Britannia on the west side.

There’s still a lot of work to be done to get this rolling more but it’s the first step to bringing a university to our town.

More to come.

Also, here’s a link to the story in The Record  and in today’s Milton Canadian Champion.

Halton Region Police Services is outlining some of the benchmark statistics in the region of Halton and more specifically in the Town of Milton.

Many of the major stats have shown a decline in Milton like the number of violent crimes, robberies and incidents of impaired driving remaining the same.

Also included in the report is new technology (like photo radar) for residential streets that will send an occurrence report to the registered owner of the vehicle.

Again, more to come.

Federal Budget Benefits Municipalities

Mike Cluett

A couple of days ago, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty released his third budget. This is something unheard of for a minority government being able to have this many budgets without being defeated. In many cases, they’re doing a good job and while most Canadians don’t want an election, they seem comfortable with our MP’s in this minority situation.

Some of the big highlights for towns and cities are as follows:

  • Strengthening Public Transit

    Public transit plays an important role in easing traffic congestion in urban areas and contributing to cleaner air and lower greenhouse gas emissions. In Budget 2006, the Government set aside $1.3 billion in support of public transit infrastructure and introduced a new tax credit for public transit passes.

    Budget 2008 sets aside up to $500 million in 2007–08 to be paid into a third-party trust, allocated on a provincial-territorial per capita basis, for public transit infrastructure. Funding will be paid into the trust, once legislation has been passed, for only those beneficiaries that have made public commitments before March 31, 2008 to undertake investments in public transit. The beneficiaries of the trust will have the flexibility to draw down the funding as they require over the next two years. They are encouraged to report publicly on the expenditures financed and outcomes achieved.

    The trust will be used for specific projects of capital infrastructure such as rapid transit, rail, transit buses, and high occupancy vehicle and bicycle lanes.

This means more federal money will be available to municipalities to invest in public transit improvements. What the GTA desperately needs is a seemless transit system that will allow a Milton resident who works in Brampton or Hamilton to be able to take a bus from here to there with minimal difficulty. As it stands right now, that person would have to drive.

  • Permanent Gas Tax Fund

    The Government recognizes the need for long-term funding for infrastructure to help drive economic growth and productivity, to achieve our environmental goals, and to build strong, competitive communities.

    To this end, in Budget 2007 the Government announced the historic seven-year $33-billion Building Canada Plan. More than half of this investment under the plan will flow to municipalities. For example, municipalities can access the $8.8-billion Building Canada Fund and benefit from the increase from 57.14 per cent to 100 per cent in the rebate of the Goods and Services Tax they pay.

    The largest component of the Building Canada plan is the Gas Tax Fund, which provides municipalities with funding for priorities such as public transit, water and wastewater infrastructure, and local roads. Under the plan, the Gas Tax Fund will grow and reach $2 billion by 2009–10 and stay at that level through 2013–14.

    In response to ongoing requests for stable, long-term funding, the Government announces that the Gas Tax Fund will be extended at $2 billion per year beyond 2013–14 and become a permanent measure. This will allow all municipalities, both large and small, to better plan and finance their long-term infrastructure needs. A permanent $2-billion-per-year Gas Tax Fund will help put in place the world-class infrastructure Canada needs.

With Milton being the fastest growing municipality in Canada, this should benefit us as we wait patiently (or impatiently as it may be) for our roads to be developed to accommodate its growing numbers. The town of Milton is now over 70,000 and counting and we need the Region of Halton to keep up with the growth and ensure minimal delays while widening roads in the area like this summers plan for Derry Road to Trafalgar. The Region of Halton and the Town of Milton cannot keep relying on Mattamy Homes to bail them out.

These are just a couple of items that I pulled from the budget. All in all, it is a pretty sound plan for the coming years. Using a good portion of the surplus to pay down the national debt, make these kinds of investments and reductions in taxes like the GST cut, it looks like Canada can weather some of the impact of the US economy with minimal effects.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment here or send me an email at mike@mikecluett.ca

Tax Increases Coming for Milton

Mike Cluett

As many of you know, its about this time of year when the Town of Milton council sits down and decides how much money they need to pay for the services they provide. Its also a well known fact that Milton has one of the lower tax rates in the GTA, which is what makes Milton a choice for many people to live.

Last week on December 10th and 11th, the council sat down to hammer out the town staffs proposal for the budget. What came out of it was rather shocking.

After “long deliberations” the council had decided on a 6.6% increase in our taxes for 2008. This means a homeowner with a property value of $ 300,000 will have an increase on their bill of over $45 for residential and roughly $37 for rural.

Keep in mind the rate of inflation is hovering at 2.5% for this year.

Why such a huge increase? In the articles linked below by the Milton Canadian Champion you will see the highlights (or low-lights if you so chose) of the budget deliberations on the 10th and 11th.

The budget initially had an increase of 4 full time firefighters for the Milton Fire Department but Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson made a case for just one more saying “Four says we got the message — five says we care.” A little on the dramatic side and it worked as the changes were approved.

While I am an avid supporter of the fire department, I feel that we have to be prudent in our spending. Things cant change overnight or else taxes will be double digit before long. With this change it added $46,000 to the budget. On the down side, council took out some much needed funds for our new fire chief. While we will now have one more firefighter, the department will be without its new chief until June of next year.

Coupled with the Region increasing taxes by 3.7%, we will now see some big changes on our tax bills in the coming year.

As quoted in the Champion article by Melanie Hennessey “The $27 million in the capital budget will be invested in 96 new projects, including $3.7 million in the new Town Hall, $2.5 million in the new library branch, $2.3 million in a fourth fire station and $1.4 million in a railway underpass on Main Street.”

What was even more upsetting is the lack of interest from Miltonians about the budget and its process. The Town of Milton had a plan in place on a number of occasions for public input on the budget over the past year for what the money should be spent on. During these budget debates on council, there were very few delegations to speak out on it. We all complain about taxes but never really take part in the process that leads up to these decisions.

I personally am NOT against tax increases. I am however in favour of keeping any tax increase in line with the rate of inflation. We have to continue to live within our means With the town growing as it is, it will be hard for this and future councils to make those decisions to keep taxes and spending down. I am also upset at the amount of the increase which is a full 4 per cent over the annual rate of inflation.

At that meeting Councillor Wendy Schau from Ward 4 wanted to add another full 2 per cent onto the budget to put $400,000 towards the town reserves, making the tax increase 8.8%.

Other councillors such as Jan Mowbray and Cindy Lunau, both from Ward 3 supported the increase. Wendy Schau called the full 2% increase “good sense” while Cindy Lunau called it a “wise investment”

Since when does a huge increase in taxes make “good sense?”

Mayor Gord Krantz ran a very efficient meeting of council on the 17th and suggested to councillors that if they feel that these increases are justified or if they wanted further changes to be made, that he would propose to open up budget talks again and silence was his answer. Lots of talk.

This years budget debate brought out the usual “grandstanding” that’s become a norm at this time of year while each councillor stands up and tries to justify why we should pay more money. While some of these major projects are needed to help the town grow, these decisions could have been made at other times saving us untold amounts of money.

Bad decisions in the past breed bad decisions in the future. My only worry is that now we’ve had such a large increase in taxes this year, it will only justify council next year to raise them even higher.

There wont be an election in Milton until 2010 so we should brace ourselves for further increases to come until that time.

Is the Green Cart program enough

Mike Cluett

 

The Region of Halton recently announced that it was going forward with a Green Cart Program to help reduce the amount of waste that heads to our landfill site. In case people are unaware of where that landfill site is, take a trip down 25 (Bronte Road) south of Derry and you will soon see it.

There was quite the discussion during the last municipal election on what should be done with the landfill, which is quickly approaching capacity. With the hundreds and hundreds of new homes being built in the area there will be a further demand on that landfill and its up to us as residents to do our part.

The Region of Halton currently has the Blue Box program in place. You are to put glass, plastics etc in one box and in the other we place the acceptable paper products, boxes, etc. As of April 2008 it was announced that residents will be able to put all products into one box instead of separating it, given the improvement in the separation technology available.

During that campaign a debate raged on about the EFW (Energy From Waste) proposal that was put before Regional Council and the pros and cons involved. In essence, an incinerator would be built at the landfill and the waste would then be burned using clean technology to produce energy that would be used in the region of Halton and beyond. Coupled with this proposal there was the much maligned Pristine Power Plant issue that seemed to dominate the last half of the campaign.

Recently Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr along with council announced that it was putting the EFW option aside permanently and focusing only on the existing programs and the Green Cart.

Does it go far enough?

With our landfill approaching capacity quickly (some analysts have said that within 25 years Halton will be required to have another landfill or another option in place for our garbage) will simply placing household food scraps and other materials in our Green Box do the job? With the landfill approaching capacity by 2023 according to Halton Region analysis, we need to take sufficient action now. The addition of the Green Cart program will add 7 years to the life of the landfill where the EFW facility would solve our problems for close to 50 years from now.

The EFW program, according to the proposal and the experts would have added at least another 100 years to the life of the Halton landfill. Does the Green Cart program go far enough?

At first glance it would seem that unless I’m mistaken and someone can hopefully provide me with more information, that it would have little affect on the amount of garbage at the landfill. The Region of Halton, and residents in general, need to come up with a longer range plan to solve the landfill issue.

Of course costs will be a major factor in making this decision. Who pays for it, how will we pay for it, etc. But the main question remains, what will it cost if nothing gets done? What if we wait until the landfill is near capacity and decisions have to be made then? The cost to taxpayers will pale in comparison and who knows the effect on our environment.

The amount of available land is decreasing with every new resident that we welcome to the area. What other options are there available to increase the life of our landfill?

It seems that the easier political issue would be to scrap the EFW and go with the easier to sell Green Cart Program. Tough decision are going to have to be made NOW and not 25 years from now when our landfill is overflowing and the residents will be screaming for answers.

Lets look at all the options … now, before its too late. Food scraps and other items just wont cut it.

Do we need more regional councillors

Mike Cluett

Region of Halton

In a recent decision by Halton Regional Council, they are going to review the number of councillors. Normally I would be opposed to something like this but I am interested in what is going to be discussed in this review.

You would have to be living under a rock to not know how fast Milton is growing. If you take a look at the existing structure you will see a drastic imbalance in the representation. Maybe a few years ago, it was fine because of the population distribution but right now, and in the coming years, Milton is out numbered.

So … when do we increase? When the growth is finished or do we make gradual changes as the population changes? Its a tough call.

Our regional councillors and Mayor Krantz (Milton’s 3 representatives) have a tough road to haul over the next few years. As Milton grows in population, so will the demand on their time and the resources available to them.

There will be some talk needed about the increase in population in all three municipalities that encompass the Region of Halton. At this point, if Milton required some changes, they could possibly be outvoted by the 2 other municipalities at the drop of a dime.

Its important to the success of regional council that there be some equity in the representation. Its a topic that needs to be discussed and a time line developed as quickly as possible in order to maintain a much needed and fair balance at the region.

As expected the possible changes were met with some resistance from Oakville and Burlington regional councillors. The overall intent of the committee shouldnt be just to figure out if we “need” more politicians, but to make sure the balance of all towns/cities is kept in Halton. Recently, the Champion did an article on the recent decision.

Committee to look at representation
Melanie Cummings, Special to the Champion
Published on Sep 21, 2007

Halton councillors may have to make room for more politicians around the council table, depending on the outcome of a newly created committee.

Regional council gave the go ahead Wednesday to establish the Regional Representation Review Sub-Committee that will examine the appropriateness of the current number of council members.

The four mayors from Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills and Milton, plus Regional Chair Gary Carr will examine whether more councillors are needed and report back to the administration and finance committee by March 2008.

Oakville Councillor Keith Bird said that mayors and the regional chair were chosen to study the issue so as to eliminate any self-interest affecting the recommendations.

The suggestion to set up a sub-committee on the topic barely made its way to council Wednesday as it was narrowly approved at last week’s administration and finance committee meeting.

Halton Hills Councillor Clark Somerville said at the committee meeting that he was opposed to the concept.

“I don’t think there are people out there saying, ‘We need more politicians,'” he said. “I think we have a model that’s working right now.”

But Burlington Councillor Rick Craven disagreed.

“From my point of view in the City of Burlington, members of council are generally feeling overwhelmed. The paper work alone is truly amazing,” he said. “It’s time to study this question and we have the time to do it right. Let’s get on with it.”

While Milton Mayor Gord Krantz said he has no problem taking a look at the current representation, he concurred with Somerville that there’s not a big demand in the community for more politicians.

Carr said there are more fundamental issues council needs to deal with and said any decision to increase representation would have to get approval from the provincial government.