sharon barkley

Budget Input Session July 11th 7pm Milton Sports Centre

Mike Cluett

As I have mentioned many times in this blog, I feel its important that the community get involved in our budget process.  I cant begin to count the number of times during the last municipal election I heard from residents that they dont know whats going on and want to have a say.

We as a new council wanted to make sure this changed.  The changes started recently with our online survey, which is still active, to get a feeling of what Miltonians want from their local government.

The full budget call report with the summary of comments can be found here.

During the last campaign, I promised to be as open and accountable as possible when it comes to feedback from taxpayers on our budget and along with other councillors in the “Hawthorne Village” area, we have scheduled an informal “Budget Input Session” to hear what YOU have to say.

The date has been finalized and the room has been booked.  Monday July 11th at 7pm at the Milton Sports Centre (Room 4) we will sit down and listen to your opinions on what services you would like to see.  The topics will range from transit, community services, parks, taxes, and the hospital levy that was implemented by council in the 2011 budget.

The online survey gave an overview of what Miltonians were thinking.  A majority of those surveyed felt that council should keep potential tax increases to 1-2%, maintain many services at their current levels and was pretty much split on the hospital levy.  Given the fact the response was down the middle regarding the levy, many of the comments showed that more public input was needed before passing such a measure.

Also, if you have not been able to submit your thoughts through the survey, it is still open at the Milton site for you to complete.  The deadline was for submissions to be included in the Budget Call report, but they will keep the survey online until August 18th.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FNVPFC8

If you have any comments or questions before hand, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

We look forward to seeing you on the 11th

Hawthorne Village 2012 Budget Input Session

Mike Cluett

After consulting with Rick Di Lorenzo (Ward 7 Local Councillor) and Zeeshan Hamid (Ward 8 Local Councillor), and Sharon Barkley (Ward 1 Local Councillor) we’ve come up with a date where we want to hear from you.  Of course all other councillors in town are invited to join us but we wanted to have a focus on issues in our area that needs to be heard.

Thursday night June 30th at 7pm (location to be determined) If we get a lot of interest we might move it to the Sports Centre or somewhere larger but it could also be Symposium or Hawthorne Cafe.

The budget call process has started and thank you to everyone who filled out the survey online but thats not the only way to give us your input.

Sharon, Zeeshan, Rick and I want to hear from you in a “tell us what you think” format. We dont want to go on about what OUR priorities are just yet.  That will come in time for sure.  We want to hear what yours are.

Of course we can provide direction on the topics, like transit, community services, parks, taxation, budget increases, etc but the floor is yours.  Once we complile the opinions from everyone, we can send out a summary and these comments will be sent to staff as part of this process.

As always you can tell us what you think via email if you cant make it and each one of us encourages that.

So RSVP here or email one of us to let us know you can make it.

Its your time to speak and comments made there at the meeting and here on the Villager and in emails to us will be used in this budget call process. We can all agree this hasnt happened much in the past…lets change that.

More Construction Notices – Hydro One

Mike Cluett

The town of Milton received a notice from Hydro One about some upcoming constrcution to the transmission corridor along James Snow Parkway from Steeles to Main Street.  As you will read the construction will take a number of weeks with the goal of being finished by mid-May.

Reisdents will see helicoptors flying around and there will be some loud bangs from the use of implosive devices to fuse wires together…so dont be alarmed.  The notice I’m posting here will be sent to area residents and businesses, sent to the local papers, and local police & fire services.

Here is a link to the notice & a copy of the letter to residents/businesses.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Bruce to Milton Project Construction Activities

April 28, 2011

Dear Residents,

Hydro One would like to inform you about some upcoming construction activities in the Town of Milton associated with our Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project. 

Over the next several weeks our contractor, Valard Construction, will be installing conductor (wire) on the Hydro One right-of-way east of James Snow Parkway, between Main Street and north of Steeles Ave (see map on reverse). In order to string conductor onto the new towers, helicopters will be used and will be required to make short stops at each tower.

In order to fuse the conductor together, our contractor will be using implosive devices. This process makes a loud banging sound similar to that of a firearm discharging, so please do not be alarmed when you hear it.

These activities are scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 30, and will continue periodically, throughout the area until mid May, 2011. Crews will be working seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. We expect several implosive connections will be made each day.

Hydro One will be notifying residents and businesses within one kilometre of the work sites.  In addition, we will be notifying nearby schools, local police, ambulance and fire departments to ensure they are aware of the work.

We apologize in advance for the noise and any inconvenience this work may cause.  We thank you for your patience while Hydro One and its contractor complete this critical 500 kilovolt transmission line that will add 3000 megawatts of transmission capability to Ontario’s grid.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Marty Dendekker, Construction

Contact Officer at (519)873-0331, or our Community Relations Line toll-free at

1-877-345-6799, or by email at Community.Relations@HydroOne.com.

****

Dear Mayor Krantz,

This weekend, Hydro One’s contractor Valard Construction will begin stringing the conductor (wire) along the new Bruce to Milton transmission towers in the Town of Milton.  The area affected is along the transmission corridor, east of James Snow Parkway and between Main Street and north of Steeles Avenue (see attached notice and map). We expect this work will be completed by mid May.

Helicopters will be used to install the new wires.  Following this, implosive devices will be used to fuse the wires together. These implosive devises make a loud bang, similar to a firearm discharging.  The attached notice will be distributed to homes and businesses in the area through the Milton Canadian Champion and Georgetown Independent, so people are aware of the process and won’t be alarmed if they hear the occasional bang. We have also notified local Police and Fire Services.

In addition, to string this section of line,  helicopters will need to fly over Highway 401 at James Snow Parkway tentatively this weekend and next (May 7 and 8).  As a precautionary measure, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will slow down traffic on Highway 401 in the vicinity of James Snow Parkway to ensure that this work can be completed safely.  We expect there will be eight slow-downs of traffic over the two weekends for about 5 minutes each time.  The exact timing will be determined by Valard Construction and the OPP on site.

If weather conditions allow, this work could be completed in less time, and traffic slow downs may not be required on both weekends.  

Please do not hesitate to call me or Marylena Stea, Community Relations Officer at 416-345-5706 if you have any questions.

Regards,

Enza Cancilla
Manager, Public Affairs
Corporate Communications
Hydro One Networks

Even More Feedback on Milton Budget & Tax Levy

Mike Cluett

Continuing with some of the feedback I posted earlier last week, here is another letter to the editor of the Milton Canadian Champion in todays paper.

A re-do needed on Town budget

Dear Editor:

Milton council appears to be out of touch with the reality of today’s economy.

The country is in a recession, thousands of Canadians are unemployed, and citizens are still reeling from the introduction of the HST and hydro cost increases. And still Milton council feels increasing our property taxes at twice the rate of inflation represents good government. It doesn’t.

The Bank of Canada is projecting a 2 per cent inflation rate for 2011, which should represent the absolute limit for property tax increases this year. Town council needs to get back to work and have Town staff provide them with spending reductions that will keep the tax increases within the 2 per cent target.

These reductions should include, at a minimum, a freeze on the hiring of new employees, unfilled positions being left vacant and capital projects being reduced, as they eventually create ongoing operations and maintenance expenses. The Town should also be looking to contract out any services that it performs that can be more cost-effectively provided by the private sector.

The 1 per cent hospital tax levy should be rescinded. Ontario residents are already burdened with high Provincial taxes to support health care. The Town shouldn’t be creating a ‘stealth’ health-care tax  through our property taxes.

One of the more pleasant surprises I experienced when I moved to Milton over a decade ago was reasonable property taxes. To keep these taxes reasonable, council needs to recognize that prudent management of our tax dollars is expected of our elected members of council.

The budget for 2011 needs to be re-opened and spending reductions introduced to lower the Town portion of property taxes to a maximum 2 per cent increase.

Sean McCafferty, Milton

Committee Meetings

Mike Cluett

Tonight is the first of our “non-council” meetings throughout the year.  As I’ve mentioned here before, Milton Town Council is divided up into two standing committees (Community Services Standing Committee & Administration and Planning Standing Committee)  Half of council is on one and the other half is on the second with the Mayor sitting on both.  The Community Services Standing Committee consists of Regional Councillor Tony Lambert ( Wards 1, 6, 7 8 ) Local Councillors Greg Nelson (Ward 2), Local Councillor Rick Malboeuf (Ward 4), Local Councillor Arnold Huffman (Ward 5), Local Councillor Rick DiLorenzo (Ward7) and Mayor Gord Krantz.

The Community Services Standing Committee consists of the five Councillors and Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act. These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

Our first meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee is tonight at town hall (7pm) and while I don’t sit on that committee, we do attend these meetings without a vote.  Council members are not required to be there but the standing tradition is that they attend when possible to provide any additional information and feedback from the community that other councillors might not have.

The agenda for tonights meeting is here.

One of the items on tonight’s agenda is the by-law to be passed regarding the 4th Line / Britannia Road intersection closure slated for March to April of 2011.  You can find the report here.

Some of the questions Ive received over the past couple of weeks that I had my posting on the blog was to find out if the traffic lights set for Britannia Road (during the closure, Britannia Road will be reduced to one lane instead of two) and if the temporary lights will be unmanned and / or timers set to accommodate morning/afternoon rush hour traffic.

I received an email from Joe Proietti at the Region of Halton who assured me the lights will be unmanned but set up on timers and those timers will be set to recognize the increased amount of east / west traffic through the mornings and afternoons on Britannia Road.  This isn’t the most ideal situation and hopefully the Region of Halton will complete their work as soon as possible during this time.

Its imperative that the traffic flow along Britannia Road not be hindered during this time as it just adds to confusion and frustration of drivers looking to leave and enter Milton during the day.

I’ll keep you posted during the meeting via Twitter for any other updates.  Thanks to everyone who sent me emails about this.

Feedback About 1% Tax Levy

Mike Cluett

From The Milton Canadian Champion – Letters to the Editor

Hospital levy should be rescinded; taxpayers engaged in discussion

Dear Editor:I read with interest the article in the January 20 Champion entitled ‘Hospital levy increases tax hike by 1%.’

Reporter Christina Commisso wrote that in a 6-5 vote Milton council approved a 3.58 per cent tax increase, plus an unprecedented 1 per cent tax surcharge to help fund the possible future expansion of Milton District Hospital.

Any 6-5 decision is a bad decision, and this one is no exception.

It’s little wonder that Mayor Gord Krantz and councillors Mike Cluett, Tony Lambert, Greg Nelson and Rick Malboeuf didn’t support the 2011 budget. The 4.58 per cent tax hike is more than twice the 2 per cent inflation rate estimated for 2011 by the Bank of Canada. The 2010 inflation rate was 1.7 per cent.

Worse, monies will be set aside for a hospital expansion that isn’t even in the Province of Ontario’s current health infrastructure plan.

Our community’s ability to absorb a 3.58 per cent tax hike, let alone a 4.58 per cent tax increase with a hospital surcharge, is doubtful.

We’re in tough economic times and seniors on fixed incomes, young families with mortgages and local manufacturers and retailers that create jobs and drive municipal assessment revenues are all at risk.

Very few will see business revenues or personal incomes rise 3.58 or 4.58 per cent this year.

A re-do is in order.

Re-open the operating budget and reduce it to inflationary levels.

It’s time to rescind the unprecedented hospital surcharge and engage taxpayers in an open discussion about its future.

Council should also request Queen’s Park to immediately include the hospital expansion in its health infrastructure planning and require  it be funded through a public-private partnership, rather than using municipal property taxes.

John Challinor, Milton

Also…

Hospital tax levy tough to swallow

Dear Editor:This letter is in response to the 1 per cent tax levy approved by council for the hospital expansion.

At the time of planning for growth, where on the list of priorities was the expansion of Milton District Hospital? This should have been a top priority. How is the hospital supposed to cope with this new growth?

We already pay taxes to the Province for hospitals. Could money the Town gets from the Mohawk slots not go toward the hospital fund?

To me, there has been some poor planning shown by our governments.

Cecilia Thorpe, Milton