town of milton – Page 78

Councillors to debate hospital tax levy

Milton council will debate whether to provide cash, perhaps through a dedicated tax levy, to assist Halton Healthcare Services Corporation’s as yet unapproved plans to expand Milton District Hospital.

At Monday’s council session, Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau introduced a notice of motion, which Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer indicated he would second, stating the Town would “endeavour” to help HHS cover its share of the costs to redevelop the half-century-old hospital, which hasn’t undergone a major expansion since the mid-1980s.

The motion states the Town would research and identify potential funding mechanisms including the possibility of including a special property tax levy beginning next year. Council will debate and vote on the motion at the June 28 council session. Lunau said she wanted the long lead time for the community to have an opportunity to provide feedback and plan to attend the session.

Under Provincial funding guidelines that began in June, 2006, Ontario pays for all of the planning costs and 90 per cent of the bricks and mortar for hospital capital projects. Previously, most capital cost share rates varied from 50 to 80 per cent depending on the project, the Province stated at the time.

However, the hospital corporation is still responsible for the remaining 10 per cent of construction costs along with covering the full cost of building revenue-generating facilities such as cafeterias, retail areas and parking lots as well as the medical equipment inside the hospital.

In total, depending on the equipment a hospital needs, that means the Province will cover around 70 per cent of the total project costs, with the hospital corporation paying the remaining portion, dubbed the local share.

The hospital has three ways to pay that local share: its own revenues from, for example, parking lot fees or stores; fundraising done by the Milton District Hospital Foundation; and through financial assistance from municipalities.

The problem Milton council tried to wrap its head around Monday is that HHS won’t provide the municipality with an estimate right now of how much money it would need. “At the end of the day, if we put too much (money) away, that’s fine,” Scherer said to HHS President John Oliver during Monday’s council session. “But we need a starting point.”

Oliver said he understood council’s frustration but he doesn’t want to float a dollar figure that would inevitably turn out to be wrong years later after more detailed planning has taken place.

The hospital provided a preliminary cost estimate when it presented its business case for the expansion to the Ministry of Health in September, 2008 but Oliver said after the council meeting that number is already out of date and he doesn’t wish to release it.

“It’s not just inflation, the original size and scope has evolved from the original business case,” he explained. He said he also doesn’t want to jeopardize a competitive bidding process by leaking expected total costs.

However, Oliver did provide council with a benchmark for comparison when he said the redevelopment planned for Milton’s hospital is at least as big as the one proposed for Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital. The first phase of the redevelopment of Jo Brant is projected to cost $312 million, with the local share pegged at $120 million. In December, Burlington’s city council committed to covering half of that cost, or $60 million, and has already started a dedicated property tax levy this year. The City of Vaughan last year committed $80 million to a proposed new hospital for its community. Both projects are also unapproved and are in competition with the Milton hospital expansion to get on the Province’s next 10-year list of infrastructure projects, to be released next year, likely as part of the 2011 budget.

However, the competition is not just among those three hospitals. The Ministry of Health is currently prioritizing at least 50 other proposed hospital projects before submitting its list of requests to the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which will ultimately decide on the 10-year capital plan.

Other ministries are also prioritizing their own lists of proposed capital projects, one of which includes the proposed Wilfrid Laurier University campus in Milton. That prioritization is expected to take place over the next three months, said Jason Grier, a professional lobbyist from Hill and Knowlton working on behalf of HHS.

One of the things the Ministry of Health will be looking for during this time when prioritizing projects is whether the hospital corporation has a firm plan to meet its local share commitments, Grier said after council Monday.

“They don’t want to move forward on projects that aren’t going to have that local share commitment because then the project isn’t going to happen,” explained Grier, who served as executive assistant to George Smitherman when he was health minister in the provincial government.

Oliver told council it would help the hospital if the Town made a firm commitment of financial support. “I don’t know if you need to put a dollar figure behind it right now.”

Council Salaries To Be Discussed At Monday’s Meeting

May 16, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

From the Milton Canadian Champion

Kim Arnott, SPECIAL TO THE CHAMPION

Councillors to consider pay raise

A pay hike for local politicians is likely to be a hot topic of discussion at next week’s council meeting.

On Monday night, the Town’s administration and planning committee voted to recommend a 2 per cent pay raise for non-unionized staff employed by the Town.

However, the committee recommended that councillors not receive the same raise. Salaries for Milton’s non-unionized staff are reviewed annually, and compared to those paid in seven nearby municipalities. According to a staff report, non-unionized employees working for area municipalities have seen an average 2.39 per cent wage increase this year. The report recommended a 2 per cent increase for Milton staff, effective July 1. It also recommended that councillors receive the same raise.

Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson moved to eliminate the council increase, saying he was uncomfortable with voting himself a third pay raise for this term of council. Councillors and non-unionized staff received raises of 3 per cent in 2008 and 2.5 per cent in 2009. However, Town of Milton CAO Mario Belvedere said the aim of reviewing the salaries annually is to ensure they don’t fall behind as inflation and growth occur. “What you see before you is the policy we’ve been following for years,” he told the committee, noting that staff and council raises have been linked for about seven years.

Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau isn’t a member of the administration and planning committee, so she didn’t have a vote. However, she said she favours providing the pay raise to both staff and councillors. “I wouldn’t want a good candidate for council to be discouraged by an inadequate remuneration,” she said.

Local resident Mike Grimwood, the only delegation speaking to the matter, argued that Town staff should receive raises based on individual excellence and initiative, not simply as an across-the-board bonus “just for showing up.” Noting that 2 per cent is above the rate of inflation for the year, he said, “Milton taxpayers’ pocketbooks seem to be depleted on a regular basis for the sole reason that others are doing it. This is ludicrous.”

The provincial government recently imposed a two-year freeze on the salaries and benefits of all non-unionized employees in the Ontario public service, including school board, hospital and provincial government workers. That included extending the current salary freeze for MPPs from one year to three years. Regional politicians also voted to freeze their salaries for the year, at a meeting in December.

The pay increase would only be applied to employees not represented by bargaining groups. Raises of 2.5 to 3 per cent have already been approved for the Town’s unionized employees, including Milton firefighters. The cost of a 2 per cent increase for non-unionized staff was included in the approved 2010 budget.

The issue will be considered by the full council at a meeting Monday.

New Lights Coming

May 16, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

As I mentioned in a previous entry, there have been a lot of concerns raised while out at the doors about the area around Thompson Road and Kennedy Circle/Louis St Laurent. After talking with some candidates in the ward across the street (ward 7) those concerns are shared by a lot of people.

I received an email from the engineering department at the town of Milton informing me that some changes are coming. They told me there will be a set of lights installed at the intersection of Clark Blvd and Thompson Road, possibly up and running by the end of July. Further studies have been and will be done again for the following intersections: Thompson & Hepburn, Thompson & Kennedy Circle and Thompson & Louis St Laurent.

Now before the “too many lights” people start raging, this doesn’t mean that there will be lights at each of these intersections. In order for that to happen that intersection needs to meet certain warrants (traffic totals in each direction) before anything happens.

I got further clarification of what is required for a signalled crosswalk, the most popular choice of people living in these areas, to be installed. During a period of study there needs to be approximately 200 pedestrians crossing the street in an 8 hour period. I don’t know exactly when these studies were done in the past but Im sure it comes close to that amount during the summer time.

People on the west side of Thompson Road directly across from the Metro Plaza have repeatedly told me and other Ward 7 candidates that its a challenge to walk to that mall. While they live less than 1KM from the plaza, they are forced to get into their cars and drive over for the fear of crossing Thompson Road. The same goes for the people on the east side of Thompson (our ward 6) trying to take advantage of the beautiful park and soccer fields. We shouldn’t have to get into our cars, to go to a park or go shopping when we live so close.

A signalled crosswalk would be beneficial for these and other people who want to walk in the town of Milton. Who knows when the lights will be put in at Louis St Laurent. LSL is slated for a major expansion this year and next in order to keep up with the growth of the Boyne Survey. There needs to be something at this location sooner.

Send me your email at mike@mikecluett.ca to add your name to a list of people interested in finding out if and when we can get a signalled crosswalk there sooner.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

It’s an election year!

May 11, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

That was the comment I heard most last night at the special council meeting at Town Hall.

The meeting started early yesterday and I missed the first portion of the towns report on the potential changes to the official plan. That in itself is a large post and I will endeavour to get that up as soon as possible. You can find information on the official plan from the town’s website here.

The second portion of the meeting was the towns report on the Boyne Survey. Again, a lengthy post and I will come out with more details soon. Here is the link to the town’s site for more information.

The item that quite frankly, I thought would be lost in the shuffle was a report from staff on the application for market adjustments in pay for non union town employees. This category includes town council and if it had passed as written, it would have been the fourth salary increase in four years for town council. Members of town council are included in this category and according to Mayor Krantz last night, they are caught in a “lose-lose” situation.

You would’ve had to be under a rock for the last 2 years to NOT notice our economy wasn’t doing so well. Many people have lost their jobs, and companies were closing their doors including major employers in Milton. Yet through all of the cut backs and job loses, one industry managed to make MORE money over these 3 years. The public sector.

Milton CAO Mario Belvedere outlined to the gallery and to council last night the methodology of how these pay increases come about. A citizens committee reviews the salaries and benefits of similar sized cities and towns in the GTA (when you look the report in detail you will see exactly which ones) and then comes up with an increase for Milton. Some of these municipalities have increased the salaries of non union employees by over 3 % and some a little lower, so Milton chose 2%.

The idea behind it is employee retention. The fear of someone quitting the town of Milton and going to work for Ajax or Mississauga is so strong they want to ensure they are paid well to keep the quality of workforce here in town. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

The staff at the Town of Milton is top notch and probably the best at what they do.

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say they should be paid more for what they do. Unfortunately we are faced with something called an economic reality…the bottom line.

There are those who feel that council members should be paid more for what they do. Most of them being members of council. The job of town councillor (of which I am running for) is a part time position but I am under no illusion that it will be part time hours. My eyes are WIDE open on this. Dealing with the public, going out to events, answering emails and phone calls takes time. I work full time, as most council members do, and that keeps me busy. My two children and wife will also keep me busy, but they understand what I’m doing and are fully supportive.

Town councillors in Milton are among the lowest paid elected officials in Ontario. Should they get more? Possibly. Can we do it now? Quite frankly, no.

Again, its that nagging little thing called the bottom line that SHOULD stop a lot of spending like this.

Councillor Greg Nelson put forward a motion to pass the 2% increase for non union employees and exempt the increase for town councillors. This as you would assume caused a lot of discussion. Jan Mowbraysaid the increase was so small (according to her numbers it amounts to $43 / month) then why bother making the changes. My response would be, since its so small town councillors wont notice the difference.

Councillor Schau commented that she’s worried that given the lower than the average salary might deter some good candidates from running in the election. Candidates, like myself, should go into this with eyes wide open. I’m not looking to run for a part time position for the pay. That isn’t the motivator behind my candidacy. If it was then I should just quit. The salary for the town council position is roughly $27,000 per year (with some of that being tax free). If someone is running for this job for the salary….they’re running for the wrong reasons.

Its about leadership. Just imagine if a motion like this was put forward at the beginning of the term? What would our numbers be like if the 3% from 2008 and the 2.5% increase from 2009 were limited to say 0.75% or 1%? How much money would the town have been able to save? “Nickels and dimes”, as they have been described my some members of council over the years, add up. Would a limited pay increase caused a massive exodus to other towns and cities from staff workers? Highly unlikely. But the “nickels and dimes” would have added up to savings. Voters in town would have seen council take a leadership role and feel that the bottom line was being addressed. Only a few current council members actually take note of costs of items that pass every month. It should be the majority of council looking at the bottom line.

With people in the private sector having to deal with salary cut backs and no increases to their salaries, its hard for them to accept the almost automatic pay increases of public sector workers. This doesn’t help increase their confidence in elected officials. It’s just one of the factors behind record low voter turnouts the last several years.

As I left someone made an interesting comment saying that no one on council brought up the provincial governments recent freeze on public sector salaries (albeit the provinces “freeze” has more holes in it that a sponge). Discussion was had on the issue for about 10 minutes and eventually passed and will be finalized at the next council meeting. This means our current council has only had 3 pay increases in their last term instead of 4.

Regular readers of my blog will know I’ve talked about the other pay increases ad nauseum here and here.

There will be those who say the pay increase was small and wont amount to much, but for me its about leadership and confidence. My only issue with it, it took 3 years and the fact its an election year to finally bring it out.

Milton needs to elect leaders around the council and we have an opportunity on October 25th to do that. If you are one who believes it needs to change, it’s up to do get informed, ask questions and get out and vote. mike@mikecluett.ca if you have any questions.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Mutt Strutting and Sun Burning

May 3, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

I had a busy weekend planned for the family as we had Miranda’s second birthday party at Pat’s hotel (Four Points Sheraton Meadowvale…cheap plug) with family and friends coming out. Of course she was spoiled with lots of clothes and toys (her favourites being baby strollers and a tea set) Pat and I spent a good part of Sunday night having tea parties.

The other part of our weekend was yesterday and the Oakville Milton Humane Society put on the first annual Mutt Strutt at the Milton Fairgrounds. One word can be used to describe the day…success.

The weather looked like it would put a damper on the event but as the morning continued until the afternoon the clouds made way to a sunny, warm afternoon. Families came out with their pooches to take part in a fundraising effort and to help raise awareness of the local humane society.

For years the society was known as “Oakville & District” which caused quite a bit of confusion for us as Milton was always part of the district, but many people didn’t know it was. They have changed their name to Oakville and Milton Humane Society and with this event, helped people realize what exactly it does.

There were so many dogs of all kinds, shapes, colours and breeds that lined the fairgrounds. The registration table was lined with people and their pledge forms and some of the totals were staggering. I cant wait to see how much they did raise. Halton MP Lisa Raitt, Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh, Mayor Gord Krantz and Regional Councillor Colin Best kicked off the event and led the group of dogs in either the 5k walk or the shorter one around the fairgrounds.

The food was amazing as the ever popular Troy’s Diner was there with hamburgers, hot dogs and other tasty deserts. Troy’s large inflatable COKE bottle was the first thing most people saw and hearing comments from people walking in, “HEY, Troy’s here!” You haven’t had a burger until you’ve had a TROY’S burger.

The walk wasnt the only part of the day as there were demonstrations from professional and amatuer dog owners showing off their canine tricks, like frisbee catching and dancing. The day could only be described as a success by those who attended. Speaking with a lot of people there, I heard that they cant wait for next year. A big congratulations goes to the organizers of the event…well done.

Taking advantage of the great weather, Anthony and I decided to head out and go door knocking on Freeman Trail…until he ended up at his friends house. Then I lost my volunteer because in his words “this is more fun Dad”

With the good weather I was able to talk to a lot of people who were working on their cars, cleaning out their garage, or just sitting on their porch reading a book. Most people I did speak with were shocked that I was out early in the year, seeing how the election is in October. There are a lot of homes to visit and Ive been getting an early start on the campaign trail. My commitment is to knock on every door in the ward personally and speak to as many voters as possible.

Its not just for the election, as one of my campaign promises is to continue to visit the doors in between election campaigns. There are a few people from residents to political vetrans who think thats a tall order but its part of the game and what our elected officials SHOULD do on a regular basis. In many cases, your councillor and local level of government has the most impact on our day to day lives from by laws, property taxes and other services. Your councillor should be accessible and most times are peoples first phone call.

Some of the issues that were brought up during the day was traffic problems at Louis St Laurent and Thompson Road and the need for some kind of cross walk near the Metro plaza so people on both sides of Thompson Road can safely cross the street. Traffic lights at LSL and Thompson Road are in the works and staff are doing counts to make sure they can make that intersection a safe one. In order for it to happen, we need to keep up the pressure and your council representative needs to speak out on your behalf.

During that part of the afternoon I got ready to go home with a few future lawn sign locations and some commitments from people that they will indeed come out to vote for me on election day. Their support is humbling and I look forward to speaking with more as the months, weeks and days go on.

The one thing I did forget during the day was sunscreen as Anthony and Pat reminded me when I got home. My head, face and arms were quite red and I didnt feel it until later in the evening. Must remember to keep some in the car.

Over the next day or so, I will endevour to get some pictures of the event posted for my site. Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Election Information

April 22, 2010August 8, 2010Mike Cluett

I just finished updating my Election Information page for the municipal election.

Among those changes are the date. The elections were normally held in November (usually the second Monday of the month) but thats been changed to the new date of…

MONDAY OCTOBER 25th, 2010.

There were a number of reasons behind the change as to make the voting hours happend during Daylight Savings Time, and to avoid the hustle and bustle of Halloween as well.

As I have previously posted, there are changes to the ward boundaries as well as how your councillors will be elected. Milton has gone from a 4 ward / 2 councillors per ward system to an 8 ward / 1 councillor per ward system.

If we apply these changes to the last election, Rick Day only would have been elected for our ward, while Brian Penman and myself would not have made it.

While knocking on a few doors recently, I discovered close to 80% of of those I spoke with were NOT aware of the changes and didnt know who their current councillor was. Voter turnout is always an issue with the last few elections showing a disturbing trend of going down each year.

Lets try to make 2010 buck the trend and have more people vote…more people engaged in the system and being involved in the process. Email me mike@mikecluett.ca if you want to know more about getting involved in this years municipal election.

I’ll see you at the doors.