town of milton

Champion Reader responds to the "tax and spend advocate"

Mike Cluett

Merry Christmas everyone! I certainly hope that everyone’s holiday went well and continues to be happy and memorable.

Many of us know are off for the holidays and there are still lots of things to do. We have to visit some more friends, organize the presents we received and enjoy spending time with our families. I was looking through the most recent edition of the Milton Canadian Champion and I came across a letter to the editor from Milton resident Mike Rank in response to Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau’s letter where she tried to justify her reasons for raising taxes.

Here is her letter, followed by Mike Ranks letter.

TAX INCREASE IS MANAGEABLE

In last Friday’s Town budget story, the Champion did a good job summarizing two long nights of discussion. I’m writing because there’s one small, but important, correction and one further explanation I would like to put forward.

Firstly, the $4,000 for subsidy support for individuals and families that need assistance paying user fees for Town programs wasn’t an increase but the reversal of a proposed cut.

It was one of the reductions in service listed to bring the proposed tax increase down from 8 to 6.6 per cent. I was pleased that my fellow councillors voted to restore the funding.

Secondly, your readers may have found it strange that I’m quoted as saying that council should stop behaving as though the people of Milton are impoverished. In the past, I have often written about the need for more affordable housing in our community, so it follows that I do know that there are Miltonians who are in financial difficulties.

My statement to council was about the ability of the community, as a whole, to provide the financial support necessary for this to be a strong, vibrant and healthy place to live.

Milton‘s tax rate has been far below that of surrounding municipalities for many years. Even with the 6.6 per cent increase, Milton will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the GTA, except for Toronto. Mississauga’s rate is 19 per cent higher than ours and Halton Hills is 40 per cent, or $300 on a $300,000 assessment, more.

The argument has been made that Milton taxpayers can’t afford the increases necessary to provide a good level of service to our community as it grows.

My argument was that Miltonians are capable of contributing a fair and reasonable amount, one that’s still well below what’s asked of taxpayers in other communities.

When a tax increase is mentioned, people often ask what happens to the money that Milton receives from the proceeds of the Mohawk Slots. Milton usually receives about $5 million a year.

That $5 million should be used only for capital expenses or the Community Fund, and not in the operating fund, which is the money used to run Town services. To do so would be like a family relying on lottery winnings to pay for their groceries — not wise or prudent.

WENDY SCHAU, WARD 4 COUNCILLOR

***

NOT MUCH VALUE SEEN FOR OUR TAX INCREASES

So our very own tax and spend advocate, Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau, doesn’t understand the “compulsion” that people have for low tax increases and feels that “wonderful communities cost money.”

Well the fact of the matter is that people are willing to pay if they see value for their money, and unfortunately I’m not seeing a lot of value for these tax increases — given the mismanagement of this whole growth process. I’m sorry, but I need someone to explain to me why the growth demands and resulting revenue charges and increases don’t stay in sync, and if they actually don’t, maybe then we’ve gotten to the real issue.

After all, pretty much all of the expansion involves homes that are relatively higher in value combined with a higher density of residences per kilometre of road.

With respect to Schau’s comment that money makes things wonderful, well then I guess I’m teaching my son all of the wrong values in life, as I really thought that a community or a society could be wonderful and happy, regardless of whether it was rich or poor.

MIKE RANK

MILTON

Try to focus on the good.

Mike Cluett

Its Sunday afternoon and its less than 2 days before Christmas.

The last thing on the minds of people in the Town of Milton is a 6.6% tax increase and what the money was spent on. Most people are rushing around from store to store picking up those last minute presents for people on their lists, extra bottles of wine for those unexpected guests, snacks for friends and family to munch on over the holidays and wrapping paper (myself included)…lots of wrapping paper.

I recently received an email from a friend who mentioned “the inmates are now running the asylum” at Town Hall. They had mentioned that taxes were going way too high, slot funds are being uses to balance the budget (Mike notes: which is very risky and a bad precedent to set for the future) and “the community fund is being savaged!”

In the coming entries, I am going to be going through the budget and showing where the money the town is planning to spend is going. There are many worthwhile projects on the docket for 2008 including some more money to improve roads in town and others like a new library on the east side of town. Whether you agree or disagree where the money should go, most people don’t know where ANY money is going.

The tax measures were made official by town council with only Mayor Gord Krantz, Ward 2 Councillor Mike Boughton, Ward 1 Councillor Rick Day and Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer voting against the increase.

Which means Regional Councillor Colin Best, Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau, Ward 3 Councillor Jan Mowbray, Ward 1 Councillor Brian Penman, Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson, Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau and the other Regional Councillor Barry Lee all voted for the increase in taxes.  Merry Christmas right?

I know, I know…tis the season.  What needs to be done is a careful look at what the money is being spent on for 2008.

Some examples are $1.4 million for an overpass on Main Street by Milton Mall. I have met with some people who told me that the Town of Milton could have done this project much sooner and for less money a few years back, but those plans were sidelined.

This past year the Town of Milton spent $1.6 million on 4 new buses for Milton Transit. This was an item that was approved last year for the 2007 budget but a decision that should be called into question now seeing how Milton Transit ridership hasn’t increased over the past couple of years. They can show some statistics of increased ridership, but when you really look at the numbers, the increases are due to the Milton Transit “FREE RIDES” days which they have held several times throughout the year. It shows that when the fare’s are full price, the ridership drops back to its previous levels.

Why do I bring up that decision from 2007 budget? There was a further $865,000 in funds allocated to Milton Transit to supposedly purchase more buses. I don’t know about you (and this can be debated ad nausea ) but should’nt the town do more to increase the ridership first before allocating funds for more buses?

There is something wrong with our transit system if the only way we can increase ridership is by making it free. From a business standpoint it makes no sense. Incur expenses while taking in no revenue. Nope, double checked and it doesn’t make sense.

Another topic we can bring up is the Slots revenue from Mohawk. For those in Milton who don’t know, the Town gets a portion of the revenue from Mohawk Raceway just outside of town in Campbelville. Its an agreement that was reached awhile ago and those funds were always to go towards special projects or infrastructure needs of Milton. Apparently the Town of Milton gets roughly $ 5,000,000 from the revenues of the raceway.

That’s just some of the things that I will talk about in the coming days. But for know, I just want to go out and get those stocking stuffers I promised Pat, snacks and wrapping paper (I haven’t even started wrapping presents yet!) and get into the Christmas spirit.To everyone out there, please have a happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. Be safe!

It happened again

Mike Cluett

I was getting ready to go to the last official meeting of the Milton 150th Anniversary committee around 630pm when I heard some weird sounds and then a smash.

Oh no, not again I thought and hoped for the best as I made my way to front porch. So much for hoping.

There was another accident at Yates Drive and March Crossing last night between 2 vehicles…one coming out of March Crossing turning east towards Bennett and the other traveling on Yates towards Bennett. One driver was taking her family to the Hawthorne Village PS Holiday Sing a Long when, according to her, the car came through the stop sign and hit her on the drivers side front wheel, causing some significant damage.

Road conditions were fine at that time with little no snow and the roads were a bit wet.

My neighbour Wally and I did what we could to help them out and thankfully no one was hurt in this case.

We have had several near misses and now 3 accidents in the last year at this intersection and nothing seems to have been done. You might remember an article in the Champion about this intersection and how the town was going to do some further studies.

Its only a matter of time before something worse happens or someone is injured or killed.

Changing rules takes time…I understand that but as I mentioned last night “you cant legislate common sense.”

Its been said so many times here on this blog and in letters to the editor that our residential streets are not raceways and yet still people fly down the street. Just after the cars were moved to the side of the road a car few up our street at way over the speed limit and drove through the stop sign at Bennett. Unfortunately we didnt get the plate number, but from our location I did see that same car go down Irving Terrace just after.

When youre driving towards an intersection, regardless of stop signs or not, you have to approach it with caution and look out for other cars. This was a totally avoidable accident and shouldnt have happened.

I know that the majority of people I have spoken with over the course of the last year after the election have told me they agree with my stand on doing something, whether it be stop signs, speed bumps or reducing speed limits. But something has to be done.

Maybe reducing speed limits wont accomplish much, but if they get nailed by the police doing 60km/h instead of 40km/h, the fine will be a lot more, and MAYBE they might think twice. Sad to say but I feel I’m losing faith that something will change.

If you agree that something has to be done at this or any other location in town, please do your part. Write a letter to the editor of the Milton Canadian Champion and the Halton Compass…write a letter to your councillors and the Town of Milton…take down the plate numbers of people who you feel are not driving safely and send them to the Halton Police department…go to the website www.haltonroadwatch.ca and find out what more we can do to stop this. The more people get away with this the more it will continue.

***NOTE*** The link to Halton Road Watch seems to be down and not working.

Does this make sense to you?

Mike Cluett

Flipping through some on-line news this morning and I came upon a story from CBC News that made my jaw drop. After reading it, tell me if you don’t feel the same way.

The way it looks is like the City of Toronto WANTS their councillors to spend money and then punishes those who take it upon themselves to SAVE money.

This is beyond ridiculous! I’m sure Councillor Ford submits a detailed outline of all that he spends so whats the difference if he uses his own money to do it. And the City of Toronto wonders why they’re in the cash crunch situation they face.

Instead of being applauded for doing something to help out, hes singled out and persecuted for being fiscally sound.

Imagine if the Town of Milton did this? One example locally can be pointed out with former councillor John Challinor who took a reduced amount of pay for years in Ward 4. He didn’t accept any of the pay increases over the years of being on council and was one of the most frugal spenders. Imagine if the town staff said to him, “You’re taking the pay increase and that’s that!” It would be a joke.

Mayor David Miller and the City of Toronto executive are a joke if they condone this type of attack on one of their own. It just goes to show people that politicians only think of themselves and not the people they represent. Isn’t there something ELSE they could be doing, say finding the money they need to fix roads, pay for city services, improve the transit system and making the city safer to live in? They chose this route to show their taxpayers what their priorities really are.

Message to Mayor Miller…Instead of whining and complaining that the “feds” are to blame for the increasing gun violence in the city and the “feds” not giving them their fair share… DO SOMETHING about it instead of pointing fingers.

Here’s the CBC story.

Councillor reprimanded for not spending enough

Toronto city Coun. Rob Ford was formally reprimanded by the city’s executive committee on Monday for not spending enough taxpayers’ money.

Ford is the ultimate penny-pincher on council, spending nothing of his allotted $53,000 office budget this year.

Ford pays his office expenses out of his own pocket. He buys the stamps, the envelopes and pays the cellphone bills himself.

But that goes against the city’s ethics rules that call for transparency in public spending, the underlying principle being that the public should know who is paying so there is no chance individuals or companies could use the money as a lever to ask for favours.

“You don’t spend private money, or developers’ money, or anybody else’s money on things like your newsletters. You spend the public money because there’s an audit trail, it’s accountable,” said Mayor David Miller.

There is no suggestion Ford is doing anything improper, but strictly speaking, he is breaking the rules.

Ford said he’s done nothing wrong. He said he has been blessed with good fortune and he doesn’t want to charge Toronto taxpayers for something he’s happy to pay for.

“I can do what I want with my own money. I choose not to submit receipts because I don’t want to be reimbursed. The only reason these councillors submit receipts is because they want to be reimbursed,” Ford said.

He’s also fighting back by posting all of the office expenses of his fellow councillors on his website, item by item.

He has long argued that office budgets are just slush funds and that some councillors have spent thousands of dollars this year on lunches and dinners, sometimes involving alcohol.

Possible pay suspension

“There’s councillors at 2:30 in the morning taking cab rides. What are they doing at 2:30 in the morning taking cabs from downtown going to Woodbridge? Hundreds of dollars being spent,” said Ford.

Ford’s refusal to submit receipts and get reimbursed could land him a suspension of his pay for three months.

That doesn’t worry Ford, who said, “I’m not going to die without three months’ pay. What are they going to do next, throw me in jail?”

Council will decide on the punishment at its next meeting on Dec. 12.

"Slow down and obey the rules of the road"

Mike Cluett

Intersection dangerous: residents

Nov 09, 2007

A local woman is calling on the Town to put a four-way stop at a south Milton intersection after her house was struck by a car on the weekend for the second time in five months.

Yates Drive resident Denise Dawes said people have been using her street as “their own little speedway” and ignoring the rules of the road, particularly around the corner of Yates and March Crossing. Her home is the second house in from the intersection.

“To have my house hit twice in a five-month period is a great indication that nobody is obeying the two stop signs that are there,” she said.

“I think it’s time that the (Town) planners rethink their decision about placing a four-way stop sign at this location. I’m living proof that there should be something there.” Dawes said while the first accident caused more damage to her house than the car that struck it, this time around one of the people in the vehicle required medical attention.

“I’m hoping and praying there isn’t a third time,” she said. “Frankly, I don’t want to come home and find my house surrounded by police tape because someone has lost their life due to the carelessness of some impatient driver.”

Town Engineering Services Director Paul Cripps said a traffic count was done at the intersection around 2005. At that point, the warrants weren’t met to implement an all-way stop.

He noted that another count will take place within the next two to three weeks provided the Town receives a formal request for it from the public. Dawes told the Champion she will be making such a request.

In addition to Dawes, local resident Mike Cluett — who has been a strong advocate for local road safety — thinks something needs to be done to rectify the situation at Yates Drive and March Crossing. He said he’s heard from residents in the area who either want a four-way stop at the intersection or even speed bumps.

“There are a number of options we’d like to look at,” he remarked. “(I support) anything that will make it safer for kids.”

Cluett also pointed out that traffic problems such as these aren’t just isolated to the one intersection. “There are problems on a number of streets in the new area of Milton,” he said. “We need to see what we can do to make streets safer.”

And as for Dawes, she has a simple message for those who speed down her street: “Slow down and obey the rules of the road.”

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com

Yates Drive and March Crossing

Mike Cluett

mike-cluett-005.jpg

Just the mere mention of that intersection causes many residents in the area to roll their eyes.

Why? We have seen many near misses of vehicles driving down Yates from Thompson Road with cars coming out of March Crossing. This weekend was no different.

Lets go back in time to this past summer around the dinner hour. Local residents were brought out of their homes with the sounds of screeching tires, loud thumps and a big bang. What had happened was a car traveling north on Yates Drive towards Bennett Blvd. at what witnesses describe as “over the speed limit”, narrowly missing a vehicle coming out on March Crossing into the intersection. This car swerved to miss that car, lost control and jumped the curb on the opposite side of the road and smash into a house. Luckily there was no one hurt, the car sustained some damage and the bay window of the home was damaged.

For those of us who live in the area know, kids are walking up and down the sidewalk heading to their friends homes or to the local parks and thank God no one was there was this happened.

Now, we go back to this past Saturday and the almost exact situation happened again. A car traveling up Yates Drive from Thompson Road heading towards Bennett Blvd. driving up the street, narrowly misses a car coming out from March Crossing, loses control and jumps the curb on the opposite side and hits the same house in almost the identical spot.

Enough is enough. Im not one person who favours putting stop signs at every intersection or reducing speed when there is no justification. Something has to change before any other home or God forbid, someone is injured or killed.

The speed limit on Yates Drive is 50km/hr. During last falls election campaign, I spoke with many people about community safety and what we as citizens can do to make our streets safer. Many of you favoured reducing the speed limit on streets. Is that enough?

Would a 40km/hr speed limit saved this home owner from yet another insurance claim and time away from their lives to repair the damage to their home that someone else caused? Maybe.

If the speed limit was reduced it might be cause for the driver to make sure they slow down. Who really knows.

Would a stop sign have done the trick? Again, who knows. If drivers know there is a stop sign approaching at that intersection, would they reduce their speed before they come to March Crossing?

Possibly. Only if people open their eyes and realize our residential and town roads are not speedways.

It’s frustrating to live in an area such as this with such amazing neighbours and people living in the subdivision to have to deal with this. The only thing we have left is to turn to the town of Milton and see what can be done.

For years now, residents have complained about speeding on our streets. To the town’s credit they have done some studies about excess speed on Yates Drive and have concluded it doesnt warrant a stop sign at this particular intersection.

My message, that I plan on delivering with the help of the local residents, is simply this.

Reduce the speed to 40km/h and / or put a 4 way stop at this intersection. By doing nothing, is simply condoning this behaviour and endorsing what has already happened.

The safety of the people in the area, their homes and our children are more important than worrying about if people will be inconvenienced by an additional stop sign.

Whats more important to you?