HawthorneVillager.com

Love how you worded that Tony. You know the political vocab well

You are passionate about something you believe in. I respect that.

If you ever need any help with this then let me know. You know where to find me .

Zeeshan Hamid

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Milton Councillor, Ward8.ca
zee@ward8.ca | Facebook | twitter | 416-823-6993

We have seen and heard both sides of the story regarding the recent budget. Whether we agree or disagree I can certainly appreciate and respect both sides of the argument. I am not going to comment on that anymore because we have to assume that "what is done is done". The only final comment that I will make about the 2011 budget is that I support the process for the 2011 year only and not for 2012 and beyond (I have stated that stance many times in my previous posts).

I now propose a "challenge" to all of Milton in a two-tiered approach as follows:

Tier one relates to our local and regional councillors and town staff. Are you willing to engage the public and hold a series of "town hall" style meetings (as many as it takes) to deal with the budget process for 2012 and beyond? I am not talking about the "budget call" process. I am talking about getting the public together in a public venue and hashing out all of the details of the budget process (operating and capital budgets), not only for the current year or two, but also in terms of long-term planning to deal with things like the hospital and our infrastructure needs.

Teir two relates to the resdients of Milton. Assuming we will go ahead with these town hall style meetings are you willing to attend and offer constructive feedback (both positive and negative) and input and give council the "people's will" as far as our finances are concerned?

I am not offering my personal viewpoint on this matter (I will make my views known when we hopefully have these meetings), all I am suggesting is that since there has been quite the debate going on about the budget, that we should have a more engaged process going forward.

I am not trying to scare anyone, but the simple truth is that if we do not start dealing with our finances in a fully detailed manner (again both from an operating and capital perspective) we will have serious financial consequences in the future (I again point to the example of Mississauga). We simply cannot afford to put off these discussions and decisions any more. We cannot change the past, but we can certainly change the future.

This is the responsibility of every person living in Milton, not just council and town staff.

Are you willing to do your part?

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Steve Camilleri
http://twitter.com/scamilleri1975

hawthorner Wrote Bull crap. There were 158,639 rides in 2010 provided at a cost of $1.5 million resulting in a subsidy of $9.45 / ride. Not great and I dont like transit anyway, but at least get your numbers straight.

Your numbers include transfers which do not generate revenues. Total expenditures for transit in 2010 were $2,344,324.00 as per budgat documents. Revenues were $277.181.00 in fares collected, $ 83,111.00 in advertising and donations and $316,058.00 from other levels of governments ( taxes ) .

Rick M

Does the document below contain the the final numbers on transit? I see the "projected figures" column, but not a "final figures" column. Look at the transit figures on page 195 of that document. I will state again that for 8 months of 2010 you had a completely different system in operation compared to the last 4 months of the year. Councillor Malbeouf, if you really want to look at the results of the "new" transit system, break out the revenues and costs for September to December. Looking at full year data really skews the results (moreso to the unflattering side when we can all agree that the old transit system was not the way to go). I am all for looking into the detail, but you have to be "fair" when you look at that detail, regardless of which side of the argument you are on.

http://www.milton.ca/corpserv/budget11/ ... etails.pdf

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Steve Camilleri
http://twitter.com/scamilleri1975

So, if you do get support for this(Which I highly doubt!) where will the money come from to pay for it? As we've seen from these discussions, there's no allocation in the budget for it. Do you even know what it will cost!

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Geer

I am new here but is it a place where I should raise a question of education village?

Hi kkk

This is as good a place as any to ask a town related question. The Milton Education Village is a proposal by the town to locate a university campus on 150 acres of Town land on the west side of Tremaine road about 1.5 km. south of Derry (check out the sign at the front of the property) opposite the west end of Louis St. Laurent Blvd. which should be completed to Tremaine road later in 2012.

The Town has a agreement with Laurier Unversity and other partners to develop a 450 acre village once approval has been given by the Province to fund the campus.

Senior Town staff and university officials have been meeting with Ministry of Infrastructure and Collages & Universities staff regarding the detailed proposal (see attached link) and are hopeful for an announcement soon as the Milton Education Village is the only new campus proposal in the GTA.

http://www.milton.ca/townhall/projects/ ... illage.htm

Hope this answers your question. If you have any other concerns or questions please pm or email me at colin.best@milton.ca

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Chair Milton Administration & Planning Committee
Vice-Chair halton Planning & Public Works Committee.
905-878-3623

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Become a Fan! Visit my website! Email: colin.best@milton.ca Twitter Follow! 905-878-3623

Thanks Colin. It probably is a complex process to approve funding. I was wondering how long will be the approval process.

Hi kkk

No one is sure on how long the application process will be. The volunteers, councillors and staff on the Milton Economic Development Advisory Committee (MEDAC for short) have been working on attracting a college and university to Milton since 1999. Town staff are hoping for approvals in 2012 and construction starting in 2013 for a small first phase.

Again, it all depends on the results of the provincial election and economic conditions as the Milton site is the only greenfield application in the GTA in many decades. You might want to ask the Halton riding provincial candidates on what they and their parties will do to improve education in Milton and Halton

Check www.milton.ca for updates on this and other local news and events in the community.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Chair Milton Administration and Planning Committee
Former Chair of MEDAC

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Become a Fan! Visit my website! Email: colin.best@milton.ca Twitter Follow! 905-878-3623

In my opinion it is an essential service!