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For anyone interested in the 2010 Regional and Town budgets I am hosting an open house in Room #2 next to the north rink at the Milton Sports Centre the Wednesday December 2nd from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Will have some of the highlights of both capital and current budgets which I have attached.

http://www.halton.ca/About/documents/bu ... ummary.pdf

http://www.milton.ca/corpserv/budget10/ ... ummary.pdf
http://www.milton.ca/corpserv/budget10/ ... ummary.pdf

I am looking for residents opinions, concerns and ideas on both budgets before I vote on both of them with the Town Budget meetings on December 7th and 8th if necessary and the Regional Budget Review on the 14th and final adoption at the Council meeting on December 16th.

As the budget meetings only have a few people attend every year, I want to bring the budget to you for a public discussion on what is important to you and your family in Milton and Halton.

Hope to see you there.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Member of the Regional Budget Review Committee
www.colinbest.ca

All I can say is, wow. Nice to see my hard earned cash line those pockets. Nice comfy pension too I bet. Those salaries should be capped at 85k max.

Wow, those salaries really are shocking ... $2.6M annually just in salaries for those 22 people. How many taxpaying homes are there in town -- 25000 or something? If so, that's about $100 per year per taxpaying home just to fund the salaries of those 22 people ... not even touching their benefits and other funded costs. And not counting all the other tons of staff.

No wonder town staff keeps recommending more and more spending every year. Gotta keep the new projects growing to justify all those high-paying jobs.

I'm all for a 0% tax hike, as I've said before many times. Unfortunately the special interest people always seem to scream louder and many councillors think it's easier to simply accede to them. Or probably more likely, they find it easier to rubber-stamp staff's 'recommendations' rather than pushing back on staff to cut budget growth.

Present company excepted Colin -- I know you are one of the few good guys! ( http://www.hawthornevillager.com/phpbb/ ... ht=#160982 )

I think its really easy to vent on a forum.. I think it is more effective if people actually went to the open house to voice their concerns.

[quote="newermiltonian"]I think its really easy to vent on a forum.. I think it is more effective if people actually went to the open house to voice their concerns.[/quote]

And go to a budget meeting. You really have to see it to believe it. The following are notes from the August 24 2009 Milton Budget Committee meeting.

[i]This was the Budget Call meeting to set guidelines for preparation of the 2010 Budget. Staff proposed a tax increase of about 4.5%.

Mayor Krantz said that councillors should not get into details tonight. Since he has said that in the past on budget night, I wonder when he thinks it would be appropriate.

In the only discussion of detail, Scherer wanted a review of strategy and budget for transit while Mowbray suggested increasing user fees and consideration of out-sourcing where possible.

Krantz spoke in favour of a tax increase near the rate of inflation. Scherer suggested targeting a lower tax increase to force staff and Council to critically review spending proposals. Schau again spoke in favour of higher tax increases in general. Scherer moved a motion to direct staff to a tax increase in the range of zero to 2.5%. The motion failed as Lee, Mowbray, Lunau, Day, Nelson and Schau opposed it.

The Budget Call meeting ends. Staff deserve their award for budget preparation but I am sure there will be no awards for Council's budget work. [/i]

When can someone declare they want to run for mayor? Because myself and many others on here have said it more than once.....Colin, you NEED to run for mayor!!

I agree. Budgets are always an important issue and this year Colin is taking it upon himself to have this town hall. As we've seen by the multitude of posts, people have opinions and I do hope that these people show up on the 2nd. I will be doing my best to get there.

Those questionaires from the Milton Rural Residents Assocation bring back memories ..

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

January 2010... after that, anyone can file nomination papers at town hall, and run for office. Theres a link to it on the Milton page.

http://www.milton.ca/council/elections.htm

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

BUMP

Town Hall meeting tomorrow night at Sports Centre w/Colin Best reviewing budget's for Milton and Halton.

These budgets will be debated at council meetings on the 7th and 8th of this month.

If you have any questions or concerns, make sure you attend tomorrow night. Im still doing what I can to be there.

We dont have many town hall meetings like this so lets take advantage.

A message for Colin...if one cannot make the meeting is there a way they can submit their questions or concerns to you?

Thanks.

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:39 am Post subject: Budget Open House

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For anyone interested in the 2010 Regional and Town budgets I am hosting an open house in Room #2 next to the north rink at the Milton Sports Centre the Wednesday December 2nd from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. Will have some of the highlights of both capital and current budgets which I have attached.

http://www.halton.ca/About/documents/bu ... ummary.pdf

http://www.milton.ca/corpserv/budget10/ ... ummary.pdf
http://www.milton.ca/corpserv/budget10/ ... ummary.pdf

I am looking for residents opinions, concerns and ideas on both budgets before I vote on both of them with the Town Budget meetings on December 7th and 8th if necessary and the Regional Budget Review on the 14th and final adoption at the Council meeting on December 16th.

As the budget meetings only have a few people attend every year, I want to bring the budget to you for a public discussion on what is important to you and your family in Milton and Halton.

Hope to see you there.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Member of the Regional Budget Review Committee
www.colinbest.ca

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Thanks Mike

Yes, anyone can pm me or email my council email at colin.best@milton.ca with questions and concerns. The budget committee meets on the 7th and possibly the 8th depending on how much gets done next Monday night.

The budget then has to be approved at Council at the Monday December 14th Council meeting.

I will be passing on questions raised at the meeting on Wednesday night with staff at both the town and regional level and posting answers here and with individuals who asked them.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Milton/Halton
www.colinbest.ca

Just a reminder that the open house is tonight.

You can also watch the budget debates at the region through www.halton.ca webstreaming to see the staff presentations and discussion at all three committees and on December 16th at regional council.

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Milton/Halton
www.colinbest.ca

Despite the rainy night there was still good attendance at the meeting. In total only 10 or so people came but the discussion was very good. Lots of questions being asked and Colin staying to answer every last one.

There should be more of these meetings throughout the year insteaad of just at budget time but its a step in the right direction.

Thanks to Colin and everyone else who came out.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

It was great, I brought my friend over and he enjoyed it as well, we had discussion about it afterwards. People should participate more within their own community.

_________________
Dmitri Ivanov
Mortgage Broker
Lic # M09000265
Office: 905 876 4751
Cell: 905 691 6706
Fax: 905 693 1858
email: dmitri.ivanov@migroup.ca
www.home-mortgage-advice.com

Hi Miltonchange2010

No staff did not forget.
It is usually posted late Thursday or early Friday.
See attached.
http://www.milton.ca/execserv/agendas2009/bgdec.pdf

Colin Best
Local & regional councillor
Milton/Halton
www.colinbest.ca

In 2006, the average municipal voter turnout for Ontario was 41%. Milton was 30%!! That has to change and it is not too early to take action.

It is hard to be enthusiastic about voting when the ballot for your ward offers choices between weak candidates. Nominations open in January. Now is the time to encourage potential candidates who show leadership ability and will accept the responsibility to act on behalf of constituents, rather than in their own best interests.

You really should try to attend the Budget meeting on Monday. It is one of the most important meetings of the year and a good opportunity to see first hand how your representatives are handling their responsibility to you. In a pre-election budget meeting they will all be playing to the press, but you should be able to tell which have read the budget, which understand it, which have their own agenda, and which are the very few who are questioning individual projects to see that your tax dollars are spent wisely.

It is YOUR community and these are YOUR representatives.