 By Pepper Parr
March 4th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
I frequently correspond with Gazette readers, some of whom are very critical, blunt and direct. They ask that they not be identified publicly. It’s all part of the job. There are others who are less biting and put forward ideas that they think should be in the public realm.
One reader recently said: “ I think part of the issue is that in smaller communities it is not uncommon to find people gravitating to municipal politics who come from small business backgrounds. That is natural and understandable, and the complexities in managing a smaller community are significantly less than in a larger municipal government. At some point the issues become profoundly more complex, and therefore, you need a great skill level and understanding.
 The issues are profoundly more complex, and therefore need a great skill level and understanding. “The other dynamic is that in a smaller community you have people in municipal government for whom the work is a part-time avocation. When you deal with cities the size of Burlington, Mississauga, Brampton, etc., you have a larger constituency, and that demands full-time attention. You can’t serve your constituents well if you are, simultaneously, running your health club, or doing financial planning work on the side.
“Part of the challenge is that municipal government has typically been the poor cousin in Confederation. Whatever status it has flows from the provincial government. However, you have several municipal governments in this country that are as complex or even mores than some provinces; for example PEI’s population is smaller than Toronto, or Mississauga, or Brampton.
 Expected to run in ward 3 – Rory Nisan  Expected to run in ward 3 – Gareth Williams  Expected ti run in ward 6 – Ken White “I think in Burlington part of the answer should focus on enticing retirees to run for public office. Many have the business experience, and now the time, to devote to municipal government issues. Another target audience might be persons who have sold their business, have moved here from larger municipalities, are only semi-retired, but have the acumen that would be invaluable in local administration. A third market might actually be provincial public servants who have both the education and the technical experience, and would be a useful check on municipal public servants.
“Whatever the case, we need to get better qualified people into public service at all levels.”
We are suggesting to the writer that he might well be the kind of person that should be at city hall.
Councillor Craven has, on several occasions, made the point that Burlington’s seven member city council is too small – that the job is much bigger than it was a decade ago and that it might be time to look at a larger council and think in terms of junior and senior council members, a situation where every ward would have two council members with one serving at the Regional and city level and the second serving at just the city level.
 For new members of council learning how to be a city Councillor takes time – to expect these men or women to grasp the Regional workings at the same time is a bit much.
And – Councillors need to be better paid. The approximately $110,000 they are paid annually does not attract the kind of talent needed. What it does do is attract people who are never going to earn $100,00 a year in their lifetimes but think if they can capture the public imagination and win the seat – and once there, hold the seat for a couple of decades.
These people are managing an operational budget of $160 million and a capital budget of $68.6 million, that includes a 10-year program of $688 million.
Burlington is seeing much more interest in who serves on city council. Will there be any acclamations for a city council seat in October? All seven of the current members of council were re-elected in 2014
 By Pepper Parr
February 1st, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Council added more money for transit and sports fields maintenance to the 2018 operating budget after committee deliberations January 18th and approved an operating budget at city council on January 29th that sets the operating budget with a 4.36% increase in the tax to be collected over last year.
 Burlington tax increases have been hovering at the 3 to 4% annual tax increases for much of the two terms the current council has been in office.
This year the city manager had to deal with three cost increases that they should have seen coming.
The arbitration that gave the fire fighters significant increases.
$1.2 million, or an additional tax increase of 0.78 per cent for impacts from the 2014 arbitrated Fire Department settlement
The provincial decision to set a minimum wage increase.
$1 million, or an additional tax increase of 0.65 per cent for legislative changes to the Employment Standards and Labour Relations Acts (Bill 148)
The need to improve transit service.
$1.55 million, or an additional tax increase of 1.01 per cent for changes made in transit to provide operational sustainability and increased reliability of service
The pressure from these three requirements meant there weren’t going to be any business cases put forward for new services. The departments were told to look for way to cut spending – a 5% tax increase was something that had to be avoided.
The 2018 operating budget focuses on:
 • Investing in infrastructure and maintenance – in accordance with the city’s Asset Management Plan, the dedicated infrastructure levy has been increased by 1.25 per cent or $1.9 million. Of the $160.1 million collected through the tax levy, $34.72 million will fund the capital program and renewing Burlington’s aging infrastructure.
• Transit and transportation – strategic investments to improve the city’s transit service, including $1.55 million for changes in transit to provide operational sustainability and to improve reliability of the service.
 • Community investment and growth – to provide an additional investment of $320,000 to enhance the maintenance of sports fields.
 • Financial sustainability – Burlington’s operating budget is committed to ensuring the city has competitive property taxes. Since 2011, overall tax increases in Burlington have averaged 1.9 per cent. In a comparison of property taxes in municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Burlington’s property taxes are the third-lowest for a residential single-family detached home.
There is a little creative license blended into that 1.9 % increase. It reflects the Regional and Education taxes – what matters to the people at city hall is how they determine what the city tax rate is going to be.
The increased spending on transit became necessary when a new employee with an MBA began to look at and analyze the transit spending – he discovered a number of serious problems that the city manager realized he had to act on. City hall has not been known for its commitment to transit. The problems that were brought to the surface had to be dealt with immediately.
Not to mention that the council members talk about the public having to learn to use public transit and bicycles but not putting real dollars into transit. That situation has changed.
When Burlington learned that it was going to have to come up with $60 million for the re-development of the hospital city council put a special levy in place which was shown on the tax bill. When that was put in place the indication was that this was just a one-time thing.
Good luck on that one. When the hospital levy has raised all that was needed to cover the $60 million – the levy will stay in place and be directed to bringing the infrastructure up to standard.
Councillor Sharman said at a budget meeting that Burlington went for seven years without a tax increase (that was well before he was elected to office – in his first year as a Councillor he pushed his colleagues into a 0% increase) and that we were now paying for that decision. The infrastructure was not given the resources it needed and it was time to catch up.
City of Burlington property taxes for a home assessed at $500,000 are $1,783.45. When combined with the proposed Halton Region increase and no change for education, overall property taxes for a home assessed at $500,000 are $4,074.45.
By Staff
January 8th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Canada’s major cities tend to understate revenue and spending, wait too long to release budgets, and confuse taxpayers with obscure figures in their financial reports, finds a new study from the C.D. Howe Institute.
The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. Widely considered to be Canada’s most influential think tank, the Institute is a trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review.
 The Infograph does let you know where your dollars are going – is that enough? For 2017, each $100,000 of an urban residential assessment amounts to approximately $365 in property taxes for city services. In the 2017 edition of the Institute’s annual municipal fiscal accountability report card, titled “Fuzzy Finances: Grading the Financial Reports of Canada’s Municipalities,” the authors “found a dramatic divergence in the quality of financial reporting among municipalities”. “Sadly, this year’s report card highlights some marked declines in municipal fiscal accountability.”
While Burlington wasn’t one of the municipalities that was reported on the questions the authors of the report raised are still very relevant; especially for a city that has raised the tax rate by close to, sometimes above 4% each year for at least the past three years.
 Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent. The staff within the Finance department know their stuff; they have their fingers on every piece of information and when they are asked a question they have a direct answer – no “flim flam” from that department.
Where they err is on making the information available to the public and reconciling what they promise and what they deliver. Basically – the accountants aren’t as accountable as they need to be. The department has the capacity to better inform the public.
They aren’t told to do so by the City Manager who calls all the shots and they aren’t directed to do so by the elected city council.
 City manager James Ridge. There was a memorable occasion during the discussion of last year’s budget when James Ridge, the city manager, said that staffing needs just “bubble up” during Leadership Team budget discussions. At the time Ridge was asking for a $500,000 addition to the base budget. Councillor Meed Ward tried to get that pared back to $300,000 for the first year – she didn’t get the support she needed.
Jack Dennison, probably the best financial mind on council wasn’t aware that the $500,000 was being put into the base budget.
Much of that spending Ridge was asking for was to be on the Grow Bold initiative – and we know what we got for our money on that one.
 Burlington has always had a small group of citizens who get out to public meetings to review budgets, policy proposals and share ideas. In that regard we are fortunate. Unfortunately – the city no longer holds this kind of meeting – they did do a telephone call in program instead. The C D Howe Institute “urges municipalities to adopt accrual accounting in budgets – municipal governments should present their annual budgets on the same accounting basis as their year-end financial statements.
Present headline figures early and prominently in budgets and financial reports –municipalities need to display the key numbers in a more accessible manner. Burlington puts up some detailed Infographics that go part of the way.
Show gross, consolidated, municipality-wide spending – municipal budgets should show gross spending and revenue so that users of financial statements have a comprehensive overview of a government’s fiscal footprint.
Explain deviations from budget plans – municipalities should prominently display tables reconciling year-end results with budget promises.
Publish budgets and financial reports in a timely manner – municipalities should approve expenditures before the government spending happens.
Burlington misses this mark by a wide margin.
Municipalities are not allowed to operate at a loss. When Burlington’s Finance department reports on how they managed the collection and spending of taxes they have gotten into the habit of using the phrase a “positive or a negative variance” – they don’t like saying there was a surplus.
There is always a surplus – sometime a huge amount – it was once as high as $9 million. That surplus gets distributed into the numerous reserve funds the city has to draw on – that’s what prevent any kind of a loss in any one year. When the reserve funds are close to being depleted the city will include a top up amount in the next budget.
The favourite reserve fund is the Tax Stabilization account – it is a sort of the piggy bank that council can always go to when funds for something unexpected is needed.
“Clearer, more consistent figures and better accountability for hitting or missing budget targets would bring the financial management of municipalities better into line with their fiscal impact and their importance in Canadians’ lives,” the authors conclude.
In a CBC radio interview earlier this morning the authors of the report touched on citizen participation in the creation of the budget. A couple of public budget session ago Vanessa Warren, an advocate for more significant public involvement in the creation of the budget, asked why the meeting was being shown a budget but not being asked to be involved in the creation of that budget.
Burlington does a survey asking what people think of the budget – and always gets high marks. Councillor Dennison has not been known to question the validity of that survey.
City council passed a bylaw allowing the Finance department to send out interim tax bills for a budget that has yet to be approved.
By Staff
January 2, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The announcement from city hall was pretty straight forward – the review of city’s proposed 2018 operating budget will take place January 18.
Then the kicker – Proposed city tax increase of 4.19%
How much longer can Burlington smack the tax payers with property tax increases of more than 4%.
It just isn’t sustainable.
The 2018 operating budget delivers a base budget to maintain city service levels.
 Other impacts to the 2018 operating budget include:
• $1.9 million or an additional tax increase of 1.25 per cent dedicated to the renewal of city infrastructure as outlined in the Asset Management Plan.
• $1 million or an additional tax increase of 0.65 per cent for legislative changes to the Employment Standards and Labour Relations Acts (Bill 148) including increases to minimum wage.
• $1.3 million or an additional tax increase of 0.84 per cent for changes in transit to provide operational sustainability.
• $1.2 million or an additional tax increase of 0.78 per cent for impacts from the 2014 arbitrated Fire settlement.
• $320,000 or an additional tax increase of 0.21 per cent to enhance maintenance standards on city sports fields.
 The total city tax increase in the proposed 2018 operating budget is 4.19 per cent. When combined with Halton Region’s proposed tax increase and no change for education, the overall tax increase is projected at 2.49 per cent or $21.03 per $100,000 of Current Value Assessment.
There is an ongoing fallacy that gets trotted out each year by Joan Ford, Director of Finance: “Despite a number of significant budget pressures like the increase to Ontario’s minimum wage effective Jan. 1, 2018, and funding needed to address operational challenges in transit, Burlington’s proposed operating budget continues to ensure our assets are renewed and maintained in a fiscally responsible manner. Since 2011, overall tax increases in Burlington have averaged 1.9 per cent. In a comparison of property taxes in municipalities in the Great Toronto Hamilton Area, Burlington’s property taxes are the third lowest for a residential single-family detached home.”
Every word of that is true – however neither Burlington’s finance department nor its city council can do a blessed thing about the demands the school board or the Region make on the pocket books of the tax payers: Burlington is asking for an increase of 4.19% – they have been asking for more than, or very, very close to 4% for the past four years.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman was tough enough in 2010 to keep the tax increase to 0. There was a time, back in 2010, when the tax increase was zero! Councillor Sharman was the driving force behind that effort. Council did it once – they should be able to do it again. It’s called belt tightening.
Members of the public who would like to speak at the Committee of the Whole budget meeting as a delegation can register by calling 905-335-7600, ext. 7481 or visiting burlington.ca/delegation. The deadline to register as a delegation for the Jan. 18 meeting is noon on Jan. 17, 2018.
Council approval of the proposed 2018 operating budget is scheduled for Monday, January 22, at 6:30 p.m.
By Pepper Parr
December 27th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The city Finance department takes care of collecting the money.
They create a budget that gets put through dozens of hoops with no public input until the document is sent along to a Council Standing Committee. The Finance department tells the Councillors what it will take in the way of a tax rate to pay for the contents of the budget.
There is then a full day session when city council meeting as a Standing Committee goes through the budget with as close to a fine tooth comb as Burlington is capable of – based on last year’s budget, when the city manager asked for $500,000 (that’s half a million) added to the base budget by explaining that things just “trickle up” and have to be covered that fine tooth comb doesn’t do its job.
 Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward in the first office she had when elected in 2010. Ward 2 Councillor Meed Ward tried to cut that back to $300,000 the first year and then take a closer look in the second year. She got nowhere with that. Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison who usually knows where every nickel goes was at one point unaware that the $500,000 was going into the base budget – which means he gets that amount every year.
This kind of spending helps understand why Burlington has had tax increases in the 4% range for the past four years.
Most Councillors have a project in their ward they want to promote – it’s just good politics.
For ward 3 Councillor John Taylor – it is quite often something for Lowville.
This year he has his hand out for $30,000 to do a study on what can be done with the Lowville School House, a building that is structurally sound but doesn’t have a heat source or running water.
 For the past couple of years the city has had a working arrangement with Thinkspot, a Lowville based mini think tank that has developed a reputation for being the place to go for well-honed leadership in getting at just what the root of a problem is and then putting together a process for resolving the problem.
The locale is about as good as it gets – 15 minute drive from the city to a rural setting that is pleasant, relaxing and has a decent kitchen for putting together snacks. ThinkSpot often used the school house for larger groups and often for ThinkSpot sponsored community events.
The city decided some time ago that there was a better way to use the space and advised ThinkSpot that the working relationship that was in place was no more.
Lowville has a really robust group of people who keep a close eye on what city council does – it was Lowville residents who tipped off the Gazette about the land fill that was being dumped at the Air Park. They don’t miss much.
The bureaucrats want to be careful with what they take to the community – they have pretty high expectations.
 Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor doing what he does best – listening to people Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor has this soft spot for Lowville. His ward includes much of rural Burlington. When he retires he just might find himself wanting to live in that community.
Foe a home assessed at $500,00 – find one of those in Burlington – the taxes are really close to $2,000. If that amount $18.66 will pay for city council; $70.56 will be used on roads and transportation. These numbers are based on the proposed operating budget. The really hard look at the Operating budget will take place on January 18, starting at 9:30 a.m. – Committee of the Whole – Operating Budget review
Anyone who wants to delegate must register by noon on January 17.
The following Monday, January 22nd, city council will vote on the recommendation that comes out of the Standing Committee. That’s four days later – not much time for people to digest what came out of the Standing Committee and form argument for a change to the budget.
The Capital budget has already been set.
The Capital budget – it has already been approved. This is an example of the city claim that it really engages with its citizens. It is a part of the why there is now a citizen’s organization that believes things have to be different.
Every member of the current council was re-elected in 2014 and there doesn’t appear to be rush of bright stars on the horizon who want to challenge the incumbents. There are a couple.
By Staff
December 12, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
During the final city council meeting of 2017 Monday evening, the significant seven approved a Capital Budget spend of $68.6 million without as much as a word from any Councillor and no one delegating.
The ten year capital spending forecast is for $688 million.
The tax increase for 2018 is expected to be in the 4% range.
Seventy nine per cent of the 10-year capital budget will be invested in renewing Burlington’s aging infrastructure in accordance with the city’s Asset Management Plan.
A breakdown of spending for the 2018 capital budget of $68.6 million includes:
• $32 million, the largest component, for roadways
• $11.5 million for facilities and buildings
• $8.1 million for parks and open spaces
• $7.1 million in storm water management
• $6.1 million towards fleet vehicles and equipment
• $1.8 million for information technology
• $1.4 million for local boards (Burlington Public Library, Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington Museums)
• $630,000 in parking.
This is where the Capital spending is going to go – $68.6 million in 2018 City Council meetings are usually quite short – this one lasted 40 minutes. There have been council meetings as short as 20 minutes. The Mayor likes to move things briskly.
The electronic voting system the city used didn’t function – again. The Halton District School Board has a system that works exceptionally well.
During the discussion before the voting on different items there was mention of cycle tracks on New Street that were going to come in at $5 million.
The item is in the 2019 capital budget just as a place holder (it had to be put in somewhere was the comment heard off camera) – no date on when such a spend would take place. The decision to get rid of the road diet New Street was put on does not seem to have had any impact on how New Street is going to work going forward.
The buzz word was “active transportation for city roads.”
Council received and filed an update on the work being done on the Waterfront Hotel development plans. Councillor Meed Ward commented that this was a work in process and that there was still a lot to be done.
Councillor Craven added that he was pleased to see the high level of community input and added that is it “fair and appropriate to point out that this the property is privately owned.”
Traditionally this council has been much more robust in the way they wished their constituents all the very best for the holiday season and spoke glowingly on how much they had gotten done during the year and how well they had done their jobs – none of that grandstanding Monday night.
This is a somewhat subdued city council. As usual the tough questions came from Councillor Meed Ward.
By Pepper Parr
December 3rd, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Budget time.
City staff presented an Operating budget with a 4.19 % increase over last year – this will be the xx year that tax payers have seen increases in the 4% range.
 The disturbing part of this budget is the prediction going forward for increases that are wll above inflation at a time when the economy is very healthy. The line that is solid yellow is the one that tax ayers need to focus on The proposed net tax levy for the 2018 fiscal year for the Operating budget will amount to $159,855,656. Staff propose that Council approve this amount on January 22, 2018.
Staff did a line-by-line review of the base budget and found $600,000 in savings.
City manager James Ridge. The strategic review of the Operating Budget is done by a Leadership Team comprised of the City Manager, Director of Finance, Director of Human Resources. The Director of Planning and Building and the City Clerk took part as rotating member.
The following were events that impacted the Operating budget:
The estimated impact from legislative changes to the Employment Standards and Labour Relations Acts (Bill 148) of $1 million results in an additional tax increase
The annualized impact of changes made within the Transit Service to provide operational sustainability of $1.3 million results in an additional tax increase
Impacts from the 2014 arbitrated Fire settlement of $1.2 million results in an additional tax increase
The increase for the dedicated infrastructure levy of $1.9 million results in an additional tax increase
A business case to increase maintenance standards on city sports fields for $320K
 Where the money gets spent These events plus the base budget already in place result in a total tax increase to 4.19%.
The following table provides a breakdown of the city’s tax increase.
 The cost increases put upward pressure on the budget; more money going out. The lower than anticipated assessment growth meant less money coming in. The difference between those two numbers is found in the pockets of the tax payers.
 Former Director of Transit Mike Spicer sitting with city manager James Ridge – the facial expressions tell the story. Spicer resigned several months later. Council learned on September 7, of the “challenges facing the department’s operations”. Those challenges are going to add s approximately $1.3 M to the proposed 2018 budget.
Municipalities are service organizations that rely heavily on human resources to deliver the range and quality of services that residents have come to expect. Human resource costs (including benefits, training, etc.) as a percentage of the City’s gross budget has changed from 50.5% in 2004 to 46.2% proposed for 2018.
Local Boards include the Burlington Public Library, Burlington Museums, Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC), Tourism Burlington and the Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC). For 2018 a base budget increase of 2.0% was provided for local boards, equating to $295,910.
The city continues to make good progress on its infrastructure renewal needs as Council has provided Predictable Infrastructure Investment, in the form of a dedicated incremental infrastructure levy. The proposed budget includes a 1.25% ($1.9 million) levy as recommended in the city’s Asset Management Financing Plan.
A recent review of the Vehicle Depreciation Reserve Fund (VDRF) recommended that the annual contributions to the reserve fund be increased from 3% to 4% per annum to ensure long-term financial sustainability. This increased contribution has an incremental $32,000 ongoing impact to the operating budget.
The city revenues in 2018 will, in part come from the following increases:
• increase in registration fee and rental revenues of $181,000 to reflect increased volume of participants as well as increases to fees
• increase in Building Permit fees of $186,000 to reflect an increase in the costs to administer enforcement of the Building Code (Bill 124)
• increase in Development Application and Approval Processing (DAAP) fees of
$140,000 to reflect an increase in volume and a 2% increase in fees
• increase in parking fines of $215,000 and daily parking revenues of $150,000 to better align with historical revenue trends
• increase in Transit advertising revenues of $170,000 as a result of a new advertising contract.
 The process for putting a city budget together. A tax bill doesn’t always translate into cash in the city coffers. The city budgets annually for tax write-offs based on assessment reductions or property class changes agreed to by MPAC and/or the Assessment Review Board (ARB).
Annual write-offs have traditionally been approximately $1 million. In 2017 write-offs are estimated to total $2 million due to continued processing of longstanding appeals being resolved by the ARB. These write-offs have depleted the allowance account which will require a provision to be made at year-end as part of the retained savings. The budget for write-offs has been increased by $50,000 to $1.175 million.
These growth costs and other inflationary increases have been offset by assessment growth which allows a municipality to finance increased costs without increasing taxes.
Over the past five years Burlington’s weighted assessment growth was:
2013 0.87%
2014 0.58%
2015 0.97%
2016 1.16%
2017 0.15%
Staff continue to believe a portion of this is one-time in nature.
 The first of the five tower Paradigm on Fairview will begin to be occupied in 2018 – adding to the tax roles. There are three major projects under construction that will be at least partially completed in 2018 – with people moving in – tax get levied and assessment growth improves.
The 2017 Approved Budget included $200,000 to implement the first phase of the Enhanced Sportsfield Maintenance Strategy. Included with the 2018 budget is a business case to provide the remaining funding requirements of $320,320 and 3.2 FTE to fully implement this strategy. This business case aligns with the city’s Strategic Direction of a Healthy and Greener City. It will result in improved turf resilience and playability as well as demonstrates environmental leadership and stewardship of our natural assets.
 Services the city provides. The proposed city increase of 4.19%, for urban residential taxpayers translates into a tax increase of $21.03 for each $100,000 of residential assessment.
 By Staff
November 9th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington is renaming two of its departments to more accurately reflect the services that are provided to the residents.
As of Jan. 1, 2018 Roads and Parks Maintenance will become the Roads, Parks and Forestry Department; and Planning and Building will become the Department of City Building – Planning, Building and Culture.
The services provided by each of the departments will not change.
The Roads, Parks and Forestry Department provides:
• Road and sidewalk maintenance including inspections, repairs and winter control
• Loose leaf collection and street sweeping
• Forestry operations including inspections, pruning, removals, planting and education
• Park maintenance including playgrounds, park furnishings and fencing, waste removal, and park buildings
• Storm sewers and creek maintenance
• Cemetery operations
The Department of City Building – Planning, Building and Culture provides:
• Building, plumbing, heating, swimming pool, septic system, and sign permits
• Bylaw customer service
• Building inspections
• Building permit customer service
• Business and lottery licensing
• Official Plan/planning policy
• Development application review
• Development customer service
• Zoning customer service
• Committee of Adjustment
• Urban design
• Mobility hubs planning
• Public art
• Culture planning and implementation
 Mary Lou Tanner, City Planner making a point with Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor Mary Lou Tanner, director of Department of City Building – Planning, Building and Culture, who now gets a new business card said: “Changing the name from Planning and Building to the Department of City Building – Planning, Building and Culture will help eliminate some confusion for residents who have questions, streamlining customer service.”
Mary Battaglia, director of Roads, Parks and Forestry Department tell us that: “The name change more accurately reflects what we do. The Department of Roads, Parks and Forestry provides three important services for residents that are all reflected in the new name. It’s a simple change and it just makes sense.”
This just means printing up a whole bunch of new business cards.
By Staff
November 2, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
A review of the 2018 proposed budgets will begin on Nov. 9 at 11 a.m.
A copy of the proposed 2018 capital budget will be available online at www.burlington.ca/budget by Nov. 6, 2017.
Meetings for the 2018 capital and operating budgets will take place on the following dates:
Members of the public who would like to speak at the Committee of the Whole – Budget meetings as a delegation can register by calling 905-335-7600, ext. 7481 or visiting burlington.ca/delegation.
The deadline to register as a delegation for the Dec. 1 Committee of the Whole capital budget meeting is Nov. 30, 2017 at noon. The deadline to register as a delegation for the Jan. 18 Committee of the Whole operating budget meeting is Jan. 17, 2018 at noon.
Quotes
Joan Ford, Director of Finance said that “Seventy eight per cent of the 2018 capital budget is focused on renewing our aging infrastructure in accordance with the Asset Management Plan. The budget also makes key investments to deliver on initiatives in the Strategic Plan.”
 The 2018 Capital Budget is focused on delivering initiatives in the city’s Strategic Plan and meeting the city’s commitment to infrastructure renewal projects identified by Burlington’s Asset Management Plan. Priorities for 2018 include road and storm water infrastructure improvements.
The 2018 proposed capital budget is approximately $68.6 million, with a 10-year program of $688 million.
No mention is made in the media release as to what the city is going to do about the financial mess at Burlington Transit. We will all feel the bite on that one.
 By Pepper Parr
October 18th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It wasn’t a great surprise – if he wasn’t employed as the Mayor what would he do?
Inside Halton published a report that had Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring announcing earlier today that he would be seeking a third term in the 2018 municipal election.
Inside Halton went on to say that the Mayors used “…the Niagara Escarpment as a backdrop where the Mayor was joined by his wife Cheryl and children Stephanie and Lisa.
When asked why he was making his intentions known almost a year away from next year’s municipal election, Goldring replied the main reason was because so many people were asking him if he was planning to run again.
 Mayor answering questions during a ward 4 debate. “And I thought this was the best way to let the community know what my intention is and that is to register in early May as a candidate,” he said.
Registration for candidates in the mayoral, Councillor or school board trustee races officially opens May 1, 2018.
Goldring said he specifically chose to make his announcement in north Burlington because the 100 per cent commitment by previous and current councils to maintain 50 per cent of the city (in the north) as rural.
“As we grow as a city, it is critical we maintain and enhance the 50 per cent of Burlington that’s in the greenbelt,” he noted.
 The rural-urban boundary – defined by Hwy 407and Dundas is not going to ever be changed by cit council. Burlington’s city council couldn’t change the regulation that has the land north of the Hwy 507 – Dundas Boundary and permit major residential development. The province and the Region would slap the city something silly if they even talked about such an idea.
The Mayor has created a straw dog.
If re-elected, Goldring said he would continue to bring what he has in the past to the office of the mayor.
“I think that’s the attitude of one of service, an attitude of collaboration, connecting with the community on a regular basis, as well as help provide direction to the city going forward, which I have done for the last seven years,” he explained, noting he didn’t see being mayor as a job, but rather a vocation.
“I’m fortunate to be the mayor, I take it very seriously. I’m honoured and privileged each and every day to do the role.”
They all say that – and Rick Goldring does take his job seriously.
During the release of the 2017 Vital Signs report by the Burlington Foundation, chair Ron Foxcroft, who likes to loosen up an audience with a little humour, told the story of Rick Goldring’s NHL career (there was of course no such things but when Ron Foxcroft is on a roll – there is no stopping him) he said there was just one thing missing – talent.
Ouch!
Goldring called the role of mayor a challenging one and currently facing a challenging time as the city is embarking on a path to adopt new municipal plans.
“I’m invigorated and inspired at the opportunity to continue to lead the city going forward,” he added.
“I look forward to the opportunity to continue to work with council, staff and the community in continuing to build and have a great city that is in fact the envy of the country and continues to be the best medium-sized city to live in Canada.”
That is part of the story – but only part. The reality is that Mike Wallace is out there beating the bushes and holding small events at various locations in the city where he meets with invited guests to re-introduce himself and measure what he might have in the way of support.
Mike Wallace wants to be Mayor so bad he can taste it.
Quite why Rick Goldring wants a third term is something one can only speculate about. He has not managed to do anything of any significance in his first two terms.
Still no Code of Conduct for city council members; Goldring sloughed that off to the city manager who is expected to come back with something – sometime.
Still no private tree bylaw – and for a committed environmentalist that is close to unconscionable.
 This graphic sets out the issue. The two pieces of land at each end are owned by the city and will be turned into Windows on the Lake. The piece in the centre is owned by the city and the province. The three property owners want to purchase that centre piece and make it private property. Other people want to see a pathway through the property running from Lakeshore, down Market Street along the waterfront and up St. Paul back to Lakeshore. City council voted t sell the land in the center. The land at the edge of the lake between Market Street and St, Paul is gone forever – thank your Mayor for that one. The city owned the land – but we sold it.
At some point there will be a decision on whether or not New Street should have dedicated bike lanes.
The decision to go ahead with the Joseph Brant Museum transformation is going to end up being as serious a mistake as The Pier. Goldring came in as Mayor the Mayor who had to deal with The Pier mess – he may well leave office having left the city with a project that is only going to such money out of reserve funds for years to come.
Later this evening – Thursday October 18, the Mayor is going to hold a Telephone Town Hall during which he will listen to what people would like to see in the budget. He is doing this because he said a survey told city hall that people didn’t want to go out to attend budget meetings.
The pictures below tell a different story.
 Burlingtonians will show up for public meetings and take an active part in any discussion This is a budge review meeting with the Director of Finance leading the discussion.  Citizens doing a solid review of a city budget. For the Mayor to suggest that people don;t want t attend is spurious at best. But the race is on. We now need to hear what Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward plans to do. The last we heard – she is in – she has wanted to be Mayor since the day she ran for the ward 2 seat in 2010.
The 2014 election was a sleeper – that will not be the story for the next 12 months.
By Pepper Parr
October 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Mayor tried this once before – it didn’t work out all that well. But he is game to try it again.
 Mayor with Mark Carr preparing for a live call in Cogeco broadcast from city. Sometime during his first term of office the Mayor teamed up with Mark Carr and Cogeco and set up a call in show that was done live from the city Council Chamber. There were very very few calls.
This time the Mayor is going to talk to his constituents about the budget priorities in an online Town Hall.
In the past the city has held public meetings to talk about the budget – the Mayor is now saying that “We’re making changes to our budget engagement strategy based on last year’s survey results which told us residents didn’t want to come to a public information centre and would prefer a more convenient way of being informed and asking questions.”
The photographs taken of previous public budget meetings show a room filled with people. There was one exception – in 2015 – a snow storm kept people away.
 A rapt audience listened to an overview of the 2014 budget. .  Lot of people showed up for the 2011 budget review meeting.  The 2015 budget review meeting didn’t draw very many people – there was a snow storm – however the arena right next door was packed. The Telephone Town Hall on the 2018 Proposed Budget will take place on Wednesday, October 18th, between 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. for residents, businesses and community partners.
Participants will learn about and discuss the proposed 2018 budget priorities with Mayor Rick Goldring and senior city staff.
Residents, businesses and community partners will be randomly selected to participate by telephone invitation from the Mayor. Anyone who does not receive a telephone invitation can call 1-800-537-6616 at 7:30 p.m. on October 18th and listen in to the conversation.
The purpose of the Telephone Town Hall is to discuss the proposed 2018 budget priorities with the Mayor and senior city staff.
In this live, call-in session, residents, organizations and business owners can ask questions about the upcoming budget. There will be an emphasis on:
• Resident satisfaction with value for service
• Increased funding for transit
• Support for city infrastructure renewal funding
There is no mention of any documentation or overview of what the 2018 budget is going to contain which makes it a little difficult for people to comment. It does give those who get invited to take part to rant publicly – which makes one wonder just who is going to get invited. The selection of participants is said to be random – random from what – a list of voters or those who donated to the Mayor’s election campaign or those on his Christmas card list?
The discussion will start shortly after 7:30 pm – those who want to listen in can call in a minute or two early; anyone who is late will be able to join anytime. The system can handle up to 20,000 participants.
Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent. Joan Ford, Director of Finance adds that: “The budgets are being drafted right now. The feedback we receive from the Town Hall will be put into a report and presented to City Council for their consideration. All questions received during the Town Hall, regardless of whether they were discussed live will be posted online with answers a few days after the event.”
By Pepper Parr
September 20, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
While the city beavers away at getting all the public participation for the Mobility Hubs done and another group in the Planning department works through the steps that will be involved in getting what is going to be built on the Waterfront Hotel site clarified and the people over at Transit get used to the idea that theirs is going to be a much different world if what the City Manager had to say at a recent Council meeting was real, there is another department finalizing some of its work and will have information for all of us real soon – the BUDGET.
 The budget for Capital spending in 2017 The Finance department works to a well-honed time line to get all the numbers pulled up from the departments and worked into a number that gets cleared at the Executive level within city hall.
By this time the first cut of the budget is pretty clear in the minds of the people that do the number crunching.
The million or so that is going to have to be put into Transit is something they are probably still digesting.
 The processes that a budget has to go through involves some complex procedures – the theory is that any new spending has to be supported by a business case. The 2018 budget timelines call for a December approval of the Capital Budget and a January approval of the Operating Budget.
The people over at Finance tell us that in future years “we will be targeting more aggressive timelines which would bring both the Capital and Operating Budgets forward together in advance of year-end (excluding election years).
The timeline of the budget process for 2018 looks like this:
A Committee of the Whole meeting: Capital Budget Overview: November 9, 2017
Capital Council Information Session: November 16, 2017
A Committee of the Whole Capital Budget Review: December 1, 2017
A Committee of the Whole Operating Budget Overview: December 1, 2017
Council Capital Budget Approval: December 11, 2017
Operating Council Information Session: December 12, 2017
COW – Operating Budget Review: January 18, 2018
Council Operating Budget Approval: January 22, 2018
The 2017 budget hit the people of Burlington with a 4%+ tax increase. The budget for 2016 wasn’t any better.
The long term thinking in 2016 was for there to be some pretty stiff budget increases that would in 2019.
 The actual tax rate was always higher that the projection. The city of Hamilton kept their 2017 tax rate to less than 2%.
In 2016 the Mayor asked the city manager to look for new revenue sources. There was talk then about a Storm Water Management tax – that didn’t’ fly for a number of technical regions.
 The Joseph Brant Hospital now faces the lake. The city is still paying down our part of the $60 million that we had to put up for the new and re-developed Joseph Brant Hospital. (Burlington actually had to come up with $120 million – half through a tax levy and the other half was to be raised by the Hospital Foundation.) When that special tax levy was put in place the understanding was that it would end when the hospital was paid for – that isn’t going to happen. The Finance people have built that special tax levy into their regular revenue.
When the $60 million cost was put on the table the then city manager Jeff Fielding said it was the largest sum of money the city has ever had to budget for – he might have added that it was going to be funds the city could look forward to spending forever.
 By Staff
September 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The chair of Burlington for Accessible. Sustainable Transit (BFAST) says he wants an independent inquiry into the reasons for the mess the system finds itself in.
 “ ‘Disgraceful’ is not a strong enough word to describe the extent to which Council has overseen the decay of Burlington’s transit system,” said Brown. “We need an independent inquiry as to why this has been allowed to happen.”
“Not only has the transit system been starved of funds with the result that ridership has plummeted, but it has deteriorated to the extent that the safety of its passengers and other users of our roads has been called into question,” Brown said.
“Council must be accountable for this lamentable state of affairs and must get serious about Burlington’s transit service.”
 Doug Brown,chair of Bfast, knows that a well run bus service is a beautiful thing. Brown has long questioned the information Council has received from City staff on the transit file and says he was “not surprised” to find that the facts confirmed the system is in crisis.
Brown says the City needs a transit study that’s part of Burlington’s overall transportation plan. He says Council’s penchant for robbing the transit budget and “micro-management” of the system have been primary causes of its decay.
By Staff
May 16, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Yesterday City Council approved the 2017 Tax Levy Bylaw that allows the Finance department to end you a tax bill on with payment dates of June 21 and Sept. 21, 2017.
Highlights of the budget which was approved in January include:
• The 2017 budget delivers a base budget increase that continues to invest in existing services and reflects the objectives of the city’s long-term financial plan.
• The budget maintains the $4.8 million annual contribution toward the Joseph Brant Hospital reserve fund to meet the city’s $60 million commitment to the redevelopment project.
• This budget continues City Council’s commitment to a dedicated annual tax increase to address infrastructure renewal based on the city’s Asset Management Plan.
• The city’s approved operating budget of $238 million for 2017 provides a wide range of services and programs, including the maintenance of roads, community facilities, fire protection, parks and transit.
 Tax chart – breaks out what the city spends and what it collects for other levels of government. Additional service investments for 2017 include:
$254, 000 for maintaining the urban tree canopy
$200, 000 for the maintenance of sports fields
$80,000 in enhancements to washrooms in waterfront parks
$30,000 to support ongoing community events.
The budget is made up of two parts –
Capital budget
Operating budget
The city provides an infographic setting out where those tax dollars are spent.
By Pepper Parr
April 3, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It was the third annual Burlington for fast meeting – the audience was much the same, the issues were the same, there were fewer politicians on hand – The Mayor the MPP and one ward Councillor.
Staff from Planning, Director Mary Lou Tanner and Transportation Director Vito Tolone were on hand.
What was very different was – the transit people were in the room and they made a very positive presentation.
 Director of Transportation Vito Tolone on the left with Transit supervisor Bob Mennell on the right. Mennell did a great job of telling transit users how good things were going to be in the future. Time will tell on that one. Mennell would make a very convincing member of Council. A former transit driver and now a supervisor Bob Mennell gave a presentation that was sprinkled with shout outs to many of his former customers. He kept referring to those occasions when he “looked the other way” when someone didn’t have the full fare.
Acting Director of Transit Jeff Black did a fine job of bringing people up to date on the changes that have been made.
Aiding Doug Brown, who has carried this project on his shoulders for the past couple of years was Collin Gribbons who moved to Burlington from the Pape and Danforth part of Toronto where he could “catch a bus or a subway to anywhere. “Can’t do that in Burlington – the system just doesn’t work,” was the way he put it.
Mayor Goldring positioned himself as a transit supporter who proudly announced that he had taken the bus to the event and added that while waiting for the bus to arrive someone had pulled up and offered him a lift. The Mayor declined and then went on to tell the audience how much money the federal government was pumping into transportation. Tonnes of dollars going into the GO system.
Which was fine according to Doug Brown who added that the dollars the Mayor was talking about were for capital projects – new buses and major upgrades to the GO system.
What Burlington needs is an operational contribution to transit and that is something city council can do. They haven’t done it yet.”
  The gas tax rebate the city gets was at one point split 30% for transit and the rest for roads maintenance is now at 20%.
The audience learned that the population of Burlington was now 183,000 souls – Regionally there are 548,000 of us – that is projected to grow to 1 million by 20141
The draft Official Plan just released talks of 15 minute service for transit.
There are even plans to upgrade the downtown bus terminal that was going to be torn down less than five years ago.
The gas tax the province pays out now total $2.1 million for the province – that’s scheduled to rise to $4.2 million.
 More Handi-vans are to be part of the improvement in the fleet. There are going to be more Handi-vans
There was just no end to the things that transit was going to get.
Mohamed had come to the mountain,
There were significant cuts to the transit budgets in 2012 and schedule changes that did serious damage to ridership.
Bfast polls the audience each year and produces a report card.
Here it is – not much to be proud about.
 The first report card – funding, the critical element has budged.  Some improvement. The data comes from the people who use the service. Jeff Black said the transit people needed to hear this – true enough. Bfast has been telling them often enough – they just weren’t listening.
During an interactive voting process that allowed opinions to be put on a screen instantly we learned that just 26% of the audience took transit to the meeting – the other 74% used some other mode of transportation.
 The reason for the decline has been poor service, lousy funding and a change to the schedules that drove passengers away from the service. The city own 53 buses and 10 Handi-vans that carried 1.9 million riders in 2016.
It was all mind-boggling. Almost too much to really believe.
At the meeting was coming to an end Joey Edwardh, president of Community Development Halton was given the microphone. She linked arms with the Mayor, a symbolic way to pull him into her comments about just how much more needed to be done for transit.
 Do you get the impression the two on the right are actually listening? The Mayor didn’t say much – while he may have become a transit convert – he is part of a council that has yet to understand the direction the civic administration is taking.
Four of the seven Councillors just don’t have much of an appetite for transit: Craven, Dennison, Taylor and Lancaster probably have not taken a Burlington Transit bus this Council term. One wonders if they own Presto passes.
 Jim Young The Mayor talked about all the funding that had come in from both the federal and provincial governments – didn’t say a word about municipal funding
120 people attended the Bfast forum, a record attendance.
Jim Young, that irrepressible promoter for better transit service said: “I think we are winning, but I’ve felt that way before” and added that ”present City Staff and management are very good at absorbing and paying lip service to engagement while quietly ignoring external inputs.”
 By Pepper Parr
February 28th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Why does what we pay our politicians of so much interest to people?
We don’t spend as much time on what we pay our Member of Parliament and the Member of the Provincial Legislature. Partly because what the municipal politicians do is much closer to home.
Explain the ongoing angst over the New Street Road diet?
Its impact is so exaggerated by both sides of the argument. A short change in the amount of time it takes to drive from one Line to the next is made to sound like the world is coming to an end for those who feel the road was put there by God himself and is a divine right for car drivers.
The cyclists explain that it is just a small part of the bike lane network they want to see build across the city.
Emotions do get stirred – and it takes a sensitive politician tuned to the will of the residents and a genuine desire to listen and find the needed compromises. We don’t have a lot of those on this city Council.
 The significant seven – how many will return in 2018? Most of them take the view that they were elected to make decisions, which they do, based on the world as they see it.
Councillor Sharman brings his pretty solid conservative views to the table and in order to avoid making a decision he continually asks for more data.
Councillor Taylor is of the view that if someone one needs support for transit they should undergo a means test.
He has somehow equated transit with social welfare. Taylor can probably not tell you when he was last on a bus in Burlington.
Councillor Meed Ward wants to maintain some height limitations that are not realistic and believes that the city can somehow stop the kind of growth that is going to take place.
Her colleague, Councillor Jack Dennison, would be quite happy to see a Burlington with 300,000 people living in with the city limits. He thinks like a developer.
The Mayor wants a city just like the one he was raised in – he forgets that both he and the city have grown up.
Councillor Lancaster has an elitist view of what a politician is supposed to do.
We commented on Councillor Craven in a separate article.
They are the people the citizens elected. That less than 40% of the population bothers to vote is not something you can blame on the politicians – even if they do make it very difficult for new comers to get elected.
Hundreds of people grouse about where these members of council fail – but very few step up and run for office.
The money isn’t great. No one is going to buy one of the larger homes on sale in his city with the salaries that are paid.
And those that really do the job put in long hours. The Mayor is out most nights of the week. Among the Council members he works the hardest.
 Add about $55,000 in Regional salary to what the city pays and you arrive at a total of $120,000 a year. The hours are pretty easy with close to a month off in the summer. Pension is now very good, Every member of Burlington’s city council is also a member of the Regional Council. They earn a separate amount from the Region – about $54,000 a year plus mileage expenses.
The current pension plans is very good. For those that have been at the Council table for 20 years – the pnsion isn’t going to allow them to live in luxury.
Would paying more result in better council members; probably not but it would certainly attract a lot of people who see $100,000 as a great salary.
Municipal politics is nothing like the private sector and it takes a full term of office to get the hang of it. some never get it and probably should not have been there in the first place.
Of the seven men and women we elect expect at least five of them to run for office in 2018. The race for MAyor has been going on for some time. On Monday at a Committee of the Whole meeting Councillor Meed Ward was serving as Chair.
 Councillor Meed Ward ate the Mayor’s lunch at a Standing Committee on Monday. There was an award presentation to be given – the city was named as the winner of an Ontario Public Works Association award for the way they handled the 2014 flood. These award presentations are usually done at city council meetings and not Standing Committee meetings.
The Mayor uses these occasions to give commendations to various groups and often receives an award the city is given along with the relevant staff members.
On Monday afternoon Meed Ward, as chair of the Standing Committee, decided that she would accept the award for the city and invited the Mayor to join her along with senior staff members. Meed Ward had just eaten the Mayor’s lunch.
 By Staff
February 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Quite why the Regional government would assign one of their communications advisors the task of preparing a media release on their credit rating is WORD
However we can now tell you that Moody’s Investors Service has upheld Halton Region’s Aaa credit rating—the agency’s highest—for the 29th consecutive year.
Profiling Halton’s strong governance and prudent fiscal policies, as well as its forward-looking operating and capital plans, Moody’s credit opinion report demonstrates a high level of confidence in the Region’s continued success.
 Regional administration offices are in Oakville. “Halton’s Aaa rating ranks us at the top end of Canadian municipalities,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr. “The Region is a transparent, accountable and fiscally responsible government that ensures value for taxpayers’ dollars. We are proud to consistently earn this distinction while providing high-quality services and keeping taxes low—our strong financial position helps keep Halton a great place to live.”
 Halton Region created, in 1974, is made up of four municipalities and is defined as an upper tier of municipal government. Maintaining a Aaa credit rating allows Halton and its local municipalities to finance major investments at the lowest possible long-term costs by providing continued access to the best capital financing rates available. It helps the Region maximize investments in Halton’s future while minimizing costs for taxpayers.
All municipal borrowing is done through the Region and on the strength of their credit rating.
What back up a credit rating is what you have to back up the borrowing. In the Region’s case the strength is the revenue stream which is based on the taxes you pay. Thus that credit rating has more to do with the value of your home.
The Region is for the most part a fiscally responsible level of government. As for transparency and accountability – they don’t earn the same triple a.
Moody’s report on Halton’s financial position highlights the following credit strengths:
• strong operating budgetary results, supported by stable revenues and well-managed expenses;
• prudent fiscal management and a commitment to long-term planning, supporting the generation of strong financial outcomes;
• declining debt burden and high levels of liquidity; and
• diversified economy and strong population growth.
The report also praised the Region’s conservative debt and investment policies, as well as its comprehensive, transparent and timely financial reporting. The agency assigned a stable outlook for Halton, with an expectation that the Region’s financial performance will remain strong.
 The exchange of opinions between an informed citizen and an elected member of city council can at times be fascinating. This is the kind of conversation that can and should take place at delegations at council
The conversation that follows is between Councillor Paul Sharman (ward 5) and Aldershot resident Tom Muir.
The remarks in black are Muir writing. The response from Sharman are in upper case blue letters. Muir’s rebuttal’s are in red.
Muir: I have had some opportunity over the last year or two to hear about the economic plan, strategic plan, and BEDC vision, but have not studied them in any detail.
OK, PLEASED TO DISCUSS THEM WITH YOU AND ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.
I’m away for a while so it will have to wait till I return.
 Aldershot resident Tom Muir Muir: You indicate there is an aligned new OP, but I must disagree, as we do not have a new OP as of yet, at least one that has gone through the required public consultation, debate, and Council approval processes under the Planning Act.
YOU ARE CORRECT, HOWEVER, APPROVED REPORTS IN SETTING UP THE OP REQUIRED THAT THE WORK BE DONE IN ALIGNMENT. THERE WAS MASSIVE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT WITH THE STRATEGIC PLAN. THE OP IS A DETAILED DELIVERY MECHANISM OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN
That’s part of the problem I think. The strategic plan is more about vision, is vague about specifics, and is less concrete and quantitative, which is where the OP enters. Residents are concerned about what the OP will entail with height, density, and intensification. That’s where the concern of disconnection with what residents will buy into, and the push-back is as you know.
Muir: Frankly, I have found it disturbing that the planning department seems to be making up an OP on the run, with developers, into something they would like it to be. The public and affected residents have been disconnected, and have not been given any opportunity for buy-in. Thus you have seen them giving Council push-back, so that way of getting a new aligned OP isn’t working and won’t work until the public processes are completed.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman THIS IS A GENERALIZED CONCLUSION ON A SINGLE SPECIFIC APPLICATION. ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN IN ALIGNMENT. HOWEVER, AS YOU CORRECTLY POINTED OUT ABOVE THE NEW OP IS IN PROCESS OF BEING DEVELOPED AND IT WILL BE REVIEWED AND APPROVED IN PUBLIC AND WITH PUBLIC INPUT. YOUR INPUT WILL BE APPRECIATED
Any generalization I may make is based on several recent years of engaging with INSPIRE talks, several OP related meetings, and development proposals, where it was apparent to residents that the planners were doing just what I described. The recent ADI example is this kind of planning thought in action. The development applications that have been in alignment are, to my experience, those that follow the OP by right height and densities with perhaps some acceptable tweaks.
Muir: Anyways this issue is an aside, and I only said this because you cited it as a part of some grand plan, which is my main point here.
THERE ABSOLUTELY ARE THOROUGHLY THOUGHT OUT, APPROVES, PLANS THAT HAD EXTENSIVE PUBLIC REVIEW. YOU WILL FIND IN THE REPORTS PROVIDED BY STAFF FULL DETAILS OF THE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROCESS.
I think you misunderstand my meaning here. I was only lumping the plans and documents you referred to – strategic, economic, BEDC, – into one grand plan frame. No offense or thoughts that these are not fully proper in the records of process. I did this to fit it into my main points of comment.
Muir: All the plans and so on that you list as being tied into the budget, are high level, visionary, and abstract – they are sort of wish lists, suggesting various paths to follow, and targets to meet. At least this is a summary of what I see these as, for present purposes.
SUCH IS THE NATURE OF PLANNING. STARTS WITH THE BIG STROKES AND DEVELOPS INTO THE DETAILS. BUT THESE ARE NOT SUGGESTIONS. THEY ARE APPROVED BY COUNCIL WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE CITIZENS OF BURLINGTON WITHIN A DEFINED FUTURE TIME FRAME
I’m not disputing what you say. I’ve been involved in many plans myself. The fact they are all approved doesn’t matter in my comment points. Your last point about the quality of life is directly affected by my point raised and further described below. I have been hearing this about improving the lot of citizens for decades, and I see not much that describes how this has actually happened and is manifested. It’s easy to say, hard to deliver, and it needs to be confirmed by the citizens themselves. The budget and financial situation that I am talking about here are very direct measures of this quality of life.
Muir: My comments can be linked to these documents if you consider everything in them as contributing over time to a downstream integrated results endpoint. In my example here, I see this integrated results endpoint as the budget revenue-expenditure level, or gap, whether it be deficit or surplus. In other words, what is the bottom line of the business of the City? You should be concerned about this, but don’t appear to be in an active involved and publicly visible way.
THE BUDGET IS THE SHORT TERM ARTICULATION OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN. THE 20 YEAR TAX RATE SIMULATION IS AN EFFORT TO PROVIDE A BRIDGE. HOWEVER, THE CITY MANAGER IS COMMITTED TO BRING FORWARD A 5 YEAR FINANCIAL AND NO FINANCIAL OPERATING PLAN TO COMPLETE THE INFORMATION YOU SEEK, THIS YEAR. THE BUDGET REVIEW WAS EXTENSIVE BUT PERFORMED BY STAFF AS THEY PREPARED IT. I HAVE REVIEWED ALL THE DOCUMENTS AS WELL AS QUESTUIONS ASKED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR WHICH THE ANSWERS ARE IN THE PUBLIC RECORD IN THE BUDGET REPORTS.
OK, you say there are activities underway to consider this concern. I want to be clear that I am using the conception I describe as a heuristic device to illustrate how all the plans eventually integrate their complexity into the budget, and financial performance, indicated by tax rate changes and revenue-expenditure numbers reflected in deficits and ever increasing taxes or the opposite.
Muir: This gap can be seen as the overall key performance indicator that is the integration of all the upstream planning, vision, and implementation aspects you mention. OK, NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN. I mean how the tax rates and increases, or decreases, reflect the gap – deficit or surplus – between revenue and expenditure is a performance indicator of how the upstream planning etc are working out.
Simply putting my point, are we digging the tax hole deeper for residents and business with our plans, or are we gradually building a prosperity fund – an accumulating surplus – and getting a source of leverage for some grander plans for all to enjoy? THE LATTER.I don’t see this in the 10 year forecast that I saw.
My concern, as I described it previously, is that in the 10 year budget forecast the integrated performance indicator of the accumulated revenue-expenditure gap remains in deficit the entire projected time horizon.
NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE REFERRING TO. PLEASE SEND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT.
As previous point, I saw a 10 year forecast of tax increases in the Gazette, and that’s all I have right now. I imagine Pepper grabbed it from somewhere city official.
Muir: I have to assume that the budget-makers are using forecast of future growth and development, revenue and expenditure, and how these might be affected by the several plans and vision documents you mentioned. So the tax hole is getting deeper the entire budget timeline of 10 years.
YES WHAT YOU DESCRIBE IS THE BASIS OF THE DOCUMENTS. NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY THE TAX HOLE. HAD INFRASTRUCTURE RESERVES BEEN INITIATED SOONER THAN 2013 THE NEED TO ADD MONEY TO TAXES EVERY YEAR WOULD BE MUCH REDUCED. YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THAT NOW, BUT THE BENEFIT TO CITIZENS WAS THAT THEY ENJOYED LOWER TAXES OVER THE LAST MANY YEARS.
The tax hole is the ever-increasing tax take that just keeps increasing exponentially, produced by continuing deficits. I’m afraid the last sentence in this point should have been at the end of the previous paragraph. This is what I see for the 10 year forecast, and is the basis of the concern about doubling due to exponential increases.
Muir: So, in keeping to my point, the budget does not reflect a favorable performance of these high level, visionary, grand plans, as they appear when integrated, to continue to dig the tax hole deeper and the deficit gap continues.
BY THE WAY, ALTHOUGH CITY BUDGET INCREASED BY OVER 4% THE ACTUAL TAX INCREASE IS LESS THAN 2% FOR THE CITY COMPONENT AND THE TOTAL TAX INCREASE WILL BE ABOUT 2.66% COMPARED TO TORONTO INFLATION OF 2.19%. OF COURSE IT IS DILUTED BY A ZERO EDUCATION BUDGET INCREASE AND A REGION BUDGET INCREASE OF 1.9%. BUT WOULDN’T YOU RATHER FIX THE INFRASTRUCTURE HOLE UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES THAN WHEN EDUCATION AND THE REGION ARE STRUGGLING WITH SIMILAR INFLATIONARY CHALLENGES WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF ASSESSMENT GROWTH.
This may all be true, but it is irrelevant to the concerns raised last year, and this year again, about the 10 year forecast of exponentially increasing city tax take. We are talking City and it doesn’t help with credibility to hide some concern behind the education and region increases that average the tax rate increase down.Your comment about education and region rates is double-edged, as I think they form a risk moving ahead and part of my concern. What happens if this changes negatively and what is the city going to do. And by the way, don’t forget the region charges for water and sewer separately from the taxes, and that always seems to increase substantially. So taking this into account is needed for a fair representation of the region’s tax or tax-like take.
Muir: This never-ending deficit will not help with development and growth in the city, but will in fact as as a damper on the ability of small and large business to thrive and survive.
MUCH HAS BEEN DONE TO REDUCE COSTS IN THE LAST 6 YEARS INCLUDING LOW TAX RATE INCREASES, A CAP ON HEADCOUNT SET AT 2010 LEVELS AND COMPENSATION LEVEL EQUAL TO INFLATION OR LESS IN COMPARISON TO 5% YEAR FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS LEADING UP TO AND THROUGH 2010. ALL OF THAT WAS OFFSET BY HAVING TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE HOSPITAL….. ACTUALLY, THE CITY HAS DONE REMARKABLY WELL.
But that is not the point I made. For the next 10 years the city is in deficit, with increasing taxes, from what I saw, however remarkably well they have done as you say. I should have said something about homeowners and residential taxes, also not helping with citizen quality of life. It also feeds right into the inflationary cost of housing that we are experiencing.
Muir: This summarizes, and provides a basis for, my concerns.
AS I SAID, IT IS A COMPLEX ANALYSIS THAT SOME SIMPLIFY INTO ASSESSING THE ANNUAL BUDGET INCREASE.
Your statement seems to take my point too lightly. The complexity all channels downstream to a financial and budget performance integrated endpoint. This is not just simplified, as there are complicated flows that are integrated from your picture of complex analysis. The end result of all the complexity is the gap – deficit or surplus – and is it increasing or decreasing, positive or negative. I do not see anything but deficit for the entire 10 years of the city plans and strategy, according to the financial and budget info on the table right now. The annual budget increase is being driven by the complexity and the plans and strategies that are not delivering performance measured financially as not in deficit.
 By Pepper Parr
January 24th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
For Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward it was a good budget – bad budget. There were thing she liked and things she thought were a mistake.
For Meed Ward the $550,000 they gave the city manager to spend on “project management” was something she needed clarity on; she wasn’t clear on just what the deliverables were going to be.
When city manager James Ridge was explaining what he was going to do with the $550,000 he said he was “surprised” the city hadn’t put in something like this years ago.
 Councillor Meed Ward saw the 2017 budget as both a “good” and a “bad” budget. |She chose not to vote for the budget. A principled statement. What bothered Meed Ward was that the $550,000 was going into the base budget – which meant it was there until someone decides to take it out. And in Burlington city staff are not very quick at taking anything out of the budget. The Finance department did say however that they had cut $1 million out of spending from the 2017 as they were putting the plans together. There was no breakdown of where the savings were found.
Meed Ward liked the $200,000 that was put into upgrading the playing fields.
She was content with the 1.25 tax levy dedicated to infrastructure.
She was Ok with the $4.8 million that was given to the hospital as the city’s portion of the $120 million the province said the city had to come up with for the refurbishment/redevelopment of the Joseph Brant Hospital.
Meed Ward wanted something done on transit – but that football got kicked further down the field – they are waiting for the draft of the Master Transportation Plan to come in – due in Q2
Councillor Sharman (ward 5) was all for the budget. He loves the $550,00 the city manager wants to spend on project management and said, with some gusto, that the 1.25% levy dedicated to infrastructure was long overdue. On that one he is correct. Why this wasn’t done a number of years ago boggles the mind.
Sharman pointed out that Staff did not support the $200,000 spend on playing field improvement but he liked the idea of spending some of the money needed to upgrade the fields this year with more to follow next year.
 Councillor Sharman uses a unique mathematical equation to arrive at the rate of tax increase levied on the tax payers. Every council member noted that the next budget is going to dig even deeper into the pockets of taxpayers. Don’t expect those statements to be repeated in the October 2018 municipal election
Sharman explained, as he always does – that the tax increase is really not 4.42 but closer to 3%. He does this mathematical magic by including what the Board of Education spends along with what the Region spends – and if the city controlled the spending by those two bodies – Sharman would be correct.
The city has no impact whatsoever on Board of Education spending and little influence on what the Region spends. Oakville has the same number of Regional representatives as Burlington but that town has a lot more clout.
Councillor Taylor (ward 3) said he had decided to support the budget and recognized that city staff had dug deeper and pulled out very significant savings – he then added that the 20 year growth goal is not going to be met.
 Business process management – put in place in 2015 – Councillor Taylor wants to see some of the benefits of that process paying off – soon. Taylor has been on city council longer than any other member of council – he knows where the bones are buried – and if his nose smells something – the chances are that there is something foul coming our way.
 It was all supposed to come together – and the payoff was going to make it all worth the cost. Project managers are apparently needed now to make this work. Taylor mentioned the process improvement procedures that were put in place a few years ago which he supported. He said he felt it was “time we saw some benefits now”.
Councillor Craven did what was expected – took yet another shot at Councillor Meed Ward and upbraided her for the comments she had made on transit. Meed Ward had said she felt the free transit service on Monday’s for seniors from 10 am to 3 pm should be tried on a pilot basis. Council turned down that idea choosing instead to wait for the draft Master Transportation Plan to arrive.
 Councillor Rick Craven, centre, with a copy of the 2013 budget on a memory stick. Finance does a superb job of giving council members all the information they could possibly want. Craven told his colleagues that their job as Council members was to listen to what was said to them and then he pointed to the Integrated Transit Advisory Committee that was very critical of what Jim Young produced on behalf of the Burlington Seniors Advisory Committee about the transit service.
Councillor Dennison noted that he had chosen not to comment on the budget during the Standing Committee discussions. He added a significant comment when he said he had a grand total of 3-4 people at his ward meeting to talk about the budget which was apparently less than the city had at the budget briefing event they held at the Haber Recreation Centre in December.
Dennison pointed out that the $340,000 being spent on a bus route intended to service the seniors community was set up as a pilot project that was still in the budget.
 He wanted to know why city staff had assumed that the increase in $200,000 in parking fines during a six month period would not continue to grow.
Staff had said that they felt a saturation point has been reached.
The city spent a very pretty penny on the new parking meters – to have those machines bring in an additional $200,000 in revenue to the city suggests they just may have made a solid decision – not that those getting the parking tickets will see it quite that way.
Dennison did think the city should look for more in the way of a return on its investments. It also brought in $200,000 in revenue. He wanted to know where that income was applied.
Dennison is not a big fan of the cultural sector – he does like the Sound of Music festival but feels the cultural sector, which is costing much more than a million a year, is a little too steep.
Finally the leaves are an issue for the ward 4 Councillor. He, along with Councillor Lancaster, want to see better leaf collection. The change in the weather this year, had trucks out picking up leaves while they were still on the trees and then not being available when the leaves were on the ground.
Burlington is apparently one of the few cities that has a leaf collection program. Try taking that one away from them.
Councillor Lancaster noted that “budgets are always a challenge” but that she “believed the 2017 budget represents what our residents want”.
 Councillor Blair |Lancaster the day she filled in for the Mayor and chaired a council meeting. She liked the seat so much she had her Mother pose with her. She didn’t get to wear the chain of office – probably never will. Lancaster was very much onside for that $550,000 spend on “project management”. She pointed out that this is the first time that funds have been put in place to support the Strategic Plan initiatives. Other council members had pointed out that in the past the city had crafted a Strategic Plan and then not put any money behind it. The city manager was probably the major force for creating a 25 year Strategic Plan which, while nice in principle – is not binding on future city council’s.
Lancaster told her colleagues that “residents should be happy”
Mayor Goldring was enthusiastic – this was a good budget and he was happy with the “heft” the project spending would give the city manager.
What worried Mayor Goldring was the lack of any assessment growth. He said the growth needs to be six times what it was last year and explained that it does take time for the benefits of assessment increases to work their way to the city’s till.
There is a fiscal study coming sometime in the 2Q that may have some of the answers.
 Mayor Goldring regrets the lack of assessment growth that would put more money into the city’s cash coffers. Hoping that there will be an increase next year. Mayor Goldring said he was looking to the Economic Development Corporation to deliver on its mandate to bring new business to the city. There haven’t been many (any?) new business announcement lately.
The vinyl record company that finally got the record presses operating will tell you a very sad story about the hoops they had to go through to get their building permit in hand.
The last word on the budget and what it is expected to do goes to Joan Ford who said: “This budget clearly sets out initiatives to plan for the future. These initiatives became key priorities for new city investment when developing the budget this year. Connecting the strategic plan to the budget provides accountability between what is achieved and the cost to the taxpayer.”
Let’s see how that works out.
Tax billing
With the budget passed the Finance department can now begin to send out the tax bills – that is when the rubber will hit the road. The public doesn’t pay that much attention to the goings on at city hall but when that envelope with the tax bill arrives – the sticker shock take effect.
The city has to pass a levying by-law before they can send out both interim or final tax billing. They have done that.
Interim tax billings are produced in January based on the assessment as per the assessment roll provided by MPAC and ½ the appropriate tax rates.
The tax bill will clearly identify the City, property, owner, state the demand date, calculated taxes levied and any arrears owing against the property.
Final tax billings are produced subsequent to the passing of the annual city budget and are based on tax rates established by by-law from the budget requirements of the City, Region and Ministry of Education.
The billing will be calculated to produce a tax billing equal to the assessment times the appropriate rate, all local improvement charges and any special charges levied by the city.
 Tax bill will arrive soon enough – hold your breath for a moment before you open it. The Municipal Act requires tax billings be sent to every taxpayer at least twenty-one calendar days before the first installment due date.
Due dates for the payment of taxes are traditionally as follows: Interim Bill: February and April. Final Bill: June and September.
Keep an eye on your mail box.
By Staff
January 23, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The budget of $238 million for 2017 was approved Monday night – on a vote of 5-2 with Dennison and Meed Ward voting against the budget that was debated earlier in the month and came out o the Budget Committee of the Whole as recommended.
The Gazette has noticed that Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison tends to always vote against the budget – knowing there will be a majority and that the budget will pass.
The decision was made on a recorded vote – which meant that we would get to see members of Council pressing a button on a device that was in front of them – the vote would be cast and the results would appear on a screen and look like this:
 This is what the screen is supposed to look like – it shows what the vote is about and how each member of council actually voted. But it doesn’t work. Well, it didn’t work out that way. The years were asked to stand and give of them did that – the nays were asked to stand and two of them did that.
So where was the technology that was to record the votes for the public to see whenever they wished? Apparently it isn’t working – yet.
The Halton District School Board has a system that works flawlessly. And they record every vote – not just the city council votes the way the city does,
 School boards voting results – there for everyone to see. Burlington city council does not record who voted how on matters that come out of the Standing Committees as recommendations.
The vote to approve the budget was passed on a 5-2 vote – with Councillors Meed Ward and Dennison voting against the budget.
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By Pepper Parr
For new members of council learning how to be a city Councillor takes time – to expect these men or women to grasp the Regional workings at the same time is a bit much.
