The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Town eyes saving on bus routes and crossing guards By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Some bus routes, the Oakville Galleries budget, and 28 crossing guards are just a few of the items that wound up on the chopping block in Thursday's Town of Oakville budget committee meeting. Representatives from the Town's various departments were on hand after the 2012 budget committee told them to present options to reduce the proposed budget. The Town is currently looking at a 6.7 per cent hike to its base budget. That's reduced to a three per cent hike on the 2012 property tax bill after Halton Region's 1.20 per cent increase and no increase to the school board budget are factored in. Infrastructure and Transportation Services Commissioner Dave Bloomer recommended adjusting the following transit routes 110, 10, 25, 31, 32, 22 and 19, to save money. "We identified those routes, which have the lowest number of rides per hour. Those routes were then assessed to determine whether the ridership trend was going up, down or static," said Bloomer. "Those routes that were trending upwards, we didn't want to consider any changes for now, however, there were some routes that were trending downwards or remaining static and those became the candidates for adjustments." Transit Director Barry Cole recommended transit route 110 (West Industrial North), be replaced with a modified route 10 (West Industrial South). Cole also called for the reduction of evening service (the last two evening trips) on route 25 (Aspen Forest), the merging of routes 31 (BridgeGreat Lakes) and 32 (Burloak North) into a single route and removal of offpeak service on route 22 (Upper Glen Abbey), to be offset with more offpeak service on route 19 (River Oaks). Bloomer said all this would save the Town $79,000 for 2012 and $158,700 annually. Cole said it would also make these routes more efficient and would better serve the public. Another option would cancel the 2004 and 2010 expansions to bulk leaf collection. Bloomer said this represents just five per cent of the leaves picked up and said residents in these areas have suitable leaf collection options. This would save the Town $85,000 in 2012 and $85,000 annually. Reductions to the school crossing guard program were also recommended with Bloomer pointing out that 28 locations where the Town provides crossing guards are under used because of school closures. This cut would save the Town $89,000 for 2012 and $224,000 annually. Community Services recommended three budget reduction options. One called for the reallocation of ice times for service delivery efficiencies. Commissioner Domenic Lunardo said this would not result in reduced ice time for user groups, but would require the groups to be more flexible with their ice time and the arenas they use. Changes would be made in consultation with the users, he noted. Lunardo said this could save the Town $20,000 in 2012 and $60,000 a year. The closure of the Town's greenhouse was also recommended. This wouldn't save any cash in 2012, but would save Oakville $69,000 annually, as the Town would stop spending $169,000 on plant production for its flower beds and buy plants from a commercial greenhouse at an annual cost of $100,000. A budget reduction of $27,500 is recommended for Oakville Galleries to match recent staffing changes. Finally, the Office of the Mayor and Council and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer suggested reducing the frequency of the Town's formal employee satisfaction survey from every two to every four years. The Town's biannual citizen satisfaction survey will continue. This change would not achieve any savings in 2012, but would save $10,000 annually beginning in 2014. The Town's Corporate Services Department did not suggest reductions for its department. Staff did not recommend, as it has in previous years, cuts to the number of outdoor pools, or funding cuts to seniors' centres, youth centres or the Town of Oakville Water Air Rescue Force (TOWARF). The 2012 budget committee will now consider these recommendations. It meets throughout January and February. The public is encouraged to get involved: · Budget open houses today 9 · Wednesday, January 25, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com (Wednesday) at Glen Abbey library, Jan. 24 at Woodside library and Jan. 26 at Town Hall · Twitter budget question-andanswer session on Jan. 30 · Public delegations on Feb. 2 and 7 · Budget deliberations on Feb. 9 and 14 (as required) · Final budget approval by council March 5 The 2012 budget committee will consider all submissions, whether in person, writing, e-mail or online as part of its budget deliberations. Residents who wish to appear before the committee as a delegate should register at townclerk@oakville. ca or call 905-815-6015. Written comments for the committee can be sent to Town Clerk, Town of Oakville, 1225 Trafalgar Rd., Oakville, ON L6H 0H3. Alternatively, residents can e-mail their comments to budget2012@ oakville.ca. All budget committee meetings are held at Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Rd., and are open to the public. Meetings will be streamed live at www. TownTV.ca. To view the 2012 Budget Book visit www.oakville.ca. Sunday, January 29, 2012 2pm - 4pm OPEN House Dividends for life. · Academic excellence & individualized,enriched programming · Fully trained,experienced and certifi ed staff · Fully equipped Montessori environments Parent community involvement · Bright,sunny classrooms Beautiful historic building · Before and after school programs Contact us for more information (905) 337.8283 OR info@clanmore.ca www.clanmore.ca CCMA ACCREDITED HalTech Regional Innovation Centre is currently offering Entrepreneur's Toolkit Workshops which are a collection of experiential, hands-on group workshops that will aid technology entrepreneurs in specific areas of business growth. In a small group setting, technology entrepreneurs work with peers and advisors to think through and design essential components of their business. Business Strategy Fundamentals - Two Day Workshop Part 1 ­ Designing a Value Proposition Learn tools to identify viable target customers and explore the value offering of your venture. Deliverable: A one-sentence value proposition. Part 2 ­ Designing a Business Model Use your value proposition to test your business model for sustainability and growth. Deliverable: A workable business model, based on Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas. January 31 8:30 am - 1:00 pm February 1 8:30 am - 1:00 pm Serving children 18 months through Grade 6 ­ Expanding into Middle School September 2013 Winston Churchill Blvd. Register online at http://haltech.eventbrite.ca or call 905-845-9430, ext. 2761 for more information about the workshops. Workshops are supported by Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE). HalTech is a proud member of Armiger Lane Ford Drive www.haltech.ca 2463 Lakeshore Road East