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To w nbegins budget deliberations by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 9 |Thursday December 14, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com A dditional funds for pedestrian safety and aerial spraying to com bat Gypsy m oths were am ong the last-m inute item s approved by the 2 0 1 8 Oakville B udget C om m ittee Tuesday, Dec. 12. T he group com pleted its deliberations and recom m ended approval of a 1.75 per cent residential property tax increase. T he recom m endation w ou ld actually see a 2 .5 8 per cent total increase to the Town of Oakville budget. H owever, the 2.58 per cent increase w ill be reduced to a 1.75 per cent overall hike once the Town' s increase is com bined w ith a proposed 1.9 per cent increase in Hal ton R egion taxes and an expected zero per cent hike in education rates. T he recom m ended budget increase, w h ich m u st still be approved by coun cil on Dec. 18, is sm aller than the 3 .0 4 per cent rise previously proposed. Town staff attributed this to larger than anticipated assessm ent growth. Som e o f the item s approved by the com m ittee during the Tuesday m eeting included $ 9 0 ,0 0 0 in funding for the 2 0 1 8 RBC Canadian O pen, $25 ,0 0 0 for Cultural Grants, $ 9 0 ,5 0 0 for the construction and operation o f a bocce ball court at G lenashton Park, $ 2 5 ,0 0 0 in funding for five additional radar speed display signs, $ 2 0 4 ,0 0 0 for the Flashing 4 0 km /h Zone Sign Program, $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 in funding for the Pedestrian Safety Program, $ 4 0 ,0 0 0 for O akvillegreen' s Backyard Tree Planting Program and $ 2 0 5 ,0 0 0 for the Gypsy m oth aerial spraying program. "W e have gon e through a great deal of consultation w ith the com m u n ity o n the budget process this year. W e have heard from com m unity leaders across all o f Oakville, w e 've had very good feedback as to w here w e 're at as a com m unity," said Ward 6 C ouncillor and Budget Chair Tom Adams. "T his m otion responds to a num ber o f the issues that w e have heard. As a council w e certainly hear about speeding o n our local roads a fair bit and this provides our staff w ith som e additional tools to deal w ith that. It puts the paym ent towards the Cultural Grants that this cou n cil and the cultural com m unity has been look in g for for a lo n g tim e ... It provides funding for the art w e see, the Canadian O pen and it does provide funding for the Oakvillegreen Backyard Tree Planting program ." T he Town is currently look in g for $ 1 8 9 .6 m illion from the tax levy. N o t every proposal that cam e forward received approval. W hile the com m ittee did n o t outright reject a request from the Bronte BIA for around $ 8 8 ,0 0 0 to fund its Canada D ay festival, it did see Effect on p.10 /jf/S T E V E N SO N\VH ELTON Ma c D O N A LD & SW A N LLP PERSONAL INJURY + MEDICAL MALPRACTICE »I f 4 -^ --- Experienced T ria l Law yers S erving O akville, M ilto n a n d B u rlin g to n ^/"sWLawyers.ca 1 5 4 0 C ornwall Road Suite 1 0 6 , Oakville P r e s e n t in g t h e H o lid a y 's f in e s t VISIT US IN STORE FOR A LL YOUR HOLIDAY FOOD, GIFTS & CATERING OR VISIT P U S A T E R IS .C O M O A K V IL L E P L A C E PU SA TER I'S FINE FOOD SINCE 1963