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‘ ,V, , , . , '$1 12 - WA’l’ERLOO curiourcus - Wednesday, December 17, 2009 o o o 0 Di \\l( l\l )S t l\ I’I \l l\l \l Reglon looklng for lnfrastnlcture fundlng ”W ‘ «~ ‘ Continued frompagel That means more work will have to budget item because the region is wait- Qi ";'r 163“ imww) be done in individual depanments with- ing on the federal government to provide “it: it \ 91‘s??? more uniformed officers as the service in the region. as they try to find efficien» for potential infrastructure money to fix "f?“w it’g‘hgfi f undergoes a study to find new efficien~ cies and savings that could improve the crumbling roads and bridges within the I ' ”59,93 Q m} ‘ ‘ cies. The police service is also reviewing region‘s bottom line. municipality ' JUN}. a request to add up to five more civilian “Our financial team recognizes the Regional council is also looking to the members to the force. economic circumstances the whole federal government for help with more I But even with the changes the force is world is facing now, and we're not than $1 billion in upgrades in water and r H DIAMOND CENTRE still asking for a more than six per cent immune to that,” said Strickland. “This is wastewater treatment it has committed . l - ' increase to the police budget. And that is really a status quo budget -â€" there is to for improvements to the existing sysâ€" I rig I . mg & Erb . Waterloo just one of the struggles that regional really no new spending increases or tem. . l m,ih OPEN DAILY o SUNDAY 12.5 council is having with a projected budg- expenditures contained within this “You don't have to drive around too 1 et increase of about 4.02 per cent. budget." far on the roads to know that we could ‘ 5811960 That's not good enough for Waterloo The household impact, with a four use a few more dollars for roads and ‘ regional Coun. lane Mitchell who wants per cent budget increase, will be $55 on bridges," said Strickland. “And our long 1 _ to see the budget pared down to under an average house valued around term capital program for water and I Your Anthoflzed Oakley Dealer three per cent if at all possible. That's $205,000. The City of Waterloo also wastewater is close to $1 billion over the I la“ |5 Mmmwm tough work with each percentage approved its budget last week with a next lOyears. I increase in the regional budget repre- proposed tax increase of 3.33 per cent, “Infrastructure money for water and I . ~ -, ,f senting $3.3 million. and with it already which will add $29.10 to the average wastewater would be very well spent I . , coming down from initial projections of homeowners propertytax bill in 2009. considering the impact it has on the i f » -: _ i. ‘” seven per cent when the budget process The slated water and wastewater quality oflakes and rivers." , ‘ 1 " \ staned in October upgrades also added significant was The problem is that there already has 1 " ‘ A 1“ “There better be a flurry of work in sures to the water and wastewater rates been some money promised to munici- ‘. “a?” getting it down," said Mitchell. "If you next year with a combined increase of palities that has been caught up in red ‘ {A va- take the police budget out of it, which is 15.15 per cent passed by the city, costing tape between the upper levels of govern» '-â€"- M a 1.3 per cent increase, the rest of it is the average Waterloo homeowner $2.66 merit. 2.72 for the region" more for each cubic metre of water used “My hope is that the federal and ‘ ‘ To get the regional budget into the next year. provincial infrastructure program does- " a u i u y ' f , 5 three per cent range would put it in line The regional portion of that increase n‘t get mired in red tape." said Strickland. “gy- a»; nigg- ‘ . 3 c. with the municipal price index, a meas- is a 9.9 per cent increase for water with “We want the dollars to flow directly to i" 4; 3â€"4 ' ,_ ure to depict goods and services pur~ an annual household impact of312.1he the municipalities who have projects {9 .; r_‘ 7 " ‘ ~ - ‘ chased by cities. wastewater will increase 14.9 per cent that are ready to go. 5 ,-. ‘ may» “I'd like to get it down to 28 per cent with the average household impact “And from the region's perspective we 3. ‘- , __ _â€"‘ or lower," said Mitchell. “But i don't being $16.03 depending on how much have a long list ofinfrastructure projects if u ‘ ' ‘ ;" ,. know ifwe'll be able todo it." water is flushed down thesystem. that we could use funding for right l“ l k 3 Waterloo regional (loun. Sean Strick~ Mitchell said to get the regional budg- away." ‘ ”I 3 f 2 land would also prefer the tax rate to et down to its present level they've The municipalities, especially the tn ‘ . . = come down in line with the projected already agreed to a fare increase for region, will also be getting help over the , j " _ , 3 MPl for 2009, which is around three per Grand River Transit of $2.50 by lan. 1. next few years as the province moves to ‘ .. ~ I 'i “a? 2 cent. He said the region is constrained The region has also eliminated a long- upload the costs of Ontario Works and . ' l i 4 by existing contracts it agreed to with term roads funding budget item that will the administration of the Ontario Dis, mlra employees and some of the cost of living save the region $994,000 next year. ability program that was downloaded in ewear max escalators built into those agreements. 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