Regional Councillor Report
Submitted
by: Colleen Jordan, Regional
Councillor Wards 3 & 4
April 13, 2004
Finance
Committee - April 6, 2004
Finance
Committee at their meeting on April 6, 2004 further reviewed the 2004
Regional Business Plans and Budgets.
Strategic
Properties - Land Acquisition
Mayor
Steve Parish and Dave Meredith, Manager Special Projects delivered a
presentation to the Committee regarding the Ajax waterfront and the
importance of the Region providing a commitment to the Town and
T.R.C.A. to assist in the acquisition of land to ensure that a
critical link in the Durham west waterfront open space and trail
system remains in public ownership.
The
committee endorsed a motion that the Region
commit $250,000.00 in 2004 and $250,000.00 in 2005 to the Town
of Ajax and the T.R.C.A. to assist in this important land acquisition.
Discussion
also ensued regarding the need for the Region to create a land
acquisition fund which would address on a longer term basis requests
for land acquisitions by conservation authorities.
2004
Regional Business Plans and Property Tax Budgets
Further
revisions since the meetings of March 16th and 17th
were reviewed by the Finance Committee.
Social
Services
Health
& Social Services Committee responded to Finance Committee=s request to report back on a number of items.
This report provided information regarding the escalating
social service administration costs to the Region.
Whereas at one time the administration costs were shared with
the Province on a 50 - 50 basis, in 2004 it is anticipated that the
Provincial share will follow previous year=s
trends and decline. It is
anticipated that the province will contribute only about 32% of the
total costs while the Region will pay 68%.
The Province has transferred a number of expenditure lines to
the Region. In addition;
the Province has made the delivery of the social assistance program
increasingly complex and time consuming. For example a caseworkers time to complete an application has
increased from 30 - 45 minutes for 2 - 4 pages to 2 - 3 hours to
complete applications that are now 14 - 17 pages long.
In addition the new information technology implemented by the
Province is more labour intensive.
The
outbreak of SARS in 2003, has resulted in
increased budgets to accommodate the new standards for
infection control practices in long term care facilities.
Rooms, resident areas and high volume areas must be cleaned
more often; stricter hand washing procedures now includes visitors and
volunteers and the stronger and more costly cleansers (previously used
on a limited basis) are
now commonly used throughout the facilities.
Leadership
Training in the amount of $25,000.00 was deferred to the 2005 budget.
Some capital items for Hillsdale (long term care facility) in
the amount of $17,500.00 were also removed from the budget as there
may be a possibility to fund these items from possible surplus funds
from the capital project budget for Hillsdale.
G.T.A.
Pooled Costs
A report
was provided to the Committee regarding the pooling of costs for
social assistance and social housing.
Durham forecasts that there may be a slight decrease in Durham=s percentage of the pooling costs.
However as invoices and adjustments from the Province for the
years 2001, 2002 and 2003
continue to be received on a retroactive basis and are often
unsubstantiated with supporting documentation to the extent that
accountability has been compromised and verification difficult, it was
therefore recommended that the pooling costs remain unchanged from the
2003 budget and remain at $57.6 million dollars.
2004
Budget Tax Impact
Regional
Operations & Roads -
4.65%
Conservation
Authorities .41
Police
Services Board 1.30
Downloading
.22
Transit .00
Total
6.58
Net
Tax Policy Changes & Growth
.00
Growth
to Mitigate Reassessment
.40
When
combined with the Solid Waste Management proposal for reduction in
costs the average residential impact would be
5.91%.
To arrive
at the 5.91% involved a reduction of $254,481.00 to the Conservation
Authority=s
request. Committee
members debated the merits of reducing the Authority=s
request to keep it in line with budget
guidelines set for Regional Departments.
Finance members cited the difficulties faced by the Conservation
Authorities in recent years due to
the drastic funding cuts by the Province.
Members stated that although the Region had significantly
increased allocations to Conservation Authorities that this may not be
sufficient to ensure that the work to provide a sustainable and healthy
environment will be at the required level.
Some Committee members were concerned that this
essential work that the Authorities provide for the Region would
be negatively impacted. The
reduction in the amount to the Authorities involves deferral of
watershed planning projects, groundwater management in the Duffins/Carruthers
Creek water source protection plan, limiting the ability to increase
natural cover in watersheds, delaying some elements of the waterfront
trail and not being able to advance as planned the watershed trails.
Finance
Committee defeated a motion to reinstate the funding allocation to the
Conservation Authorities.
The 2004
Regional Budget Plans includes the widening of Taunton Road and
significantly increased allocations to road rehabilitation projects
throughout the Region.
Regional
Council will be presented with the final draft of the budget at their
meeting on April 14, 2004.
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