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`Creative' budgeting to reduce tax hike CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer A new method of budgeting, which Halton Hills Chief Administrative Officer Dennis Perlin describes as more transparent to taxpayers, will result in a decrease of 1 per cent on the Town's projected 2007 tax increase. At a special afternoon meeting on Monday, budget committee, which includes all members of council, gave the go-ahead to staff to pursue a capital charge-back percentage amount while preparing the 2007 budget. Charge-back is method of accounting staff time and overhead spent on a specific construction project, and that cost will now be "charged" to the overall budget of that capital project-- the Town is using a flat rate percentage fee of 3% per project. It's a method of directly attributing the town costs of managing a capital project to its actual cost. That charge-back from the capital budget will be transferred to the operating budget. For example, a construction project valued at $100,000 will now be charged a three per cent charge-back ($3,000). So the construction project will now be $97,000 plus the $3,000 charge-back. "Indeed the taxpayers are already paying for that 3 per cent. It's hidden. It's hidden in the operating budget. What we're trying to start is a process of attributing the proper cost of every project to that project," said Perlin. "It is really to help the taxpayer understand what the true cost of a particular project is-- right now they don't get that understanding if they just look at the capital costs." See FOGAL, pg. 9 Youthful enthusiasm Colton McFarlane, 2, of Georgetown showed that when it came to participating in the annual Acton Terry Fox Run you can never be too young. Colton was among the roughly 200 people who took part in the 26th annual event, which this year raised $28,000, on Sunday at Acton High School. See story pg. 9. Photo by Sabrina Byrnes