26 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, August 5, 2010 Your Halton Connection August 2010 www.halton.ca Financing Building a Better Halton by Regional Chair Gary Carr Halton Region is a location of choice for business investment and a place that residents choose to call home. Our Region has become one of the best communities in Canada. At Halton Region, we are committed to ensuring our quality of life continues. Residents have identified that maintaining current infrastructure and planning for future infrastructure requirements is a top issue of concern. To address this, we have introduced Building a Better Halton, which is our infrastructure construction plan. This plan covers road, water and wastewater projects. This year, Council approved $362 million in infrastructure investments. Upgrading and adding to our infrastructure will help us to reduce commute times, provide a high-quality water supply to new communities and complete preventive maintenance on key services such as wastewater mains. These investments will benefit residents across the region -- from Burlington to Halton Hills to Milton to Oakville, as we are upgrading and maintaining current infrastructure, and adding new services to not only meet the needs of residents, but also business owners. Each year our budget focuses on an investment in the services and programs you have told us are important to you, one which includes infrastructure. Over the last four years, the combined tax increase for Regional programs and services has been less than 0.5% one of the lowest among municipalities in Canada. In order to keep Halton's portion of taxes low we need to come up with other sources of revenue. One such example is how we are financing the infrastructure construction needs of Halton, which is being addressed through our collection of Development Charges. This year alone, Development Charges will cover 82% of the costs for road construction. The use of Development Charges, (paid by developers on all new development and is the primary source of funding for the required infrastructure), to pay for infrastructure construction ensures that the developers pay for these costs, not taxpayers. During summer construction, remember we're Building a Better Halton to ensure that Halton remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. To find out more about Halton's construction plans, dial 311 or visit www.halton.ca/ construction. If you have any Regional concerns or comments you would like to share, please feel free to e-mail me at gary.carr@halton.ca. 2010 Infrastructure Construction Projects In Halton Here are some of the major projects we will be working on this year.* Roads kÏ PMLRCÏ0M?BÏ5GBCLGLEÏ-?ITGJJC kÏ 2PCK?GLCÏ0M?BÏ'KNPMTCKCLRQÏ+GJRML kÏ "CPPWÏ0M?BÏ5GBCLGLEÏ+GJRML kÏ 3NNCPÏ+GBBJCÏ0M?BÏ?LBÏ SPJM?IÏ"PGTCÏ5GBCLGLEÏ SPJGLERML Communicating Building a Better Halton In an effort to help keep residents informed about RFCQCÏ?LBÏMRFCPÏ SGJBGLEÏ?Ï CRRCPÏ&?JRMLÏAMLQRPSARGMLÏ NPMHCARQÏUCÏ?PCÏJ?SLAFGLEÏ?ÏTwitter feed on August ÏQMÏPCQGBCLRQÏA?LÏECRÏPC?JÏRGKCÏSNB?RCQ 1GELÏSNÏ?RÏUUU RUGRRCP AMK&?JRML &ÏRMÏDMJJMUÏ SGJBGLEÏ?Ï CRRCPÏ&?JRMLÏLCUQÏ?@MSRÏPM?BÏAJMQSPCQÏ PM?BÏPCMNCLGLEQÏ?LBÏ.S@JGAÏ5MPIQÏCTCLRQÏQSAFÏ?QÏ MNCLÏFMSQCQÏ?LBÏ.S@JGAÏ'LDMPK?RGMLÏ!CLRPCQ 5CÏF?TCÏ?JQMÏPCBCQGELCBÏMSPÏAMLQRPSARGMLÏNPMHCARQÏ web page on the Halton.caÏQGRCÏUFCPCÏWMSÏA?LÏ ÍLBÏSNB?RCQÏMLÏ?JJÏMDÏMSPÏGLDP?QRPSARSPCÏAMLQRPSARGMLÏ ?ARGTGRGCQ Ï5CÏF?TCÏAPC?RCBÏ@PMAFSPCQÏ?LBÏBMMPÏ knockers and we only produce these materials when we need to reach residents or business owners in ?ÏR?PECRCBÏLCGEF@MSPFMMBÏUGRFÏQNCAGÍAÏNPMHCARÏ GLDMPK?RGMLÏQSAFÏ?QÏLCVRÏQRCNQÏMPÏCLTGPMLKCLR?JÏ AMLQGBCP?RGMLQ Ï SGJBGLEÏ?Ï CRRCPÏ&?JRMLÏ?JQMÏF?QÏ?Ï BGQRGLARÏTGQS?JÏGBCLRGRWÏRF?RÏWMSÏUGJJÏQCCÏ?APMQQÏ&?JRMLÏ Region on our constructions signs. Water kÏ ,CUÏ5?RCPÏ1SNNJWÏ+?GLÏRMÏ+GJRMLÏ-?ITGJJC+GJRML kÏ 8MLCÏÏ0CQCPTMGPÏ?LBÏ$CCBCPÏ+?GLÏ+GJRML kÏ ,CUÏ2MBBÏ0M?BÏ5?RCPÏ2MUCPÏ&?JRMLÏ&GJJQ SGJBGLE a Better Halton Wastewater kÏ -?ITGJJCÏ1MSRFUCQRÏ5?QRCU?RCPÏ2PC?RKCLRÏ.J?LRÏ.F?QCÏ Ï3NEP?BCQÏ-?ITGJJC kÏ 1IWU?WÏ5?QRCU?RCPÏ2PC?RKCLRÏ.J?LRÏ#VN?LQGMLÏ SPJGLERML $PMKÏRFCÏ&?JRMLÏ0CEGMLÏÏ SBECRÏ?LBÏ SQGLCQQÏ.J?L This page has been donated by this newspaper to communicate important information to Halton residents at no cost to taxpayers. We welcome your feedback. Contact Access Halton at accesshalton@halton.ca "G?JÏÏMPÏÌÌÏkÏ2MJJÏDPCCÏÌÌÌÏkÏ227ÏÌÌÏkÏUUU F?JRML A?Ï 2FCÏ0CEGML?JÏ+SLGAGN?JGRWÏMDÏ&?JRMLÏkÏÏ PMLRCÏ0B Ï-?ITGJJCÏ-LR?PGMÏ*+Ï*