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OMERS changes will hurt taxpayers I want to bring to your attention something that your council has been trying to get the Province to listen to. The issue is the proposed legislative changes to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) pension plan. On November 1, 2005, council passed a resolution asking the Province to reconsider the legislative changes to the OMERS pension plan that would allow for creation of a new governance structure and expensive supplementary plans. The supplementary plans are additional stand-alone local municipal plans, separate from the existing basic plan for all employees. The potential impact to the Town of Halton Hills has been estimated at $285,000 or 1.5 per cent tax rate increase or $15 on the average home. These are preliminary, as the final costs will not be known until the supplementary plans are actually implemented. Your council has asked the Province to listen to taxpayers' concerns and not enhance the existing pension plan with these supplementary plans, but our voices have not been heard. The legislation that would enact these changes has already received second reading and is on its way to being passed. I would encourage you to contact Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty (Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca), Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing John Gerretsen (416-585-7000) or your local MPP Ted Chudleigh (905878-1729) to express your concerns that the legislation not be passed. THE MAYOR'S MESSAGE Rick Bonnette