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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday January 23, 2009 - 3 Region agrees to Mac tax By Tim Foran METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP Halton Regional council gave the green light Wednesday to new taxes to support the building of a satellite campus of McMaster University's business school in Burlington, but more funds could be required for other post-secondary institutions in the future, according to some council members. The Region will give $5 million over the next decade to McMaster, the same amount the City of Burlington will give, to help the university build its $28 million DeGroote Centre for Advanced Management on South Service Road in Burlington. The money would start flowing from the Region in 2010, with $500,000 going to the university for eight years and $1 million in the ninth year. Each half million equates to an extra $2.10 of property taxes for the typical regional household, according to Halton staff. However, regional council members said giving the money to McMaster was likely just the beginning of requests by provincially-funded post-secondary institutions for regional dollars. Currently, Wilfrid Laurier University has a proposal to build a campus in Milton, with up to 15,000 students in the long term. Oakville's Sheridan College is winding down a $30-million fundraising campaign, for which it has already raised $26.3 million. Neither school has yet asked "If you believe ... that the future prosperity of our country requires a transition to a knowledge economy, then it's clearly in our self-interest that Halton has the best post-secondary education we can get." Mayor Rob Burton the Region for money, though Laurier has received 150 acres of land for its campus in Milton. "This $2.10 is not reality," said Halton Hills Councillor Clark Somerville. "It's going to be a lot more than that and we have to face up to that. Is it the right thing to do? Yes." Mayor Rob Burton said his residents would end up paying 42 per cent of the $5 million for McMaster's campus, and that he "looked forward to the same harmonious co-operation" from regional council if other post-secondary schools need funds in the future. "If you believe ... that the future prosperity of our country requires a transition to a knowledge economy, then it's clearly in our self-interest that Halton has the best post-secondary education we can get," Burton explained after the meeting. Though a report by Deloitte consultants outlined economic benefits to Halton of hosting McMaster's new MBA and executive education school, it was the two other aspects of the university's project that appealed most to non-Burlington councillors. Specifically, the university plans to turn Burlington's Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital into a teaching hospital and it has committed to build a family medical centre in the city's downtown that will supply doctors doing their residency to hospitals and clinics throughout Halton. To receive each year's funding from the Region, a percentage of those family doctors would also have to set up their own offices in Halton municipalities following their residency. Oakville Councillor Keith Bird, who was one of two council members to vote against the proposal, said he believed the Region shouldn't give money to a provincially-funded institution using property tax dollars, while simultaneously complaining that the Province is shortchanging Halton in other areas. Halton's council has previously argued the Province is underfunding regionally-provided health and social services programs and area hospitals. Milton Councillor Colin Best said he sympathized with Bird's concerns over jurisdictional responsibilities, but added: "We've already crossed that line." Best said the Region was already paying $5 million for provincial programs in Halton and that the situation didn't appear likely to change as Ontario has become a have-not province. 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