17 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,D ecem ber 27,2018 insidehalton.com Halton residents can ex- pect a 1.9 per cent property tax hike as the region pre- pares to adopt a tax-sup- ported budget of $421.3 mil- lion early in the new year, Mark Scinocca, Commis- sioner of Finance and Re- gional Treasurer, told council on Dec. 19. Scinocca addressed the highlights of the 2019 bud- get package and business plan for 2019, circulated to councillors last week, em- phasizing that the region is within its goal to keep the tax rate increase at or be- low the rate of inflation. "Regional Council is committed to support the planned growth while maintaining the objective to protect Halton tax and rate payers from the im- pacts of the growth," he said. The property tax impact portion of the budget takes into account both regional and police services, project- ing a 1.9 per cent increase of $291 per $100,000 CVA (Cur- rent Value Assessment). This is based on a projected assessment growth of 1.5 per cent, which is below the more recent assessment growth percentage subse- quently provided by the Municipal Property As- sessment Corporation (MPAC), of 1.95 per cent. Assessment growth re- fers to the increase in prop-fers to the increase in prop-f erty value in the region, as a result of changes that oc- cur over the course of a year. "It's higher than what's in the budget, which is an additional $1.8 million," Sci- nocca said, adding that the recommendation will be to transfer that extra portion to the region's tax stabiliza- tion reserve. The requested tax-sup- ported budget for both re- gional and police services combined is a total of $421.3 million net. The budget is projected to have gross expenditures of $547.6 million, but after factoring in subsidies andfactoring in subsidies andf revenues, it is estimated to be reduced to $265.9 mil- lion. The region's projected revenue for 2019 is broken down into six sources: property taxes (49 per cent), provincial subsidies (33 per cent), investment income (nine per cent), program and other revenue (seven per cent), federal subsidies (one per cent) and supple- mentary taxes (one per cent). Some of the tax budget highlights include the fol- lowing budget increases from the 2018 budget to thefrom the 2018 budget to thef 2019 requested budget: $2 million in roads operations going toward addressing rising State-of-Good-Repair needs, road maintenance and three new red light cameras; $900,000 in para- medic services to address call volumes; $900,000 in waste management to ad- dress inflation and tonnage growth, as well as organics market pressure; $700,000 in planning services to sup- port growth; $400,000 in quality and service integra- tion, primarily to fund the Halton Region Community Investment Fund; $1.6 mil- lion for boards and agen- cies; and $2.7 million for non-program services. Regarding the rate-sup- ported budget, residents can expect a change of 3.7 per cent in water and waste- water rates for 2019 (an in- crease to $999 from $964 for a typical household). This figure is based on zero per cent consumption growth and 1.5 per cent cus- tomer growth, Scinocca said, adding that with wa- ter conservation efforts and better systems, the overall consumption rate is not growing, however, the customer base is on the rise. The region's net ex- penditures for the rate-sup- ported budget are projected to be $205.6 million. Halton Region will be holding a budget council meeting on Jan. 9 at 9:30 a.m. The budget will subse- quently go to council for ap- proval on Jan. 16. Both meetings will take place in Council Chambers at Hal- ton Regional Centre (1151 Bronte Road, Oakville). Halton residents inter- ested in providing input on the proposed budget can register as a delegate by contacting the regional clerk, or provide comment via email at budget@hal- ton.ca. For further information on the 2019 regional budget, visit halton.ca. COUNCIL HALTON REGION BUDGET FOR 2019 PROJECTS PROPERTY TAX HIKE OF 1.9 PER CENT Mark Scinocca, Commissioner of Finance and Regional Treasurer, provides an overview of the 2019 budget at the regional council meeting on Dec. 19. Veronica Appia/Metroland VERONICA APPIA vappia@metroland.com