Mayor Ann Lawlor's February 2023 Message

February is a busy month for our Town council and community activities.

Winter sports are in full swing, our snow crews are on the roads morning, noon and night and inside, staff and councillors are burning the midnight oil reviewing our municipal operating and capital budgets for 2023.

Your Town administrators were certainly challenged this year to keep our budget and any tax increases below the inflation rate. Simply maintaining current operations is costing a whole lot more with fuel charges, road maintenance materials, non-discretionary expenses and double-digit insurance premium increases needed to provide service such as parks maintenance, recreation programs and road paving.

Notable new items in the Town budget include important safety equipment, a system for automated speed enforcement and a $1.8-million aerial ladder truck for the fire department. We will undertake energy reduction design for major facilities such as the Gellert Centre, and Indigenous art and diversity projects not completed in 2022 will be carried over into 2023.

The budget committee will be recommending a 4.3 per cent increase in the overall property tax. This translates to about $220 per year, less than $20 per month for the average single-family home in Halton Hills.