Some additional money has been committed to Hamilton’s crumbling roads as 2018 budget deliberations wind down at City Hall.
City Council has voted to add an extra $7 to the average homeowner’s tax bill this year to help pay for a $19.4-million paving blitz on pothole scarred roads.
About one-third will be spent on “priority routes” while the rest can be earmarked by councillors to ward-specific priorities.
Central mountain councillor Donna Skelly is critical of colleagues for waiting until now to make roads, which she terms “a basic need,” a priority.
“We spend money where we shouldn’t be spending money, we waste money, we’re not frugal,” Skelly said. “We have to get back to addressing what is a crisis” in regards to roads.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger challenges that claim, noting that in addition to the added $19.4 million, the city had already earmarked $56 million to upgrading road infrastructure in 2018.
This year’s budget is to be approved during a meeting next Thursday.
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The mayor adds that the average tax increase will be 1.9 per cent, about $75 for the owner of a home valued at $337,000, a figure he notes is in keeping with inflation.
Eisenberger insists that “we’re managing our additional costs, finding efficiencies and putting those efficiencies into works that need to happen.”
GIC APPROVED BUDGET / QUICK FACTS:
• The overall tax increase for a residential property will be 1.9 per cent (including the education portion of the tax bill, the lowest in the GTHA)
• A house assessed at $337,100 will see a tax increase of $75
• 18 replacement HSR buses
• Nine additional police officers
• 10 additional paramedics and one additional ambulance
• 41,000 additional DARTS trips
• $1.1 million to improve snow-clearing
• $3.4 million in capital financing of city’s share of bus maintenance facility and additional buses (0.4% tax impact)
• New toboggan hills
• Continuing to invest in our 10-year transit strategy
• $750,000 in energy savings thanks to converting 10,000 high-pressure sodium street lights to energy efficient LED lights
• Special investment of $19.4 million to address road deficiencies caused by the increased freeze-thaw cycle caused by climate change, including $5.9 million for major arterial roads and $13.5 million to be shared by all 15 wards for local neighbourhood roads
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