Regional Council approves 1.86 per cent tax increase

Waterloo Region – Regional Council approved the 2014 budget today.

The 2014 tax increase of 1.86 per cent meets the critical needs of the community by finding savings in various program areas.

The Region is a major provider of essential community services including helping families, children and seniors, ensuring the safety of our drinking water, getting people to the hospital in emergencies, ensuring the availability of affordable housing, providing public transit, garbage and recycling collection, building and maintaining regional roads, planning for growth and supporting other vital community interests.

“We worked to strike a balance between funding important services while keeping the tax increase low,” said Ken Seiling, Regional Chair. “While everyone may have their specific preferences, Regional Council needs to balance all the demands it faces.”

“We had to make some difficult choices on how to allocate funds to meet critical needs in the community,” says Tom Galloway, Regional Councillor and Chair of the Budget Committee.

Despite less revenue and increased costs for garbage and recycling, increased costs for capital projects and more transportation costs for a GRT expansion and ION, this year’s budget will help meet the increasing needs in services areas like: childcare subsidies; seniors services; bus service in Cambridge; Mobility plus; Ontario Works discretionary benefits and ambulance service.

“Regional staff worked hard to identify efficiencies and other budget reduction options for Council,” said Mike Murray, Chief Administrative Officer. “During this challenging budget process we identified over $2.5 million in administrative savings and operating efficiencies, and continue to focus on providing excellent value to the community.”

The increase of 1.05 per cent for Regional services and 0.81 per cent for Police services will impact the average household by $32.38. Regional services comprise about 50 per cent of the residential property tax bill.

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For more information, please contact:

Ken Seiling, Regional Chair, 519-575-4585

Tom Galloway, Budget Committee Chair 519-575-4404 Ext. 3401

Craig Dyer, Chief Financial Officer, 519-575-4545

* Click attachment below for more information about how your tax dollars are put to work.