Regional Council approves 2.95 per cent tax increase
Waterloo Region – Regional Council approved the 2017 budget today.
The 2017 tax increase of 2.95 per cent will help provide the enhanced citizen services and infrastructure necessary to meet the growing needs of our community.
The Region is a major provider of essential community services including: helping families, children and seniors; getting people to the hospital in emergencies; ensuring availability of affordable housing; providing public transit and the Regional transportation network; garbage and recycling collection; ensuring the quality of our drinking water; planning for growth; and supporting other vital community interests.
“The Region of Waterloo continues to provide services which support a growing community. Keeping pace with the demands for service that ensure a good quality of life is key to our budget, and residents of the Region continue to receive good value for their property tax dollars,” said Ken Seiling, Regional Chair.
"Major cost drivers for the 2017 budget are enhanced paramedic services, including a new operations and fleet centre in Waterloo. Additionally, increased transit services along express routes in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge will facilitate transit user integration with ION and reduce headways to every 10 minutes. Transit and Paramedic Services are big ticket items that are costly but necessary to service our community,” said Sean Strickland, Regional Councillor and Chair of the Budget Committee.
Additional funds have been allocated in this budget to invest in a number of critical services. These include adding 15 paramedics to reduce ambulance response times, improving transit service frequency on several major routes, adding six infant child care spaces at the Region’s Elmira Child Care Centre and providing additional personal support workers at Sunnyside Home to ensure high quality care. The budget also continues to invest in new infrastructure to support growth and the repair and replacement of existing, aging infrastructure in areas such as: roads; bridges; transit; water supply and wastewater treatment facilities; affordable housing units; and Regional buildings while continuing to promote long term financial sustainability.
“Regional staff worked hard to try to balance many competing priorities in the 2017 budget,” said Mike Murray, Chief Administrative Officer. “Staff have identified over $10 million in sustainable savings over the last five years, and continue to focus on providing excellent value to the community.”
The increase of 2.31 per cent for Regional services and 0.64 per cent for Police services will impact the average household by $56. Regional services account for 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
Sean Strickland, Budget Committee Chair 519-575-4404 Ext. 3414
Craig Dyer, Chief Financial Officer, 519-575-4545