1. Follow-up to Ward Budget Open House
About thirty people attended the public meeting to consider the Region's 1998 Budget. Included were an overview of the 1998 Draft Estimates and a presentation outlining changes and issues with regard to 1998 property taxation.
One question at the meeting concerned municipal investment policy and the eligibility criteria that is applied to the investment vehicles available to municipalities - i.e.: why aren't we making more money on our investments!
In short - The Region of Ottawa-Carleton is governed by legislation which sets out a list of eligible investments. This list of prescribed investments provides that bonds, debentures, promissory notes or other evidences of indebtedness of Canada, provinces, federal agencies, municipalities and school boards are eligible.
Because certain investment opportunities available to ordinary individuals e.g. blue-chip corporate bonds, are not available to municipalities, the potential to increase investment returns is restricted. However, the Regulation does provide for a high quality, low risk program of investments.
2. Final Phase of Ice Storm Clean-up
From mid-January until early February when heavy snow accumulation halted pickup of brush and tree branches, over 20,000 tonnes of material was collected. This amount is equal to the total average of leaf and yard waste collected in the RMOC annually. A second and final phase will accommodate residents who either did not clean up their properties prior to the snowfall or have additional tree pruning to do. Plans for the second phase of clean-up are as follows:
a) Curbside Collection Service and Chipping
Residents are asked to put brush and branches at the curb on Monday, April 20 and it will be picked up before Friday of that week. As with the first phase of storm clean-up, the normal preparation and set-out requirements for brush will be relaxed. Crews will concentrate on this area for the week identified, however they will be returning as necessary to ensure that any late set outs are collected. Regular leaf and yard waste collection will commence the week of June 1.
b) Brush Depot Service
Various depots will be located throughout Ottawa-Carleton opening on April 1st where residents can deposit brush material prior to the scheduled curbside collection dates. The most convenient location for our area is the Conroy Road Snow Disposal Facility on Conroy Road at Thurston Drive, in Ottawa.
The task still ahead of clean-up crews is enormous. Your co-operation and patience is greatly appreciated.
3. Regional Chair creates Task Forces
At last week's Council meeting, Chair Bob Chiarelli launched two new task forces headed by a team of Regional Councillors who will work together to find areas of agreement on specific subjects.
Councillors Alex Munter and Madeleine Meilleur will make recommendations on health care issues. Special attention will be paid to the advocacy role Ottawa-Carleton residents expect from their Regional Council on health related issues. They will consult with the community and develop a plan on how the Region can help to ensure our residents have a dependable, accessible quality health care system.
Councillors Peter Hume and Robert van den Ham will work on protecting green spaces through innovative partnerships. Regional Council, through the new Official Plan, recognizes green spaces as one of this Region's most cherished resources. Focus will be brought on implementing the Region's greenspace policies through partnerships such as community-based land trusts, nature conservancies and conservation covenants, which will better enable private citizens and corporations to contribute open space.
These task forces will be expected to report back to Corporate Services Committee before the end of July.
4. Regional Budget and Local Governance
In March, the Citizens' Panel that was reviewing governance restructuring disbanded due to "meddling" by some lower-tier municipalities which made the Panel's position untenable. This has real implications for local government reform in Ottawa-Carleton. The Minister of Municipal Affairs apparently has no plans at this time to impose a provincial solution -- which has some pretty serious financial consequences for local ratepayers.
Previous studies carried out at both the upper and lower tiers have indicated that significant savings are achievable through the amalgamation of services. The Region believes that taxpayers are paying up to $100 million annually more than is required to provide the services they now receive under the existing municipal structure due to duplication and other inefficiencies.
This year, our budget strategy to accommodate downloading was tied to savings made possible by restructuring. You will recall that the Regional shortfall has been estimated at approximately $60 million. Council has already asked the Police Services Board to re-submit a budget which requires no tax increases and to reduce their capital program to minimize the requirement to issue new debt. RMOC staff has been asked to reduce expenditures totalling $4.5 million, and further, to identify a menu of alternatives for additional expenditure reductions that will include options for service level decreases and/or program eliminations. We are also continuing to communicate to the Provincial government the magnitude and urgency of this situation -- caused by the fact that the new program responsibilities are not revenue-neutral as originally intended.
I remain of the opinion that a strong Regional government benefits taxpayers. One small example is the RMOC's ability to invest and administer surplus funds on behalf of cities that simply do not have the financial strength to earn the same return on investments. Recently, the City of Ottawa entered a new financial arrangement with the Region to invest surplus funds. This will allow a .35% greater return because of the Region's ability to purchase larger dollar value of investments and hold them for a longer period of time. This could potentially earn the City of Ottawa as much as $560,000 in additional investment income this year alone.
5. Region Turns Methane Gas into Dollars
In its continuing efforts to look for better and more competitive ways to provide services, last week Ottawa Carleton officially powered-up its wastewater treatment cogeneration plant at the Robert O. Pickard Centre.
Cogeneration is a process through which electricity and heat are produced. The Region's new plant burns methane gas, created by the wastewater treatment process, to produce electricity and heat which operate the wastewater treatment facility. On average, the Pickard Centre treats 450 million litres of wastewater per day. Maximum electricity production is 2.43 megawatts; enough energy to provide electrical power to 2,000 homes.
The initial investment for the plant was $4.5 million, but annual savings to Regional taxpayers of $650,000 means a payback period of only seven years. By operating this state-of-the-art treatment facility, the Region continues to demonstrate leadership in environmental protection by minimizing community impact on the environment.
a) Review Approved
In March, Council approved a nine-month, $855,000 review of OC Transpo's operations. This will provide the much needed blueprint to reach the daunting target of 123 million rides which Council established in the Regional Official Plan and Transportation Master Plan. While it is recognized that OC Transpo enjoys a healthy level of ridership (Statistics Canada Census reports puts Ottawa-Hull in third place in Canada for commuters using public transit), the new Official Plan demands that we raise the bar.
The cost of the review amounts to one-half of one percent of OC Transpo's $166 million operational budget. Funding is expected to come from capital savings which should be available as a result of the integration of OC Transpo and RMOC financial systems.
b) New Low Floor Buses
New low-floor buses have arrived, representing the start of OC Transpo's commitment to convert its fleet to fully accessible buses. The low-floor Nova Buses have space for two wheelchairs, and three features that allow anyone with mobility challenges to board easily: the flow-floor design means no steps at any door, the front of the bus can be lowered, and there is an extendable ramp at the front door. With an aging population, the Region is preparing to make transit easy and convenient to use for riders with special needs.
To spread out the cost for Regional taxpayers, the changes will be made gradually over the next two decades as the older buses need to be replaced.
7. Airport Parkway Extended Traffic Impact Study - Update
It has been determined that the scope of the above-mentioned study has been altered so the amended Terms of Reference must be resubmitted for approval by Council. One element not originally included was the possibility of not twinning the Airport Parkway - which will cost more to study than has been budgeted. Additionally, the steering committee membership must be enlarged to take in several more communities to the south who would be impacted if twinning was eliminated.
The forth meeting of the APETIS Steering Committee is scheduled for this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Colonel By Room at Regional Headquarters. A staff report is being prepared which will be considered by Transportation Committee and Council in early May.
8. Appointment to Chair Task Force on Recycling & Waste Management Financing
For nearly a decade, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has been urging the province to address the issue of waste management financing. During this period, municipalities paid approximately $375 million towards recycling program capital and operating costs, the province pitched in $208 towards residential diversion programs and industry contributed only $41 million towards municipal capital costs. However, Municipal Recycling Support Program grants were discontinued in 1996, terminating provincial subsidy of residential recycling programs.
While it makes good sense to divert as much material as possible from landfills, blue box funding arrangements are not financially sustainable in the long term. Alternatives must be sought which place greater financial responsibility on the producers of all non-durable products to reduce the quantity of these materials in the municipal waste stream.
I have been representing the municipal sector on the Recycling Council of Ontario's "Roles and Responsibilities Advisory Committee", a group that has conducted a multi-stakeholder consultation process to examine the full range of funding options. A recent appointment to Chair the AMO Task Force on Recycling and Waste Management Financing will allow further examination of the RCO's Report and its implications on municipalities and property taxpayers.