Residents can now view the City of Mississauga’s 2018 proposed Business Plan and Budget online at mississauga.ca/budget. It describes program and service enhancements for 2018 and how they will be financed.
Highlights
The total proposed 2018 operating budget is $819.2 million. This amount is offset by revenue from various sources (e.g., transit fares and recreation fees) totalling $334.2 million. The amount that is not offset by these revenues is the net operating budget funded by property taxes.
- The proposed 2018 net operating budget is $485 million, compared with $461.7 million in 2017. The 2018 proposed net operating budget is approximately $23.4 million more than in 2017.
- Almost the entire proposed 2018 operating budget – approximately 95 per cent or $782 million – is targeted to keep the City’s services operating at current levels. Examples include:
- MiWay – Ontario’s third largest municipal transit service, MiWay operates 82 routes with 499 buses; customers board a MiWay bus over 56 million times per year.
- Fire and Emergency Services – last year answering more than 30,000 emergency calls, conducting over 9,700 fire safety inspections and providing public education on fire safety to over 27,000 residents.
- Roads – keeping motor vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic moving on the City’s 5,290 lane kilometres of road network; maintaining approximately 480 kilometres of multi-use trails, park paths, bicycle lanes and signed bike routes.
- Parks and Forestry – maintaining our City’s 3,639 hectares of parkland and open space, including one million City-owned trees, 362 sports fields, 263 play sites, two marinas and 11 publicly-owned cemeteries.
- Library Services – Includes the Central Library and 17 branch libraries that saw 4.9 million in-person visits and 6 million items loaned last year, including digital loans.
- Recreation – providing over 175,000 hours of recreation programming such as swimming, fitness, skating and more each year; and accommodating 12.6 million visits annually to Recreation facilities, including 11 community centres.
- New services account for less than one per cent of the proposed budget, or about $2.8 million. Transit improvements account for 60 per cent of this amount ($1.7 million). As the City advances its strategic plan, new services include:
- continuing planned MiWay service growth of three per cent per year, adding 46,000 service hours and additional transit security;
- increasing support to culture groups and local artists to provide enhanced services that reach more people;
- redeveloping the recently acquired Small Arms Inspection Building;
- hosting the Ontario 55+ Summer Games;
- providing public education about the City’s Active Transportation options to encourage the use of cycling and walking infrastructure; and
- improving the Library’s collection to support the City’s population growth
- The proposed overall tax impact on residents is a 2.81 per cent increase on the 2018 residential property tax bill. Of this, 1.65 per cent is for the City’s services, and 1.16 per cent for Region of Peel services.
- For the owners of an average, detached, single-family home in Mississauga (value $604,000), a 2.81 per cent overall tax increase comes to $144, before any phased-in assessment change.
Starting on November 20, the City of Mississauga’s
Budget Committee will begin deliberations on the proposed 2018 Business Plan and Budget. The City has set aside November 21, 27, 28 and 29 to continue the discussions. Residents can address the Budget Committee through deputation by contacting the
City Clerk’s Office. Council is expected to approve the proposed 2018 Business Plan and Budget on December 13.
There are many ways to get involved and have your say on the City’s proposed 2018 Budget:
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Media Contact:
Cynthia Ulba
Senior Communications Advisor
City of Mississauga
905-615-3200, ext. 5051
TTY: 905-896-5151