Peggy Feltmate - Kanata South Councillor

Growth inside the Greenbelt actually improves the City’s financial situation. When both expenses and increased assessment were added together, pressures on the City’s annual operating budget are reduced by $1,000 per new household each year.

For growth in all other locations, the cost to the City is greater than any increase in revenue. Development in urban areas outside the Greenbelt, like Kanata, adds a pressure on the operating budget of $70/household. In rural areas costs are even higher.

Growth in rural villages represents an annual operating budget pressure to the City of $500/household. In rural areas outside village the cost is $160/household – more than double the cost of the average household in the urban area outside the Greenbelt.

These are annual operating budget pressures. Savings or additional costs from where growth takes place continue year after year.

The study is in response to a motion I moved as part of the City’s financial planning process in 2007. Having information on the costs of growth allows Council to make planning decisions that keep the cost of new development to taxpayers as low as possible.

Much of the reason for the differences in costs is the extent to which services must be extended to serve new neighbourhoods. Inside the Greenbelt much of the cost of growth can be accommodated with existing services. With “greenfield development” in the urban area outside the Greenbelt and in rural areas that is not the case.

Intensification is a part of the City plans for accommodating growth to help control the cost of City services. The degree to which we will be able to use intensification to control costs will be determined by the decisions made in the Official Plan process.

Expanding the urban boundary or allowing more housing to be built in rural areas will push up the cost of growth. Measures to ensure intensification takes place – and to ensure it takes place in ways that don’t destroy existing neighbourhoods – will help us control the cost of City services.

CITY MUST ENSURE TRANSIT STRIKE IS NOT REPEATED

Once the federal government announced it would be bring in back to work legislation, it meant all issues would be going to binding arbitration. The agreement between the City and the Union did not change the outcome, but it did make it possible to start the work of getting the transit system running again earlier.

For City Council, however, the work is not over. When a strike lasts over 50 days, something has gone seriously wrong. As soon as a settlement is in place, there needs to be a thorough review of decisions that were made, the information given to council and how we can avoid a repeat of the mistakes that were made.

COFFEE WITH PEGGY FEBRUARY 13

The next Coffee with Peggy will be Friday February 13 between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. by the Second Cup at Hazeldean Mall. It is a chance for people to stop by and raise issues or problems in an informal setting. Please don’t hesitate to stop by.

WORKING FULL-TIME FOR KANATA SOUTH

I appreciate the chance to hear from you about issues affecting our community. You can reach me at 580-2752 (office), 580-2762 (fax), www.feltmateforkanata.com or peggy.feltmate@ottawa.ca