Dear Resident:

I want to wish all my residents a very Blessed Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy and Healthy New Year! If you recognize other celebrations, I also hope they are happy times for you and your families.

City Hall and the Region will be closed for the Christmas week from noon on December 24 to January 2. Emergency staff will still be available and you can call 311 for service requests. I will be monitoring email but my staff will be taking a much deserved time off.

I hope you will have some time to spend with family and friends and enjoy this special time of the year.

As always you can contact me for assistance on any city or region issue at pat.saito@mississauga,ca, by phone to 905-896-5900 at any time and my staff and I will be pleased to help you.

Pat

Council has completed review of the 2020 budget and was slated to vote on recommendations at the December 4th City Council meeting. At that meeting, however, we felt that additional time was required prior to making a final decision on the budget for 2020. As such, the Budget Committee Report 4-2019 has been deferred to the new year.

At the Region we are facing a 2.1% increase on the Mississauga taxes. Brampton on the other hand is only facing a 1.5% increase from the Region portion. This shows how disproportionate our taxes are at the Region.

The bulk of the Region budget is a huge 5.4% increase in policing funding. This was approved by the Police Services Board which is decided by members who are not responsible for taxes except for Mayors Crombie and Brown. So basically this board has no responsibility to keep our tax increases reasonable. I asked that the Police Services Board review their budget again to see if any reductions could be made. I cited that the Chief answered a question I posed that $6.1 million of a $22 million increase was for new officers. I did not want to look at that portion but Council cannot define where cuts or increases to this budget should be made. Mayor Brown was quoted in a video saying that I said that 75% of the budget was not for staff. I never said that so he must not have been listening. But it made him look better I guess to blame others for being responsible with our taxpayers money. As neither he or Mayor Crombie were at the Police Services Board meeting when the budget was passed I felt it would give them a chance to review it again. I am pleased Mayor Crombie agreed and my motion passed.

However we knew the board would do a cursory look and refuse. So we will have a big tax hike and that is the reason.

I am known for being a huge supporter of Peel Police and in fact have received several awards from them. I would never sacrifice public safety and will stand behind my comments. But we also need to be fiscally responsible. I will be making a motion in the new Year to set a specific dollar amount for the 2021 police budget and the new Chief will have a year to make the improvements he says he will make for more efficiency.

For more information on the City budget, visit the  City of Mississauga's Budget website  . For information on the Region budget visit the  Region's website.

On December 12, Councillor Parrish and I moved and seconded a motion asking Region Council to endorse a plan to look at allocating Peel Police costs more equitably between Brampton and Mississauga. At this time Mississauga pays the bulk of the costs but we do not receive anywhere close to the service that Brampton gets. A consultant report suggests we could save our taxpayers up to $67 million if costs were allocated similar to the way the OPP does for Caledon policing.

 

The motion stalled when Brampton Councillors walked out ending the meeting. The meeting resumed today but I was unable to attend.  

 

However I am known for finding compromises and I sent my colleagues in Mississauga a suggestion that we move a referral of the motion for staff review. This would enable the item to remain in discussion as we knew that it would be voted down completely if we allowed a vote to occur.  

 

While I also suggested we let this sit until the new year, I appreciate that they did accept my suggestion and moved the referral I had suggested today. It did pass on the Chair breaking a tie vote so now we can get more information, costings and numbers to bring forward in a future meeting. I expect at that time Brampton will still vote it down and as we only have 12 votes, if Caledon sides with them they will win. If they don't have the votes they will likely leave again. 

 

Mississauga tax payers have been on the hook for the cost of Brampton's services and growth for way too long. This latest fiasco shows how broken governance is at the Region. We have good staff doing good work there but the governance is so skewed against Mississauga, it is a struggle to get anything done. Sometimes it is better to take a step back, take some breathing room and come back in with better ways of doing business around that table.

I continue to work with staff towards the approval and implementation of the Tenth Line West cycle track. The addition of this infrastructure will provide residents a great transportation alternative while also being a wonderful and safe way to exercise. I am aiming for implementation in 2020, so stay tuned for further updates about this very exciting project.

Winter is well on it's way, and we all know what that means! Snow, snow snow. See above for the link to the City's website. Also, don't forget to follow @MississaugaSnow on Twitter for updates during a snow event. Please be a good neighbour and clear snow and ice from the sidewalk in front of and beside your home (if on a corner lot).

This year, at the Dam's Christmas Open House on November 26th, I was honoured to present Carol Reist with a certificate celebrating 20 years at the Dam. She has served in various roles, and is currently the Executive Director. Congratulations to Carol on all of your hard work and success!

I am always pleased to visit Mindshare, and especially to celebrate their 2nd anniversary on

December 10th.

I love going to the Cornerstone Church's Annual Santa Shuffle This year's on December 7th, was a great success raising funds for those in need in our community!

I had the pleasure of joining Jordan as she set up her annual Sock Drive at our community centres. On November 23rd, Jordan was at the Meadowvale Community Centre and on December 1st and 7th she was at Erin Meadows collecting sock donations and meeting her supporters. I am so proud of Jordan - her caring and generous spirit is having a positive impact on so many of those in need during this winter season.

Thank you for all you do, Jordan!

'Twas the Bite Before Christmas

I was happy to attend Twas the Bite Before Christmas breakfast at the Drake on December 7th in support of Eden Food for Change. The event raised over $11,000 for those who need the food bank in our community.

On December 17th, I had the distinct pleasure of presenting local resident, Shannon Pecore, with the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers. This medal recognizes the exceptional volunteer achievements of Canadians and pays tribute to the dedication and commitment of volunteers. Shannon has volunteered with youth and sports since 2012, and it was my honour to attend this event.

On December 17th, the Hon. Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, Lisa MacLeod, attended our Mississauga Tourism Advisory Board to make an announcement prior to our meeting commencing. I was pleased to emcee the event as she announced that Mississauga was selected to host the 2022 Ontario Summer Games! Mississauga hosted the 2016 Summer Games and it was a huge success. We had over 3500 young athletes come to our city to compete along with their families and friends!

Events like this are a huge part of the Sports Tourism initiatives in Mississauga and I am proud to chair a strong board and work with such dedicated staff to make this type of announcement reality.

After this announcement, Minister MacLeod joined our Mississauga Tourism Advisory Board meeting to speak to the benefits of combining heritage, sport, tourism and culture into one ministry, and to emphasize their connections. She also congratulated the Board on all of the great work it is doing in Mississauga and looks forward to working together in the future.