Growth without sustainable planning is just a tax increase waiting to happen.
As you know, our communities in Halton are facing massive infrastructure and financial pressures right now. We have to deliver critical, housing-enabling water and wastewater infrastructure to support 104,000 new homes by 2031—all while actively maintaining a state of good repair for our aging assets.
Financially, the Region is navigating significant provincial funding shortfalls for health and social services, alongside limitations on recovering growth costs through development charges.
The challenge we face at the Regional level is that growth without a solid foundation is just an expensive problem for tomorrow.
Too often, municipal decisions are made reactively, driven by short-term political cycles rather than long-term strategic reality. That approach creates infrastructure deficits, and eventually, the taxpayer is forced to cover the gap.
We need strict, data-driven lifecycle costing to manage these demands while working to keep regional property tax increases realistic and affordable.
It’s time for leadership that looks ahead.