The Milton District Hospital Levy Elimination

By: Laura Steiner

In early 2011 Milton had a problem.  It needed a new hospital expansion.  The municipality was responsible for helping with the local share of $35 million, but had no raise it.  In January, 2011 Council approved a 1% levy that would help raise the money.  It’s a separate line on the property tax bill.  The 1% has stayed the same ever since, and was scheduled to come off by 2045.

That changed with the 2018 operating budget approved Monday night.  A motion from Councillor Rick Malboeuf, and Zeeshan Hamid will eliminate the 1% hospital levy, and replace it with revenue from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming  (OLG) aka the slots at Mohawk Raceway.   OLG have been sharing revenues with the Town since the late 1990’s.  In April, 2013 the two parties came to an agreement on sharing revenue.  They used a sliding scale.  The Town would  get: 5.25% of the first $65 million, 3% of the next $135 million, 2.5% on the next $300 million, and 0.5% of the remainder of the slots revenue.

In October, 2013 Halton Healthcare Services asked that debentures  for the entire $35 million (debt) be issued in advance.  The debt to be paid from the 1% levy, and a portion of the revenues rom the OLG Slots.

“Property taxes aren’t supposed to fund healthcare,” Malboeuf told council during  deliberations December 4, 2017.  If it were a perfect world, he’d be right.  Healthcare is a provincial responsibility, and should funded as such.  The reality is the funding model isn’t set up like that.  Municipalities, and foundations are set-up, and responsible for a “local share.”  The levy itself was meant to help address a need, and it had a clock on it.

Switching the source of the revenue reduces taxes by 1%.   The slots are already funding a component of the debt.  The revenue-sharing agreement is considered temporary, and has already been renegotiated once to include electronic gaming.   We’re heading into a year where there’s economic pressure from increased minimum wage, and corporate tax changes.   Some of that will impact consumers, and residents.

The revenue shared by Mohawk is distributed a year after collection.  What happens when revenues fall as people decide to cut back on such luxuries as a trip to the racetrack? There is already a $33.2 million deficit. What projects will be cut because there isn’t enough in the capital budget to cover it? Will it be park maintainence? The next fire station? Road maintenance along Commercial near Laurier Ave where the street always seems to drown every time it rains?  The revenue will have to be made up somewhere.

I’m all in favour of a good tax cut, but it has to be sustainable.  This might be a good idea now going into an election year.  In a few years who knows? We might be talking about putting the levy back on the tax bill.