Region looks back at successful term representing Oakville, Milton, Burlington

By

Published July 22, 2022 at 1:12 pm

With its term nearing an end, Halton Regional council is looking back at its key achievements for residents of Milton, Oakville, Burlington and Halton Hills.

Last week, council received a staff report on Halton’s successes from its 2019–2022 Strategic Business Plan and the Region’s response to COVID-19.

“Our Strategic Business Plan is a reflection of the priorities that matter to our community and has guided our work for this term of council,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr.

“While faced with the unprecedented COVID-19 emergency, Halton Region and the community have achieved so much together. We were able to make progress on many planned priorities, maintain our essential programs and services and keep tax rate increases at or below inflation. We also took collective action to respond to COVID-19 and coordinate the delivery of the vaccination program in Halton.”

Objectives set out in the 2019–2022 Strategic Business Plan were identified across five themes.

Planning and growth management: Grew by an additional 15,000 housing units and established a framework to accommodate Provincial growth targets that minimizes urban boundary expansion.

Transportation and infrastructure: Invested more than $900 million in transportation infrastructure and almost $1 billion water and wastewater infrastructure since 2019.

Community well-being: Created new assisted housing opportunities, invested approximately $13M through the Halton Region Community Investment Fund, modified and expanded the emergency shelter program and launched the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program to support low income seniors.

Environment and sustainability: Declared a climate emergency, achieved a decrease in corporate greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction in heating consumption per square foot.

Effective government: Achieved highest credit rating (AAA) each year from independent credit agencies and kept tax rate increases at or below the rate of inflation.

Halton Region also had significant responsibilities in the response to COVID-19 throughout 2020–2022, in addition to planned priorities for the term of Council.

More than 50,000 cases and 176 institutional outbreaks were managed and the needs of vulnerable residents and those most impacted financially and socially by the pandemic were supported.

Through the coordinated delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination program, more than 1.35 million doses have been administered and 89 per cent of residents aged five and up have at least two doses.

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising