Durham Region Priorities Fall 2024

By Maurice Brenner Regional Councillor Ward 1 Pickering As the summer months fade away, the my work as a Regional Council ramps up and it’s time again to focus on what my priorities will be for this session. Looking first at Public Transit, while ridership is at an all time high, it stretched the resources of Durham Regional Transit. As the Pickering representative on the Transit Executive at our September meeting, I raised several concerns about how this has impacted community connectivity as routes such as Pickering 121 have changed in an effort to reach customers along the Finch corridor. While solving one problem, it created another. This has been flagged along with several other changes in anticipation with the pending 2025 Budget. At a Special meeting of the Committee of the Whole, I got a snap shot of the challenges that lay ahead and how DRT will be tackling them. In bringing forward a recommended 2025 property tax guideline, staff considered the various pressures impacting the 2025 budget including increased demands for transit service, Transit’s E-Mission Zero Strategy to electrify Durham Region Transit’s fleet and the impact and affordability of property tax increases on Durham residents and businesses. There are also significant concerns around a lack of provincial and federal funding that are critical in achieving the objectives of the original Service and Financing Strategy. In light of these considerations, the recommended 2025 budget guideline that was approved provides for a projected overall 1.75 per increase in the total property tax levy dedicated to Durham Region Transit. This represents a projected $15.741 million increase (16.7 per cent) over the 2025 Durham Region Transit Budget. Once finalized, I will be pursuing options on how to restore services where necessary. Focusing next on Homelessness, I spent the summer months working along side DARS as we put the finishing touches on the Transitional Housing Farmhouse (690 Third Concession Rd at Whites Rd) The agricultural property is owned by TACC Developments who leased it to DARS at a nominal cost. The house will house 7 residents. But this isn’t a traditional program. 690 Third Concession is different, providing residents an opportunity to grow vegetables and raise egg-laying chickens and learn farm related entrepreneurial skills. The concept is providing more than four walls. The capital costs for the major renovation did not have any impact on the 2024 Budget nor will it impact the proposed 2025 Budget. All costs were funded through a City of Pickering Casino Grant as well as Durham Region Grants and Community Volunteers and its operating costs will run in the black. The project is a first of its kind and I will continue to commit time to see it through. The Official Launch and Open House is October 10th to coincide with World Homeless Day which aims to raise awareness about the needs of people who currently experience homelessness and promote work in local communities to alleviate suffering and prevent death. As we move forward, we must recognize that the issue of a lack of affordable housing, economics and numerous other stressors on families will contribute to the rising numbers of persons finding themselves homeless. It is a crisis. My priority remains tacking it head on, focussing on dignity as a cornerstone.