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CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Mayor's budget squeeze on city hall's external boards and agencies yet to yield tax savings
London mayor asked several agencies to find budget savings in order to meet his property tax increase target of below five per cent, reports Daryl Newcombe. Mayor Josh Morgan believes it's too early to tell if he can still meet his property tax target of below 5 per cent in 2026. Earlier this spring, Morgan and Budget Chair Coun. Elizabeth Peloza contacted 12 city-funded agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs) requesting they provide opportunities for potential budget reductions, provincial/federal advocacy and new revenue generation. However, just two response letters appear on the agenda of next week's Budget Committee meeting. '(Some) other organizations we're still in discussions with, and other boards just need some time to dig into their budgets,' Morgan tells CTV News. The letters on the agenda from the Middlesex London Health Unit (MLHU) and Museum London both include blunt warnings against another budget reduction in 2026. 060425 - Property tax Exterior of Museum London. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) 'Further budget reductions from the City will necessitate reduced operating hours, impact jobs, and reduce our ability to attract investment from all levels of government, sponsors and donors,' reads the letter from Museum London. The MLHU writes, 'further reducing the funding from the City by an additional 1.5% would lead to a deficit of over $1 million dollars for the Health Unit next year.' 060425 - Property tax Exterior of Middlesex London Health Unit. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) Peloza explains that the 2024-2027 municipal budget already includes savings from both agencies, 'In their letters it's stated that at the beginning of the multi-year budget they already took their (budget) cut then. Now they're saying, 'I don't have more to give.'' 'I'm not surprised by their responses,' admits the mayor. 'I met with both of them individually, and as I said all along, there's going to be some organizations that are facing different types of pressures than others.' Outreach to the city's ABCs was an extensive undertaking by Morgan and Peloza earlier this spring. 060425 - Property tax Projected property tax increase in 2024-2027 Budget. (City of London) Joint Meetings with the Mayor and Budget Chair: • RBC Place • Middlesex-London Health Unit • Upper Thames River Conservation Authority • London Middlesex Community Housing Meetings with the Mayor: • London Public Library Meetings with the Budget Chair: • London Police Services Board – Finance Committee • Museum London • Tourism London • London Transit Commission Written Correspondence Provided to: • Kettle Creek Conservation Authority • Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority • Eldon House The mayor emphasizes ABCs can still respond to City Hall about potential budget savings in the coming weeks and months. 'Given their board (meeting) cycles, (and) the amount of time their staff need to look into things in a meaningful and serious way, they're going to need a little bit more time,' he explains. 'What I've said to them is there's no bad time to bring forward a budget savings.' The London Police Services Board's finance committee recently began looking for between $1 million and $1.5 million in budget savings that would not impact police operations. The appointment of a temporary London Transit Commission (LTC) made up of Council members has delayed an analysis of the net financial impact of two unanticipated events when the LTC's multi-year budget was first approved: lower fuel prices and declining international student enrolment at Fanshawe College. London's initial property tax rate increase in 2026 was projected to be 6.4 per cent, but the mayor set his own target of below 5 per cent. 060425 - Property tax 2024-2027 Municipal Budget Documents. (File) Achieving the mayor's target requires finding savings and/or revenue totaling about $13 million. Peloza believes budget savings from external agencies, boards, and commissioners will be needed for the mayor to reach his target. 'I'm going to assume that we were banking on them, and the mayor was especially banking on them as he made a target to get under a certain percentage,' she admits. 'It's going to get to the point of which ones can we cut, which ones can't we cut. Those decisions will start with him and then go to council for consideration.' Council deliberations about the mayor's draft budget begin in late November. Morgan says it's still too early to determine if his tax target will be reached. 'I don't know yet, but what we are doing is we're tracking in the right direction,' he says. Representatives of the Health Unit and Museum London have asked to speak at the Budget Committee meeting on June 11.
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Accelerated measles vaccine schedule recommended as cases spread locally
The Middlesex London Health Unit wants families to get young children vaccinated for measles sooner, and more often. It's recommending a new accelerated vaccine schedule, which comes as measles cases spread throughout the region, particularly to the south of London. 'As case counts increase across the region, we're taking a coordinated approach with this,' said MLHU Associate Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Joanne Kearon. MLHU said babies aged six to 12 months should receive one dose of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine, but two additional doses are still required after the child is one year old. Children aged one to four who have received their first dose are encouraged to receive a second dose within four weeks of the first dose. Adults born in 1970 or later are recommended to receive a second dose. 'The majority of our cases are within closed clusters among unvaccinated communities. So, we're not seeing a lot of community transmission. However, we are having community exposures,' said Dr. Kearon. 'And so, we want to give people that option to get their dose earlier and have that confidence when taking their child out in the community.' According to Public Health Ontario, there have been 1,440 confirmed and probable measles cases across the province since mid-October, including 197 in the last week. Most of those infections have been in southwestern Ontario, and nearly 77 per cent were in infants, children, and adolescents. 94 per cent of the cases were in unvaccinated individuals. As of Thursday, the MLHU is reporting 43 confirmed cases, with 79 per cent of those in children. Southwestern Public Health, which includes the cities of St. Thomas and Woodstock, along with Oxford and Elgin counties, reports a total of 524 measles cases since last October, including 73 new cases in the last week. 'The majority of these new cases are part of the same group of cases we began investigating last week and are linked to one another,' explained Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Ninh Tran in a media briefing Thursday. 'A few other points I want to highlight. Our trends are very similar. Cases continue to mostly affect unvaccinated school age children, which really underscores how effective this vaccine is.' The Southwestern Public Health catchment area continues to have the highest measles case count in the province.
CBC
17-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Londoners dig out after massive snow dump as bitter cold, heavy wind creeps in
People across London and the surrounding region, much like people across Ontario and Quebec, were faced with digging themselves out of multiple days of snowfall as the Family Day holiday got started Monday. That process began as the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) warned of bitter cold and Environment Canada warned of heavy winds and blowing snow that could make for hazardous driving conditions. In east London, that cold, wind and snow didn't stop residents from clearing the way so they could begin enjoying their holiday. "Actually having a winter this year feels a little unusual," said Londoner Mike Miles as he shoveled snow at the front of a large commercial property on Princess Avenue. "I feel like we're kind of getting a little bit of what we used to get back in the day." Ontario, Quebec digging out from massive snowfalls Miles's property was flanked by boulevards with snowbanks as tall as two metres — the result of heavy snowfall that came from back-to-back winter storms. The storms covered the region from southwestern Ontario to Quebec and took place throughout Saturday and Sunday. The conditions, while difficult, did bring out the kindness and warmth that often shines through Canadian winters, Miles said. "It's kind of part of the culture. Here in Canada, we're super nice people. If we see somebody that needs help, we're not afraid to get out there and give them a hand," Miles said. Those in need certainly appreciated the helping hands. Jessica Justrabo found herself — and her car — stuck in a snowbank at the end of a driveway after taking the risk of plowing through it in an attempt to park. "Everybody on the street is [blocked] out," she said. "The sidewalk plows blocked us in our driveway, then the street plows block the end of the driveway." It wasn't long before neighbours took notice, and within 20 minutes the car was free. "Whenever I've gotten stuck, people have always helped me at some point. It helps that I'm a girl," Justrabo joked. For other Londoners like Paul Cieslak, the shoveling was a less than ideal but ultimately necessary process. "I feel like we haven't had this much snow in probably close to 10 years. The problem with this is we're getting a storm after storm after storm ... It's just a pain to shovel it, and we have nowhere to put it," he said. City plows working on overdrive The scope of the snowfall that hit the city over the weekend was felt firsthand by the City of London's snow plow operators. Joel Gillard, the city's division manager of road operations, said while operators work in rotating shifts, some of his fleet of plows and salters had been on the roads for close to 72 hours by Monday. The city's 70 road plows, 50 sidewalk plows and 28 salt and sand trucks primarily work on arterial roads and bus routes before fanning out to cover other areas. "It's been a challenging event to manage," Gilliard said, pointing to the city-wide scene of two-metre tall snowbanks and cul-de-sacs with mountains of snow in their centres. "There's [typically] no problem pushing that snow to the side of the road, but now those snow banks are getting quite significant. We're having to bring in additional equipment to get that snow up and out of the way," he said. Cold, wind causing concerns Now that the dust has mostly settled, a bitter cold and heavy winds are taking hold. The Middlesex-London Health Unit issued a cold alert Monday morning, noting the low temperatures with windchill values as low as -30 C forecast for overnight. In response, on top opening warming centres, the City of London activated a temporary overnight emergency warming centre at Boyle Memorial Community Centre. At the same time, Environment Canada issued an extreme cold warning and a blowing snow advisory, warning of strong wind gusts that could blow snow across roads, resulting in near-zero visibility, especially in rural areas.
CBC
13-02-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Cold weather alert issued for London and surrounding area
The Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is warning Londoners to dress warm if they're planning to head outside early Friday morning, as temperatures dip before the long weekend. With an overnight low of -12 C, wind chill values are expected to feel like -20 in the morning and rise to -11 by the afternoon, according to the forecast from Environment Canada. Health units issue cold weather alerts when temperatures are -15 C or lower, wind chill is -20 C or lower, or if Environment Canada also issues a cold alert. The health unit encourages people to stay in heated buildings as much as possible or dress in multiple layers of clothing if going outside, covering up all exposed skin. The MLHU also recommends drinking warm fluids, avoiding strenuous outdoor exercise, and preparing their cars for the cold weather. People are encouraged to seek immediate help if they experience symptoms of hypothermia and frostbite. Hypothermia symptoms include shivering, exhaustion, confusion, uncoordinated movements, memory loss, slurred speech and drowsiness. Frostbite symptoms include white or gray skin area, skin that feels unusually firm or waxy and numbness. Warming centres open The City of London opens warming centres when the health unit issues a cold weather alert. A full list of locations is on the city's website, but some include:
