Mayor warns 70% tax hike could follow download of regional services from Peel to Caledon

Caledon has broken its silence on what it says could be a more than 70 per cent tax increase if Ontario’s Peel Transition Board shifts responsibilities away from the region and onto municipalities.

The Transition Board was originally formed to guide Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon through the dissolution of Peel Region. But that plan was scrapped back in January in favour of an updated mandate to transfer key services from the region down to the cities and town, a plan Caledon now says could be a serious financial burden.

Downloading roads and waste management services to the town would come with a 70 per cent tax hike in Caledon according to Mayor Annette Groves, who broke confidentiality with the board last week saying the potential hike is something no one can afford.

“Without a firm and significant financial commitment, we see no other option than to have regional roads and waste management for Caledon remain at the Region of Peel and funded through the current model,” Groves said in a statement.

Coun. Doug Maskell, chair of Caledon’s Single Tier Transition Committee, says the province has not provided details on the costs of the download despite repeated promises that municipalities “would be ‘kept whole’ financially,” and that “taxpayers would not be burdened by this process.”

He said the transition board is expected to submit its report to the province “within weeks,” but has not been shared with the town.

The push for Peel dissolution was a long-time passion project for late Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion and nearly came to pass following a deathbed promise from Premier Doug Ford to see the project through. Ford reneged on that pledge following pushback from both Brampton and Caledon, with both mayors sounding the alarm over expected tax hikes.

Former Peel Region Chief Administrative Officer Janice Baker said she wasn’t convinced moving services to the municipalities would be a cost saving measure, while Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown likened the dissolution to a “financial train wreck” that would cost an estimated $1.31 billion to the city.

Regional Council has previously passed motions asking the province to keep both Peel Regional Police and Peel Paramedics intact, with a paramedics’ union warning of a potential “mass exodus” of first responders.

The transition board is expected to make its recommendations on how to move forward with the download of regional services by the spring.