5 | Friday July 14, 2 0 1 7 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com Get back into reading this summer with Oakville Reads online book club O akville Public Library (OPL) encour ages residents to catch up on reading this summer by joining Oakville Reads. Its an on-going, free online book club for adults, offering a new book and discussions ev ery month. It's perfect for book lovers with busy schedules, unable to commit to in-person book clubs. It offers the freedom of reading at your lei sure, whether at home, on lunch or on vacation. The book club, which has been running for the past two years, has nearly 250 members from across the globe, including many OPL staff who actively read along and participate. This low-commitment club has an openmembership policy, allowing members to join in Oakville Public Libra on discussions at any time, as well as skip reads if it impedes their schedule. Members also have opportunity to get a head start on future reads, with book titles announced a month in advance. Members are periodically surprised with ad vanced reading copy giveaways, as well as the occasional author discussion drop-in. Renowned authors Plum Johnson, Lynwood Barclay, and Robert Rotenberg have previously joined in on dialogues on their books to interact with members and answer their questions. For those who prefer the traditional, in-per son book club, OPL runs three in-house clubs at the Central, Woodside, and Glen Abbey branches, with books supplied for borrowing for members. Registration is required to participate in these clubs, which opens in August and fills quickly. Oakville Public Library also offers Book Club Kits for those who are interested in starting and running their own book club. These hassle-free and money-saving kits can be borrowed for six weeks at a time; kits include up to 10 copies of the book and discussion questions to help jumpstart group conversation. OPL currently has approximately 90 kit titles to choose from, and introduces eight to 10 new titles every year. Although most kits are intend ed for adults, the library also carries several teen and crossover titles to encourage younger audi ences to create their own book clubs. If you are interested in joining Oakville Reads or one of OPL' s traditional book clubs, visit www. opl.ca for more information. If you would like to take advantage of the library' s Book Club Kits, visit your local branch to view our full list of titles, borrow, or get reading recommendations from staff. -- submitted by the Oakville Public Library Halton Region taxes are poised to jump between two and 4.5 per cent continued from p.4 N on-residential building activity is at about 3.3 million square feet, he said, based on the number of development applications. Scinocca said S&P Global Ratings affirmed Halton Region' s AAA credit rating, which allows Halton and its local municipalities to fund major projects at the lowest possible long-term costs. However, Halton Region still faces budget pressures. "The province's growth plan poses many challenges," said Scinocca. "There are a significant amount of growth related costs that cannot be recovered through the development charges process," he said. Development charges are fees collected from developers to help pay for the cost of infrastructure required to provide municipal services to new development, such as roads, transit, water and sewer infrastructure and comm unity centres. The 2018 operating budget will also include additional costs for waste management and road maintenance, which continues to expand, due to increases in maintenance and hydro costs. "The major driver (to the budget) in the short term is public health," reported Scinocca. In 2 0 1 7 , Halton will experience a funding shortfall of $ 9 .7 million, as a result in funding shortfalls for health programs, such as paramedic services and provinciallymandated public health programs. "The Ministry of Health refuses to meet with us on this $ 9 .7 million shortfall," Carr added. "That money represents six per cent on the tax bill." A budget overview will be presented to council on Nov. 15. 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