HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-04-30, Page 22 News Record • Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Council finalizes, passes 2014 budget
Gerard Creces
Clinton News -Record
Central Huron officially passed their 2014
budget Tuesday, April 22, and with that an overall
decrease of 4.34 per cent. Residents will be paying
about $60 less per $100,000 of assessment value.
It has been a long process, with six public meet-
ings and many revisits to reach the final figure. In
order to keep spending contained, council opted
to link it to growth in the municipality rather than
assessment increases. Real growth increased by
just over .9 per cent, while assessment values shot
up more than seven per cent.
The current assessment cycle runs 2013-2016.
Many uncontrollable increases put constraints
on spending, Treasurer Terri Rau explained.
Increased fuel costs, decreased municipal partner-
ship funding and skyrocketing police contracts
have taken their toll on municipal spending.
As for who pays what share of the overall total,
residential taxpayers contribute 78 per cent of all
taxes collected for Central Huron, or $4,192,418.
Farmland and managed forests are next at
$646,110 while the commercial share of the pot is
eight per cent, or $436,055.
Industrial and pipeline portions are around one
per cent each.
But what goes where?
Roads, streetlights and municipal fleet take up
$3.084 million, while protective and inspection
services such as police, fire and building depart-
ment make up $2.095 million. Recreation spend-
ing comes in just under a million at $996,122.
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Revenues for the municipality come in
the form of general government, includ-
ing the Ontario Municipal Partnership
Fund, at $1.35 million.
Of the municipality's total revenues,
52.9 per cent comes from taxation. A
further 22.8 per cent comes from fed-
eral and provincial grants. Water and
wastewater, garbage collection and
streetlights do not factor in as they are
user pay services.
While this is the second year for a tax
decrease in Central Huron, 2014 spend-
ing is still higher than previous years.
Since 2008, spending has gone up from
$3.5 to $5.36 million.
Fire department
holding new recruit
session May 26
Gerard Creces
Clinton News -Record
Do you have what it takes to be a
firefighter?
Anyone who has ever considered
joining the fire department is in luck
- the Central Huron Fire Department
is sending out an invitation for new
recruits, holding an information night
May 26 at 7 p.m. at the Clinton fire
hall.
"It's an invitation for anyone who
would be interested in finding out
what fire department does and
whether they would like to serve
some time and learn more about it,"
said acting chief, Dave Renner. "We'll
give a quick description of what we do
and what we require of our recruits as
a firefighter... Show them some of the
ropes, get them into some bunker
gear and get them on the end of a
hose and squirt some water."
Ideal candidates are young people
who live in the vicinity of the fire hall
and work in the Clinton area - anyone
with a willingness to learn and the
ability to quickly respond.
While joining the fire department
may conjure up heroic images, Ren-
ner said the reality the stereotypes are
rarely true, though firefighters sup-
port each other through everything.
"If you think you're going to save
the baby on every call that's not going
to happen," Renner said. "But we're a
family up here, we stick together, and
anybody that's on the department
really enjoys their time here."
Joining the department requires
extensive training, and the ability for
new recruits to sacrifice their time for
the job any time of day.
"You never know when the tones
are going to go off," Renner said "They
always seems to be at the worst time
but it's always rewarding."
Anyone interested in attending the
recruitment information session can
reach Renner at the fire hall at 519-
482-3043.
Meanwhile, Chief Steve Cooke is
officially retiring as of Wednesday,
April 30, leaving a 32 -year legacy of
community service and some big
boots to fill. The department will be
holding a small function in May to
celebrate Cooke's commitment and
wish him the best in retirement.
"It's an emotional time for the
whole department," Renner said.
"When you are losing someone with
that many years experience and
devoted time to it - it's a real emo-
tional experience."
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