HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-04-16, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009.
Appreciation
To thank the Optimists for their donation to multiple sclerosis, Brussels resident Jacquie
Waechter, front right, who suffers from the illness, presented the club with a cement foot,
representing that every step matters in the fight against MS, for the flowerbed at the
clubhouse. Standing, from left: Cory Campbell, Jeff Newell, Mike McDonald, Chad Fischer,
Jason Crawford, Tyler Deitner, George Langlois, Greg Wilson, Murray Cardiff, Dave
Stephenson, Bruce Raymond, Kyle Stephenson. Front: Brian Deitner, Kevin Deitner, Mike
Thomas and Doug McArter. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
Donations
Brussels and Grey Central Public Schools received funding from the Brussels Optimists. The
money for Brussels will be used for the music program, while Grey’s is designated for the
library. Accepting the cheques were Alicia Deitner, for Grey, second from left, and Pam Barker
for Brussels. Optimists from left, were: Jason Crawford, Mike Thomas, president Jeff Newell
and Mike McDonald. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
Thanks
Brussels Optimist vice-president Chad Fischer presents
$7,000 to Jacquie Waechter for the Multiple Sclerosis
Society. Half of the money will go to Huron County MS
client support and the other half will go to the Bruce County
chapter for research. The money was raised at the recent
dinner and auction. The balance of the proceeds from the
event will go to community betterment. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
Huron East is now in the home
stretch with its 2009 budget, which
is set to be finalized at council’s next
meeting on April 21.
After taking a hard look at the
draft budget at their last meeting,
councillors were left with just under
$400,000 to cut in order to balance.
Several remaining projects and
aging vehicle fleets in the public
works and emergency services
sectors had made it hard for council
to find an appropriate area to cut
from.
At the last meeting, the Burgess
Street project in Brussels was taken
out of the budget and the
accumulated municipal surplus was
integrated.
However, a decision by council to
beef up its grass-cutting added
$7,000 to the budget.
Treasurer Brad Knight proposed,
at council’s April 7 meeting,
removing the Bridge Road project in
McKillop, cutting $200,000 from
the budget. In addition, he also
suggested cutting $120,000 by
removing the proposed new tractor
and wood chipper from the budget.
Those two changes, before
factoring in any increase to the
general tax levy, would bring Huron
East within $100,000 of a balanced
budget. Knight initially proposed a
three per cent increase to the
tax levy, which he brought up to
five per cent in this draft of the
budget.
The increase would bring in
nearly $40,000 to the municipality
and bring the budget within a few
minor adjustments of being
balanced, Knight said.
Deputy-mayor Bernie MacLellan
pointed out that Knight is rarely in
favour of raising taxes, adding that a
recommendation from Knight to
raise taxes is unusual and could be
interpreted as a sign of the economic
times in Canada right now.
MacLellan, who proposed a 10 per
cent increase in the levy at the
March 17 meeting, persisted with
his suggestion, saying that the
municipality will have to catch up
sooner or later.
Several councillors now, however,
are suggested to go up to six per cent
to cover whatever shortfalls
remained in the budget.
Also, depending on the quality of
the equipment for public works and
emergency services, some
councillors stayed in favour of the
purchases, saying that if they could
save money, and not compromise
quality, why not do it?
Knight had been advising against
a large increase until council saw the
entire budget, complete with user-
pay and area-rated systems, which
were implemented in his fourth draft
of the budget.
He said that because of water and
sewage costs, some wards would be
seeing very high increases before the
tax levy was raised at all.
Knight provided a breakdown by
ward, which shows large
differentiations on bottom line
taxation. In Huron East, among the
five wards, there is an average of a
4.32 per cent tax increase as it stands
now, standing at a 3.27 per cent
increase after taking into account the
Huron County tax levy and the
education tax levy.
The bottom lines in Huron East
are spread from McKillop, which
will see a 1.97 per cent increase up
to Tuckersmith, which will see an
overall 5.06 per cent increase.
Knight said Brussels water system
is in good standing and will be
shifting $100,000 into its reserves,
bringing it to $134,305. The
Brussels sewage system will also be
shifting $100,000 into its reserves,
leaving that account with over
$630,000 in it.
Council’s April 21 meeting will be
its official public meeting where the
budget will be tabled and discussed
in order to be adopted.
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The Citizen
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