HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-06-10, Page 1VOL. 3 NO. 23 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1987.40 CENTS
Brussels
building
tops
$500,000
With the building permits ap
proved by Brussels village council
at its June meeting last week,
building in Brussels has gone over
the half-million dollar mark with
the year only half over, Clerk-trea
surer Hugh Hanly reported.
Building permits were issued for
two new houses and a major
addition to the Brussels Mennonite
Fellowship as well as repair jobs,
decks and storage sheds. The new
houses were an $85,000 house for
Hugh Johnston in Krauter Court
and a $45,000 house for Don
McLennan.
The church expansion includes
two buildings, one 20 by 36 and one
62 by 32 which will provide space
for a new office, kitchen and
recreation room.
Councillor Malcolm Jacobs com
mented on how remarkable the
current building boom is after
years in the past where growth was
very slow.
Belgrave
to get new
street lights
Twenty-eight new high-pres
sure sodium street lights have
been ordered for Belgrave, along
with their supporting brackets,
and will be in place before the end
of the summer, according to Nancy
Michie, clerk-treasurer of Morris
Township.
The order was authorized at the
township council meeting June 2,
after a public meeting held May 28
to discuss the matter showed
approval of the project. The lights
will be installed at no charge,
courtesy of Ontario Hydro, which
will begin a general upgrading of
service in the area within the next
two weeks.
A letter from council to all
affected ratepayers will be sent
out, explaining the new type of
lights and the costs per household
involved.
Atthe same meeting, a letter
was authorized to notify Brussels
Continued on page 6
What conies down, must go up. The decorative top of the tower of the house of Frank Osborne on Dinsley
St. East in Blyth blew down over the winter. Mr. Osborne had the piece rebuilt by a London tinsmith and
Ihursday, John Heyink of Richmond Hill used his cherrvpicker to put it back. Unfortunately the piece
didn't fit and the whole operation has to be repeated.
County
takes up
Hwy. 4
battle
BY CHRIS LAW S
Last Thursday, Huron County
Council was addressed to two
documents regarding the improve
ments needed to Highway 4
between Blyth and Wingham. One
was addressed to the County
Engineer from the Town of Wing
ham, while the other came from
Gerry Browning, Regional Direc
tor for the M.T.C., and sent to
Reeve Albert Wasson, of the
Village of Blyth, and the County
Road Committee.
The letter from the Town of
Wingham requested that the
Blyth, Wingham, section of the
highway be improved to reduce the
snow problem along the road
during the winter. Gerry Brown
ing’s letter stated that the highway
does not warrant improvements
because of the low traffic volumes
on the section of road, and low
accident rate. His letter went on to
say that it would be unreasonable
to do more work than is currently
planned, and that there is nothing
to gain from a meeting with the
concerned municipalities.
When reviewing Mr. Brown
ing’s letter, the Road Committee
decided that the currently propos
ed improvements to Highway 4,
between Blyth and Wingham,
were unsatisfactory and that they
be upgraded. The committee also
requested that the County Engi
neer aid in their efforts to improve
that section of road, and have him
arrange a meeting with the
M.P.P.s representing Huron
County, along with the reeves of
the affected areas, to persuade the
M.T.C. to upgrade their plans for
the section. Council voted in favour
of having the Engineer’s involve
ment.
A motion to allow the Engineer,
Warden, and Chairman of the
Road Committee to attend a
conference in Saskatoon during
September was questioned by
Goderich Township Reeve Harold
Worsell. Many of the other reeves
objected to Reeve Worsell’s point
saying that the matter of out of
province conferences should be
brought up at budget time, and not
when a motion to attend one is
being discussed. The Engineer
added that the county has always
benefitted from these conferences,
and that he was invited to attend a
similarconference in Peking which
he refused.
The County accepted a tender
from Radford Construction, for
$54,048, to be for 15,900 cubic
meters of crushing gravel for the
construction of County Road 17 in
McKillop Township. The cost for
the gravel is to be split between the
Township and the County with the
County’s share being $34,874.00.
Hullett taxes up 5.5% despite .35% twp. rate
Despite the fact their township
council held its own tax increase to
.35 per cent, Hullett township
ratepayers will face a tax increase
of 5.52 per cent for public school
supporters and 6.43 percent for
separate school supporters.
In the mill rate structure approv
ed by council June 2, the township
mill rate will increase only from
56.369 mills in 1986 to 56.567 for
1987. A $81,608 surplus from 1986
helped hold the line. By compari
son the county rate increased from
44.388 for farm and residential in
1986 to 47.596 in 1987, an increase
of 7.23 per cent. The public
secondary school rate increased
3.98 per cent from 53.044 to 55.155.
The public school rate increased
9.75percentto77.316from 70.445.
The total residential mill rate for
public school system supporters is
236.634 mills compared to 224.246
mills last year.
The separate school levy for
elementary schools is 80.770 mills
compared to 74.790 last year, an
increase of 8 per cent. This year for
thefirsttimethere is a separate
secondary school levy of 58.350
mills compared to the rate taxpay
ers would have paid to the public
system last year of 53.044, an
increase in cost of 10 per cent.
The total separate school sup
porter residential mill rate will be
243.283 compared to 228.591 last
year, an increase of 6.43 per cent.
Ratepayers in the Hullett side of
Auburn will have a total mill rate,
with the police village additional
mill rate and the mill rate for street
lights of 277.704 for public school
supporters and 284.353 for separ
ate school supporters.
One break for taxpayers in
Auburn is that the garbage
collection charge actually went
down this year from $47.37 to
$46.88 for residential and $94.74 to
$93.76 for commercial.
Despite the township’s own
hold-tight budget, there are some
increases in township expenses.
The protection to persons and
property budget increases from
$42,428 last year to$52,000 this
year, the largest portion coming in
a budgeted increase in fire protec
tion from $24,561 to $30,800.
Biggest increase is in transpor
tation services with road mainten
ance and construction scheduled to
leap to $388,900 from $247,824
which doesn’t include an addition
al $30,000 in expenses that won’t
be covered by subsidy. The
increase in road expenses will be
offset by an increase in the
provincial road subsidy to $261,550
from $221,800. The total tranporta-
tion services budget increases to
Continued on page 20