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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-04-01, Page 1Milestone Farm news Entertainment Former Blyth woman marks 100th birthday NFU leader speaks at Line in the Dirt meeting "Dads in Bondage" an entertaining look at the bonds of fatherhood See page 3 See page 10 See page 19 CitizenTheNorthHuron Environment group seeks community input Vol. 8 No. 13 Wednesday, April 1, 1992 60 cents The idea of an Environmental Fair was greeted enthusiastically by everyone in attendance at the North Huron Environment Group meeting at Brussels Library on March 25. Chairperson Donna ’ White brought the idea forward when she provided information on a similar event to be held in Harriston on June 5. The concept would be to have retailers of environmental products, groups and service clubs, rent booths for a small fee, much like the old Tradefest in Brussels some Continued on page 3 Proposal may increase taxes for rural areas Proposals to simplify who pays for what programs between the provincial and municipal levels of government could cost rural tax­ payers plenty, Paul Klopp, M.P.P. for Huron was told at the annual Members of Parliament meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture Saturday in Clinton. Tom Cunningham, Reeve of Hul- lett and past president of the Rural Section of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, said the idea of straightening out funding, known as "disentanglement" sounds great but the initial propos­ als would be a windfall to large cities and cost small towns and rural areas $99 million in lost rev­ enues. The proposals would see the province take over sole responsibil­ ity for costs like social services but assign costs for such things as roads and policing to the munici­ palities. Morris Reeve Doug Fraser pointed out that in Huron county, roads cost $7 million last year while social services cost $2 mil­ lion, meaning such a swap would cost Huron taxpayers an additional $5 million. Mr. Klopp pointed out that it was his understanding that this was only the first report of the group looking into the changes. He pointed out that recent publicity about the gov­ ernment charging for "free" O.P.P. policing came, not from the gov­ ernment, but from a committee of the police associations. But Reeve Cunningham said he had been told at a ROMA meeting the previous week that the province was prepared to announce a charge of $350 per household on munici­ palities that didn't have a municipal police force and used the O.P.P. In Hullett, he said, this would amount to $210,000 and would mean a 40 per cent increase in the taxbill. "I think it's (the rumoured charge) is something we all have to be con­ cerned about." He pointed out that this added bill won't help munici­ Listening Head-table participants in the annual Members of Parliament luncheon of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture listen as a question is asked from the floor. Paul Klopp, M.P.P. (left), Bill Wallace, chairman of the Trade and finance committee of the Federation, Federation President Brenda McIntosh and Huron-Bruce M.P. Murray Cardiff were among those taking part in the presentation on the concerns of Huron county's farming community. palities with their own police forces but will only increase the costs to others, and fatten the provincial treasurer. Bill Wallace, Federation Vice- president, told Mr. Klopp he should take back to his colleagues the real facts about the need for policing in rural areas. Policing is currently at a very low level and rural people don't need or want any better ser­ vice, he said. County accepts budget with 6.3% increase In a surprisingly short and quiet meeting March 24, Huron County Councillors voted to accept a bud­ get that will increase the county share of the tax bill 6.3 per cent in 1992. In a recorded vote of 27-4, coun­ cillors voted to accept the budget, including new cost reductions totalling $80,400 despite the fact it did not meet the 5.5 per cent target council had set at its March 5 meet­ ing. At that meeting councillors had sent the budget back to the execu­ tive committee with instructions to department heads fo cut $122,000 from requirements for the year. But when individual committees started looking at the service cuts proposed by department heads to meet the request, many committees balked at further cuts. The proposal sent for council consideration proposed such cuts as $1500 from the War­ den's banquet, $40,000 for a com­ puter for administration, a $7500 reduction in salaries, training and travel from the museum budget and $12,000 in tourism and economic development promotion, cuts totalling $80,4000. Councillors could have cut the budget to the 5.5 per cent target if they had cut out all discretionary grants to fall fairs, Women’s Institutes and agricultural groups and culture and recreation groups such as the Blyth Festival and the Vanastra Recreation Centre pool. Surprisingly, despite how vehement some councillors had been at the March 5 meeting in not only meeting the 5.5 per cent target but going below it, there was no move last week to abolish the dis­ cretional grants. County treasurer Bill Alcock pointed out to councillors that the actual increase to a homeowner in the difference between a 5.5 and 6.3 per cent increase would be small. Using his own home, assessed at $70,000 as an example, he pointed out the difference would be under $2 on his tax bill. Faced with a reduction in transfer payment from the provincial gov­ ernment, county councillors had also had to deal with an increase in the cost of social assistance that, alone, would increase the county tax rate by 5.5 per cent. After allowing employees a 2 per cent pay increase, councillors were left in a position of having to cut ser­ vices to keep the budget close to the 5.5 per cent goal. Already at the March 5 meeting councillors had approved closing of seven small library branches, a large reduction in the proposed budget for road rebuilding in 1992 and reduction of the county road rebate to urban municipalities. The road committee and library board were among those that balked at further reductions. Jack Coleman, chairman of the road committee said County Engineer Denis Merrall has proposed a fur­ ther $37,800 in cuts but the com­ mittee felt further cuts would damage the county road system. John Doherty, chairman of the Library Board said the decision against cuts that would mean clos­ ing more branches and reducing hours at the busy town branches had been unanimous. Councillors were also warned that too-large reductions in one year can come back to haunt the next. Council used part of its $400,000 surplus last year to reduce taxes and now has only a $125,000 surplus to help out this year. If all that surplus is used, there won't be anything to help out next year. Mr. Alcock also pointed out that council last year had worked hard to keep the increase to six per cent but if they had allowed the increase to go through at eight per cent, the increase this year would only be four per cent. Councillors rejected a proposal to Continued on page 3 Time springs forward Well, look on the bright side. We may lose an hour of sleep, but we gain an hour of daylight. That's right. Daylight Savings Time is again upon us. The time to spring forward, by turning your clocks ahead one hour is officially 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 5.