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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-04-15, Page 1Achievement I _____Special________I News Brussels girl places third in public speaking provincial semi-finals Special section offers spring car care tips. Dealers say what's hot. Small town church manages the impossible. Raises $24,700 for missions See page 2 See page 8 See page 20 CitizenTheNorthHuron HCBE talks budget Vol. 8 No. 15 Wednesday, April 15,1992 60 cents BY LISA BOONSTOPPEL-POT Huron County Board of Educa­ tion trustees all agreed at Monday night's special budget estimates meeting that proposed budget costs have to be slashed but no consensus was reached on how that will be accomplished. Signs of spring New life, Easter eggs and sunny smiles are some of the earliest - and nicest - signs of spring. Becky, Cody and Allison Rapson of RR3, Brussels had a lot to smile about with their Easter baskets full of colourful - and cuddly- surprises. The family's cat gave birth to the triplets just a couple of months ago, a convenient number as it meant one new pet for each of the Rapson children, said mom, Sharon. County may get penitentiary If they can't find ways to decrease the proposed $56,892,185 expenditure estimates, municipal taxpayers could face a 5.4 per cent increase in education taxes over last year. According to the board's assess­ ment analysis, it will require $22,512,918 from local taxpayers to break even - up from $21,379,924 last year. Using this figure, board adminis­ tration set a mill rate of 9.108 per cent for farm and residential prop­ erties and a 10.715 mill rate for business and commercial proper­ ties. This means a homeowner with a residential assessment of $60,000 will pay an estimated $546.48 in education taxes (assessment may vary due to change in market value assessment.) Even though the mill rates are lower than last year's 11.787 and 13.867, Blyth-Hullett trustee John Jewitt wasn't happy. "I believe the tax increase should be kept at zero per cent because that's how much of an increase in pay I'll be getting to pay any tax increase," he said. To achieve a zero per cent increase, trustees will have to slash $1,132,994 from the budget. To help trustees in deciding what areas could be cut, Director of Edu- cation Bob Allan advised the trustees to follow an agenda he pre­ pared listing high-cost areas such as personnel, programs, special projects and reserves. But every time one trustee got on track, another would bring up an idea and confuse the issue. Finally, Township of Tucker­ smith trustee Allan Carter put his foot down saying "we're jumping around like a bunch of crickets. We had an agenda to follow but we're jumping around and not getting anything done." His words seemed to sink in and trustees were finally able to instruct administration to look into cutting capital expenditures (planned building projects at two schools) and gratuity reserves (retirement Continued on page 18 BY RHEA HAMILTON-SEEGER Huron County has been ipproached by the Correctional Service of Canada about the possi­ bilities of locating a new medium security penitentiary here. The matter came before a meet­ ing of the Economic Development group, a special interest group of North Huron Community Develop­ ment committee, Thursday evening in Brussels. The information had been forwarded to local councils from the county and from there the information was relayed to the eco­ nomic committee. Comments or submissions must be into the coun­ ty council executive committee by April 16 in order to be directed to the Commission of Corrections by April 30. Members of the economic group had concerns about locating the $6 million institution in the county but the spin offs in jobs and economic pulses would more than compen­ sate. The submission will include such information as availability of rea­ sonably priced land, transportation systems, well-established commu­ nity-based correction services and support agencies, hospital and other medical services, educational facili­ ties, police and emergency response capabilities and special­ ized, professional staff. It was also requested that submissions include some indication of support that such a facility would expect to receive from the community. The Correctional Services of Canada does rely heavily on volunteer and social agency support to prepare offenders for their inevitable return to the community. While the submission will not have such specifics as exact land locations, it will give some indica­ tion of the promising area that is here and hopefully entice decision­ makers to consider a site in North Huron. Members of the group were con­ cerned that their submission would become lost at the county level but were assured by Gordon Workman, Brussels reeve, who sits on the Blyth lights The installation of street lights is nearing completion and already are proving their worth, Blyth council­ lors were told at the April 8 meet­ ing. Clerk Helen Grubb said the light­ ing bill has been cut in half. Using 1992 rates on consumption the cost would have been $1600, Mrs. Grubb said. Since the new lights have been installed it is $780. Though some lights are yet to be installed, Mrs. Grubb said she feels safe in saying the energy costs will be cut in half with the new lights. The lights, which are energy effi­ cient ones recommended by Ontario Hydro, were installed through a Pride grant that covered 50 percent of the cost. county council executive commit­ tee, that no such thing would hap­ pen. cut bill 50% In a further attempt to save money, it was decided that the lights be installed by the town employees rather than hiring an engineer. As a result the has been a little "trial and error" involved, Ms. Grubb said, to find all the dark spots. Town Foreman John Rinn said the dark spots are being investigat­ ed and there are four lights left to be used for these areas. The town employees have dis­ covered 10 dark spots thus far and it was noted that when the leaves come out there may be more so lights may be moved around at that time. "A little experimenting might make quite a difference," said Reeve Lee. Blyth firefighters fight 2 blazes Blyth volunteer firefighters responded to two fires last week. In the early evening of Monday, April 6, a fire started when the electrical wiring shorted out under the dash of a car driven by Carol McDonnell, on Highway 4 just north of Blyth. Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling estimates the damage at $1500 to $2000. Two days later firefighters were called to a grass fire at Lot 11, Cone. 13 in Hullett township short­ ly after noon. Property owner Marj Collins was burning garbage outside, when the fire went out of control. According to Chief Josling, Mrs. Collins attempted to put the fire out herself with buckets of water, but called the fire department when it contin­ ued to spread. The blaze, which was just a few feet from the house and driving shed took only a few minutes for firefighters to extin­ guish.