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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, January 31, 2019
Volume 35 No. 5
THROWBACK - Pg. 18
‘The Citizen’ looks back
at years gone by
MUSEUM - Pg. 20
Funding for North Huron
Museum up in the air
YEAR IN REVIEW - Pg. 10
Tanner Steffler Foundation
looks back at eventful year
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
NH budget talks open with 20 per cent increase
Study
funding
debated
North Huron Council has given
direction to staff to cut the current
budget increase of nearly 20 per cent
in half before the next round of
budget reviews.
In a special budget meeting on
Jan. 23, council was told that the
cost of the switchover from the
Wingham Police Service to the
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
would result in at least a six per cent
increase to the budget. Council
agreed that, given that information,
it would be ideal to cut the increase
to between eight and 10 per cent
before the next round of budget
meetings.
The budget presented that night
included a 19.69 per cent over the
2018 budget, which was already
significantly higher than previous
years due to costs related to the
police switchover.
Reeve Bernie Bailey requested
that Director of Finance Donna
White provide council with a
breakdown of the last several
budgets to illustrate the hurdle
council needs to overcome.
In 2017, for example, there was a
3.61 per cent increase in the budget,
or approximately $170,000. In 2018,
due to policing costs, there was a
13.03 per cent increase, or $637,000
more. The 19.69 per cent increase in
the first draft of the budget would
result in a budget increase of just
over $1 million. White explained
that each percentage increase
represented $55,287.
Bailey explained that this was a
difficult situation for council
because costs associated with
running the municipality, such as
wages, insurance, healthcare and
utilities, can’t be cut.
“The way council does hit these
goals is to cut paving roads and
fixing buildings,” he said. “We have
a long ways to drop, and when we’re
talking about different items, we
have to keep that in the back of our
mind.”
Councillor Chris Palmer said the
current draft was unacceptable, and
that it needed to be cut significantly
before it would be approved.
RESERVES
Council discussed transfers to
reserves, with Palmer saying that
those numbers should likely be
Huron East Council is considering
lending its support to the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community Centre
renovation committee after a
presentation on Jan. 22.
Members of the committee spoke
to Huron East Council at its Jan. 22
meeting, presenting its plan for the
renovation and expansion of the
beloved centre and associated costs.
While the planned improvements
to the centre are anticipated to cost
$4.5 million, the committee feels
that the first step is to engage the
services of Campaign Coaches for a
feasibility study to determine if the
community is able to support a
project that will cost that much.
The cost of the feasibility study is
$25,000 and the committee hopes
that Huron East and Morris-
Turnberry Councils will step up to
the plate and help fund the study so
the committee knows where it
stands with the community.
Nicole Noble, the past-president
of the Brussels Recreation
Committee, addressed council on
the issue, saying that members of
the three committees associated
with the renovation – the recreation
committee, the renovation
committee and the fundraising
committee – all felt that bringing on
Campaign Coaches was a step in the
team taking on the Seaforth Hitmen (seen above), the Blyth
Bullets PeeWee team vs. the Seaforth Cyclones, the Blyth Ice
PeeWee team vs. Mildmay Red, the Blyth BG team vs. Seaforth
and, finally, the Blyth Bullets MG team vs. Kilsyth in the final game
of the day. (Nick Vinnicombe photo)
Create your Business Plan, attend free Business Development
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 2
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 15
Busy place
The Blyth and District Community Centre surely was a busy
place on Saturday as a number of broomball games
occupied the ice from the early afternoon through to the
evening hours. Action began with the Blyth Atoms taking on
Seaforth at 2 p.m., followed by the Blyth Silver PeeWee