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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-05-04, Page 1Community |Sports |Entertainment London couple brings Blyth Spirit to main street Brussels Bulls honour their own at annual awards night Miracle Worker gets standing ovation at London’s Grand Theatre See page 3 See page 10,11 See page 23 The North Huron itizen County ed. taxes increase by 6.09% Vol. 10 No. 18 Wednesday, May 4, 1994 600 GST included The final figures are in for the 1994 budget for the Huron County Board of Education having been approved at the Monday meeting. From the elementary panel, the board was able to cut approximate­ ly $200,000 in spending from the 1993 actual totals while increasing revenues by $430,000. The increase in revenue comes from the use of reserves to temper the tax increase needed to cover costs. In the secondary panel, there was a reduction of expenditures from 1993, by almost $204,000 and an increase in revenue by $200,000 from reserves. Even with the cuts and the use of reserve funds, the board found it necessary to increase the education taxes levied on the property owner by 6.09 per cent. The rise in taxes was due in large part, to provincial changes to the standard mill rate, revised equaliza­ tion assessment and rate of assess­ ment for property. Director of Education Paul Car­ roll says the transfer payments from the province to the HCBE were reduced by a total of $3.7 mil­ lion. Norm Pickell, trustee for Goderich said, "All the people working in our school system should be commended for the work put into reducing expenditures to a level lower than those in 1991. We have been as frugal as possible without penalizing the students." The budget was passed unani­ mously. County voting structure to change Signs of spring The kindergarten students at Hullett Central PS told guests at the school's spring Concert, "All About Spring". From left are: Terry Radford, Andrea Sturzenegger, Megan Disher, Sarah Van Santen, Jesse Howitt and Erika Andrews who played the role of "the one little duck with the feather on his back", who "ruled the others with his quack, quack quack." Despite an emotional attempt to get councillors to rethink the issue, Huron County council Thursday proceeded with passing a bylaw that will reduce the number of council members following this 11 candidate sites named for landfill autumn's election and give repre­ sentatives of some municipalities more than one vote. Council voted to adopt Section When the envelopes were opened and the documents naming the 11 possible locations for a landfill site for Huron County were known, the most surprised person in the Huron County Council chambers on Thursday was Warden Allen Gib­ son. The Ashfield Township reeve found out three of his farms were included among the candidate sites. The warden admitted after the meeting that it was difficult to con­ centrate on the rest of the meeting. As the meeting ended he received a message from his wife to call home. She, as had owners of prop­ erties in the other 10 sites across northern Huron, had received a copy of the documents delivered by a county employee that morning. Ten of the 11 sites are clustered in three groups: three in Ashfield Township west of Lucknow, three in West Wawanosh near St. Augus­ tine, and four in Colbome Town­ ship, just across the Maitland River from Aubum. There is also a single site in McKillop Township. The West Wawanosh sites are all on Concession 7. One site compris­ es 106.7 acres on Lots 19 and 20; another, 79.5 acres on Lots 20 and 21 and the final site, 63.3 acres on Lots 22 and 23. The Colbome sites include: an 81.3 acre site on Lots 11 and 12, Concession 8; a 68.5 acre site on Lots 7 and 8, Concession 6; a 151 acre site on Lots 11, 12 and 13, Concession 6; a 98.5 acre site on Lots 9 and 10, Concession 4. The McKillop site is on Conces­ sion 4, just north-east of Seaforth, and covers 103.2 acres on Part Lots 21, 22, 23 and 24. Craig Metzger, project co-ordina­ tor for the Huron County Waste Management Master Plan, said the next step will be to provide more information to property owners through a series of public meetings, and to negotiate with the landown­ ers so that testing can begin to determine if any of the sites is suit­ able. The county has been at this stage once before, when six poten­ tial sites were selected, but all were later rejected because of environ­ mental concerns. Asked by Howard Armstrong, reeve of Stanley Township if he could guarantee that one of the sites would meet the criteria, John Bray, of Gore and Storrie, the consulting firm that chose the sites said he couldn't guarantee anything without even being able to get on the prop­ erty. Looking at the soil types being used in the new selection process, however, he said "I would say that within this group of candi­ date sites there is a very good chance that we will find a suitable site." Getting on the land to have a first hand look is the next high priority, officials said. "We will be negotiat­ ing with landowners to get on t he land for testing," Mr. Metzger said. New fire hall a step closer Brussels is a step closer to having a new fire hall after village council Monday night approved hiring an engineer and making a formal application for funding under the federal-provincial infrastructure program. The fire hall will be located on the north side of Cypress St. between Tumberry and Princess Streets. The building will be about 80 by 46 feet with provision for three bays for trucks, a training Only a few of the sites that look best from a physical inspection will be subject to expensive drilling and soil testing. Asked what would happen if a landowner refused to agree to the testing, Mr. Metzger said that there are legal methods of expropriating access to the property for testing. Until a properly has been inspected and, if necessary tested, it cannot be eliminated from the list of potential sites, he said. A series of meetings will be held in the areas affected so property Continued on page 6 room and washrooms. There will be room to extend the building to add two more bays in the future. The land is currently zoned for future development, Clerk-Treasur­ er Donna White told council, so will have to be rezoned for institu­ tional use. Council approved hiring Mait­ land Engineering to draw up plans al a cost of $3,000. Council also approved making the application for funding. 28 of the Municipal Act which will mean that only reeves will sit at the county level. The section also pro­ vides for reeves of larger munici­ palities to have multiple votes, up to four for the Town of Goderich. Villages like Blyth and Brussels will still have only one vote. Section 28 was adopted because to continue with the current system would mean that several other municipalities would be sending deputy reeves to council after the next election because of an increase in the number of qualified electors. Council had adopted a motion last fall to ask for a private members bill to be passed in the Ontario leg­ islature to allow one representative with one vote from each municipal­ ity in the county, but Ed Phillip, Minister of Municipal Affairs, had indicated the bill would not be allowed to go forward after several municipalities including Goderich, Exeter, Howick and Wingham had launched protests. Bob Hallam, Reeve of West Wawanosh, protested that the council shouldn't give in to the provincial government on the issue. "All our actions before have been Continued on page 6