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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-04-05, Page 8Ken Pennington's D.J. Service "Music for all occasions" Call (519) 887-6069 Y112BEglYDDLO qlitapilk '4011k ,)A al ts1 .11) DiallysTsel on. TIL lavzse VDICOVJVV 1E2 S tttM94 nnzwooD FOR SALE WEST WAWANOSH MUTUAL (A) INSURANCE COMPANY NOY 1191(eighbour helping Neighbour Since 1879" YOUR LOCAL AGENTS Frank Foran, Lucknow 528.3824 Lyons & Mulhern, Goderich 524-2664 Donald R. Simpson, Ripley 395-5362 Delmar Sproul, Auburn 529-7273 Clinton 482-3434 Chapman-Graham & Assoc. Owen Sound 376-1774 Towne Insurance Brokers Inc. Kincardine 396-9513 Georgian Bay Insurance Brokers Owen Sound 376-4049 P.A. Roy Insurance Broker Inc. Clinton 482-9357 Banter, MacEwan, Feagan Insurance Goderich 524-8376 Kenneth MacLean, Paisley 368-7537 McMaster Siemon Insurance Brokers Inc., - Mitchell 348-9150 John Nixon, Brussels 887.9417 Chapman Graham Insurance Walkerton 881-0611 Orr Insurance Brokers Stratford 271-4340 City Insurance Offices Sarnia 383-0044 "INSURANCE FOR FARM, RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL AND AUTO" PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1995. HCBE tax hike amounts to a `case of pop a month' them. The HCBE may not exist with the suggested reduction in the number of boards, says Carroll. "We will know by the end of August." Of the 40 boards in the province, Huron County ranks 36th in prop- erty tax dollars. On an average property assess- Carroll responded by saying Huron County has a very low tax rate and that should be art incentive to come to Huron. Bill Clifford, reeve of Goderich, followed the line of questioning, wondering why a 12 per cent increase was suggested. Trustee for Brussels and Grey Twp. Don McDonald said other counties have more tax dollars to work with and this board has no more cushion. There was a general consensus among the trustees and administra- tion that the board's frugal spending and cushioning of tax increases through use of reserves in the past has come back to haunt the board, as there is no longer any place to go but up. "If we cut more it will begin to hurt the students," says Bea Daw- son, trustee for Zurich, Hay and Usbome Twp. "If we had kept up the increases as other boards did, it wouldn't be hitting us so hard now." In summarizing the effect of cuts to the board budget, Carroll said the Social Contract was a method of freezing wages until 1996, "but we will need another SC then or do a Ralph Klein slash." "We can make cuts to the teach- ing staff and increase the student to teacher ratio, but will this hurt or help the system?" Adjustment may be made by ,deferring repair projects, building improvements and natural gas upgrades to science labs. "It is hoped the board members will be able to reduce the budget and get the increase to the $60 range," says Carroll. The final recommendations for the budget went before the trustees for approval at the April 3 meeting. By Janice Becker mentary sector are $410,000 and The education tax increase that $10,000 for the secondary sector everyone is complaining about with a softening of the blow comes down to a case of pop a through an increased grant of month. $120,000 due to the loss of students That succinct summation of the to the new Catholic secondary proposed tax hike was offered by a school in Clinton. secondary school student represen- The effect will be another 1.5 per tative on the Huron County Board cent hike for a total thus far of eight of Education, to a gallery of per cent. approximately 50 concerned With the advent of two school ratepayers who gathered on March systems, public and separate, sever- 30 in Clinton for an explanation of al years ago, the limited number of the increase. property tax dollars are being By keeping the budget at the spread thinner. same level as last year, the board is Changes in tuition fee calcula- looking at an increase of 10 to 12 tion, which are charged to the sepa- per cent (or $74 per year on the rate school boards for students average assessment of $60,000), attending the public schools, has due solely to changes implemented cost the HCBE $350,000, says Car- at the provincial level, says Paul roll. Carroll, director of education. The total has now reached the 10 Though the issue is a difficult per cent level. one to understand, Carroll and Along with these factors, the fed- Superintendent of Business Janet eral government has cut funding to Baird-Jackson attempted to go such programs as core French and through the changes already dictat- mandated increased employer con- ed by the province and inform the tributions to CPP and UIC. ratepayers of the situation faced by The impact of all the changes has the board. resulted in $2,250,000 of education "We are dealing with a financial costs being shifted to the property legacy which began with Premier tax bill, says Carroll. Bill Davis and has not been These are all components of changed with the succeeding par- downloading magic, he says, and ties. The ,overnment determines there may be more to come in the the level of spending and sets the spring provincial budget, after the share which will be paid by the board's 1995 budget is set. local taxes," say Carroll. Baird-Jackson outlined some of At one time, the province paid 60 the background on the board's bud- per cent of the education expenses get, stating obligations to the Social with 40 per cent being the local Contract are being completed, share. Today that split has more expenditures have been reduced than reversed, putting the local por- with "permanent" staff adjustments tion at 67 to 69 per cent, he says. and the impact on the grant ceiling This adjustment in the Ontario is being noted as new programs mill rate will result in an increase unfold. of more than three per cent. "Though the implementation of The second factor in the increase junior kindergarten has cost the is the government's contention that board approximately $1 million, Huron County properties held their the increased grant revenue from value better through the recession, offering the program more than says Carroll. covers the cost," she says. Compared to Metro Toronto and The board's spending patterns other urban centres which saw a have not increased for the 1995 marked decline in house values, budget. Huron County remained more sta- Carroll pointed out that even ble, thus leading the government to though $4 million was cut from the increase property tax assessment budget in 1994, taxes still increased values by 20.7 per cent, for educa- 5.6 per cent due to government tion purposes only, to be phased in policies. over four years. "There have been more changes The impact of the assessment proposed for the education system, will add another two to 3.5 per cent in the last three or four weeks than to the mill rate over that time there have in the last 30 years" he frame. This year, taking the highest says. rate of 3.5 per cent, the tax increase The changes are more dramatic is now a total of 6.5 per cent. than those in the 1960s when local In the area of board/program spe- boards were centralized. This could cific grants, total cuts to the ele- be the end of boards as we know Some trustees oppose deferrals only three labs in operation," he In a recorded vote, with a result says. "Some scheduling changes of nine for and seven against, the may have to be made or room board passed the budget which assignments altered, but I believe it included all the eliminations, cuts will work." and deferrals suggested by the Several trustees spoke against the administration. deferrals, saying it is only putting off an inevitable expense which will have to be paid eventually. Godcrich, says, "These deferrals may soften the blow now, but the work will have to be done next year and the costs of construction will not go down. I think the safety fac- tor must be considered." which will affect the student and I think deferring the lab improve- ments at Madill will affect both the Norm Pickell, trustee for "We don't want to make cuts field, East and West Wawanosh; Twps.; Bob Heywood, Stephen Baumgarten; Vicki Culbert, Ash- Doug Gamiss, Morris, Turnberry Twp.; Don McDonald, Brussels Goderich; Pauline Siemon, Sea- and Grey Twp.; Rick Rompf, forth and McKillop Twp.; Allan Carter, Hensall and Tuckersmith Twp. and Roxanne Brown, Clinton. the budget. Voting for the budget were: All other trustees voted against Some trustees preferred a budget curriculum and the programs which would have seen the offered," says Della Baumgarten, improvements to Madill labs left in trustee for Howick. the 1995 estimates, however that Other trustees against the deferral motion was lost in an eight to eight of lab improvements were Abby vote. Armstrong, Bayfield and Stanley Gamiss supported the decision Twp.; Liliane Nolan, Wingham; by saying, "We must reduce the Joan Van den Broeck, Goderich and Colborne Twps. and Pauline budget as much as possible because, though the average assess- Van Derley, Exeter, all expressing ment increase may be only $56.10, concerns for the safety of the stu- the jump will be much higher for dents and the possible effect on the farmers and business owners." program. Provincial tax average $1,029 ment of $60,000, taxes are $544 while Grey takes $748, Bruce asks $684 and Perth draws $612. The provincial average is $1,029. Percentages are not always a good judge of tax level as a $55 increase in Huron County would be approximately 10 per cent, but that same $55 in Grey would be only 7.4 per cent, says Baird-Jackson, so dollar amounts should be consid- ered. Baird-Jackson suggested some areas where further cuts could be made, but several trustees in atten- dance pointed out that cuts could affect the quality of education offered to the students. Areas for consideration were supplies and services, programmed maintenance, capital projects, administrative staff and tinkering with reserves. Deferred renovations might reduce the tax hike to $61 from $74, self-financed capital projects could take it down to $55 and deep- er repair cuts might lower the cost to $50 per year, says Baird-Jack- son. Some public comments included the suggestion that teachers have gone "hog-wild" with their wages. With 80 per cent of the board's budget going to wages, there is lit- tle room left to reduce spending. The entire process is mystifying, said one observer. Board Chair Roxanne Brown said the board has been lobbying the government for some time to change the financial method which does not work any more, but there has been no action. Brian McBumey, reeve of Turn- berry Twp., expressed concern that an increase of 10 per cent in prop- erty taxes would cut the incentive for businesses to locate in Huron County and would affect job cre- ation. "Why can other boards and the municipalities keep the increas- es to one or two per cent?" he ques- tioned. of Education Paul Carroll. Small savings, less than $50,000, will be seen by deferring adminis- tration renovations and library car- pet replacement at F.E. Madill Secondary School; downsizing of the parking lot at Goderich District Collegiate Institute (GDCI), possi- ble because of the implementation of graduated licenses; the use of reserves for both the upgrades at Vanastra Public School and as the local share of facility improve- ments to the ventilation system at GDCI; deferring additional plant and Special Education mainte- nance; deletion of Secondary Pay Equity contingency and contribu- tion from surpluses in other pro- grams. An additional $158,000 will be extracted from the salaries. The largest and most controver- sial cut was the deferral of improvements to the science labs at F.E. Madill. Carroll says three of the six labs at the school have been refurbished while the others have had the gas shut off, for safety reasons. "It is my belief that the science programs can run effectively with 1—JOHN McKERCHER _CONSTRUCTION LTD. • backhoeing • bulldozing • loading & hauling of sand, gravel and topsoil R.R. #2 Bluevale 887-9061 if busy 887-9999