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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-09-10, Page 1Photo feature Sports Government Entertainment \ 2 pages of pictures highlight Thresher Reunion See page 6,7 Tigers’s Uhrig pitches no-hitter against Exeter See page 12 County hears that farm tax rebate will cost See page 18 Nothing but laughs from Walt Wingfield See page 27 Councillors still lack info on downloading C itizenThe North Huron With four months to go before they become responsible for many provincial programs, Huron County councillors still lack concrete infor­ mation on the cost and what offset­ ting short-term funding they may get from the province. Ken Nix, county treasurer, told county councillors Thursday that it appears the net result of download­ ing will be a 27 per cent tax increase across the county but provincial officials have warned that even the figures they have released to municipalities are sub­ ject to change. Ln* addition the cost of some programs to be download­ ed is still not available. The biggest unknown, however, is the distribution of the $500 mil­ lion pot of funds the province is holding to help municipalities through the transition. So far there has been no information on how this money will be allocated to municipalities. This money is part of the claim by Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach that the down­ loading will be revenue neutral. Leach’s claim also assumes munic­ ipalities can make savings of 2.3 per cent in each of the next three years through greater efficiencies. Since most municip-alities have held their budgets at a zero increase for the last five years, greater effi­ ciencies may be difficult to find, Nix said. But the biggest missing ingredi­ ent in the claim that the download­ ing will be revenue neutral is the loss of provincial municipal sup­ port grants. This amounts to a $10 million loss of revenues for the county and municipal governments, Nix estimated, yet the government has not included it in its calcula­ tions. The county also expects to pick up an extra $1 million in costs for the downloading of all provin­ cial highways except Hwys. 8, 21 and 4 south of Clinton. Another unknown, Nix told council, is the setting of a province­ wide mill rate for education. As it stands, Nix said, he has estimated the net impact at $4.4 million but that could increase. The impact of the changes is not spread evenly across the county. Taxpayers in Exeter and Goderich, according to Nix’s estimates, would be hit with only a nine per cent increase, even if their munici­ palities didn’t get any of the provincial funding. Rural munici­ palities, on the other hand, would be hit devastatingly hard: ranging from an 81 per cent tax increase in Grey down to 23 per cent for Stephen and 27 per cent each for Colbome and Hay (those munici­ palities with large numbers of cot­ tages or rural residences). Two factors explain the huge increase in the townships: loss of the farm tax rebate and the added cost of policing. Northern Huron municipalities without their own police forces will pay $172 per household for OPP service begin­ ning Jan. 1. Continued on page 14 Vol. 13 No. 35 Wednesday, Sept. 10, 1997 7«.5cgst75£; Fiery debate at Brussels By Janice Becker Citizen staff It was definitely a "fire" area meeting as temperatures rose and a heated debate ensued, the evening of Sept. 2 at BMG Community Centre. Brussels residents confronted Morris council and the Wingham and Blyth fire chiefs regarding the first response area for the Brussels Fire Department, the protocol for the system and the dispatch through which the calls would go. Misunderstandings, confusion and personal animosities appeared to fuel the fire as numerous resi­ dents expressed concern over which department would cover their calls. Much of the concern seemed to come from residents on the north side of County Road 16 in Morris Twp. They were under the impres­ sion only the Wingham Fire Department would respond even Continued on page 8 Enthralled The Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion held this past weekend was another rousing success with sunny skies prevailing for the majority of the three-day event. In addition to the nostalgia served up for old-timers, the Reunion also has much to captivate the attention of yougnsters such as these, who were caught up in the border collie demonstrations. 13,000 attend Thresher Reunion Bailey will run for reeve Blyth Reeve Mason Bailey declared his intentions to seek re­ election for the office of reeve, at the Sept. 2 council meeting. A municipal election will be held Nov. 10 to select councillors and reeves across the province. A bylaw was passed during the session, to allow advance voting for the upcoming election. Tne voters’ list is now available in the municipal office. All applica­ tions for additions, changes or inclusions must be made prior to Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. Nomination day is Oct. 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All nominations must be received prior to this date. The all-candidates meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., at Memorial Hall. With the co-operation of a beau­ tiful fall weekend, the Huron Pio­ neer Thresher Reunion and Hobby Show will go into the books as a success. Approximately 13,000 people passed through the gales for the three-day event, including campers, exhibitors, service groups workers and spectators, says Marian Halla- han, reunion secretary. The numbers were good in many areas, as the event drew 820 campers, 57 craft exhibitors (in the arena), 18 steam engines, 20 out­ side concession stands, 29 small engine collectors and 11 flea mar­ ket entrepreneurs. Food was definitely an important part of the weekend as the Blyth Fire Department served 1,452 hun­ gry customers, Saturday and Sun­ day morning. The firefighters went through 280 pounds of sausages, 340 pounds of bacon, 75 gallons of orange juice and 80 litres of syrup, says Deputy Fire Chief Bill Burkholder. Though they ran out of supplies twice on Sunday, a quick call to Don Scrimgeour got them back in business. The evening corn roast for campers at the park was also popu­ lar with 180 dozen cobs of com eaten. Visitors travelled from as far away as Michigan, Alberta, New Brunswick, West Virginia, Mis­ souri and England to take part in the 36th anniversary event.