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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-04-13, Page 1'9--- 4v- ron f -,,. ♦ FJ• ar 65 cents plus 5 cents G.S.T. (70 cents) COMMUNITY' For the first time the Seaforth branch of the Canadian Cancer Society is holding a one-night 'blitz'. see page three. • 4 4 4 Briefly Meeting for railway land A meeting to be held in, Walton will discuss possible uses for an abandoned railway right- of-way from Goderich to Guelph. The meeting of the Public Advisory Committee (PAC) will be held Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Walton Women's Institute Hall. This meeting will follow one at Auburn Community Centre on Monday, April 18 from 7 - 9:30 p.m. After a century of ferrying goods and passengers among the many communities along its 123' km railway between Goderich and Guelph the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) has abandoned the line and has removed the rails, ties and other facilities and structures. The last train trundled along the line late in 1988. Beer for ball tournament McKillop Council granted per- mission to the Winthrop Com- munity Centre for a license to sell beer and liquor at a baseball tournament to be held May 20, 21 and 22 at the Winthrop ball park. McKillop Council received two tenders for calcium chloride. They accepted the quote from Pollard Highway Products of $155.10 per flake equivalent per imperial ton. The other tender received was for $164.78 per imperial ton. * * * The General Account Voucher for McKillop for the month of April totals $113,866.55. Councillor urges more lights for Harpurhey road There should be more street lights on the road into Harpurhey, said Larry McGrath, Tuckersmith Township Council- lor at the April 5 meeting. "It's not a good situation out there and it's not going to get any better (without lights)," said McGrath. He worried the road into Harpurhey was becoming a drag strip. A petition representing two thirds of Harpurhey ratepayers is required under the Municipal Act before action is taken, said Jack McLachlan, Clerk -Treasurer of Tuckersm ith. Currently there arc two lights in Harpurhey paid for by those in the immediate vicinity. There are also lighting systems funded locally in Egmondvillc and Vanastra. Horses loose Seaforth Police received a call at 7:40 p.m. on Apri! 9 that four horses were loose in the north- east section of Seaforth. Seaforth Police, together with citizens, corralled the horses and returned them to their paddock. There were no injuries to the horses or vehicles. INDEX Sports...pages 10,11. Obituaries...page 18. Entertainment ...pages 16, 17. "Your community news- paper since 1860...serving Seaforth, Dublin, lienal!, Walton, Brussels and surrounding communities." MILTON J. DIETZ LIMITED SEAFORTH 522-0608 • Pesticides & Custom Spraying • Spraying Equipment & Parts • Nutrite Premium Fertilizer • Ventilation & Livestock Equipment •l r�■ PURINA FEEDS & PET FOODS HURON EXPOSITOR, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1994. SPORTS The Seaforth Midgets douse the Aylmer Flames with a win at home, taking the Ontario championship. see pages 8-10. Your Full Line Dealer FORD MERCURY Sales - Service - Selection HMT FORD MERCURY USED CARS 's ria rr 4**T ra AFORru wx+wHA1 'The Friendly Dealer With The Big Heart Aylmer Flames go up in smoke! Seaforth Midgets win all -Ontario FIRE-FIGHTERS - The Seaforth Midgets put out Aylrner's Flames in a hot match -up at the Seaforth arena on Tuesday night. After a dramatic 6-3 win in front of an excited hometown crowd, the team climbed aboard the old Seaforth parade around town. Midget coach Roy running board. Dozens of vehicles joined firetruck for a victory Gingerich rode on the in the procession. Township drops mobility bus support BY TIM CUMMING Expositor Editor Tuckersmith Township no longer supports a mobility bus service for physically -challenged residents. The decision was made at the April 5 meeting of Tuckersmith Township Council despite a request from Deputy -Reeve Robert Broadfoot to defer the motion. Reeve Bill Carnochan said the CHuMS (Central Huron Mobility Service) committee was driven more by the province than the local community. "I haven't seen a ratepayer that's asked for it," he said. "Based on the information we have now we can not be supportive of this program." Camochan asked for the motion so the CHuMS organization would know how the township felt and "before the snowball gets any bigger." The Reeve said there were a lot of questions which needed answer- ing such as financing and numbers of users. "I don't know how many people have requested it, that num- ber has never come up." Camochan also said there were no official commitments from service clubs to help finance the service. DAVID SOC/TT PHOTO CHUMS DISPLAY - Mike Regier, far left, and Glen McLachlan, right, handed out information on CHuMS (Central Huron Mobility Service) at the Seaforth Home and Garden Show, April 6 & 7. A mobility bus was on display for people to tour through. The Reeve has said on numerous occasions he didn't want to see any municipal funds go towards the service. The CHUMS group is currently sending out application forms to determine the number of possible users for the system. Deputy -Reeve Rroadfoot said council should see tL results of the survey before dropping its support for the transit service. "1 would be happier if we would wait a month to see the numbers coming in," said Broadfoot. "If it's a small number I'd be glad to make the motion (to drop support)." In arguing against further support at this time Carnochan cited declin- ing provincial funds for programs of this kind. The program could end up "on the municipality's plate" in the future, he said. The proposed transit service would serve Scaforth, Clinton, Tuckersmith, McKillop and Hulleu. Seaforth agreed in November of 1993 to host the service while Clinton supported the proposed service in principle. Tuckersmith joins McKillop town- ship in not supporting the program. Hullett Township on August 3 said it had no objections to the program but would not commit any funds. "Basically two municipalities are supporting it," Carnochan said to council on April 5. He questioned whether a mobility bus was required in a rural area. He said the service might be required "in a large municipality where a person doesn't know his neigh- bour." No 1994 increase for Huron County taxpayers BY DON JACKSON Huron County taxpayers should expect no increase in their 1994 property tax from the county over Last year's taxes. Huron County Council held their budget to a zero per cent increase for 1994 at their March 31 meeting, in response to a resolution passed October 7. In this resolution it states that "the tax payers of Huron County have reached a level of taxation where increases are not ap- propriate...Therefore be it resolved that the administrator initiate immediately a review of the needs of departmental operations for 1994, looking at planned economizing taking into con- sideration the need to hold proper- ty taxes at zero growth." County Warden Allan Gibson said, "There was a lot of time spent on it. They (committees) have been working on it since September. They all did come back with zero (increase) without any layoffs, as yet." Council managed to cut $554,196 from their 1993 budget of S28,062,849, making this year's budget 527,508,653. Cited in the budget are the loss of provincial unconditional grants in 1993 and 1994, as a result of the Social Contract Act and the Expenditure Control Program. These two provincial cuts cost the board $225,020 in 1993 and $256,353 in 1994, making further expenditure reductions that much more dif- ficult. The budget bylaw sets the residential mill rate at 2.9309 mills. This would mean a tax of S175.85 on a $60,000 residential property. The commercial mill rate is 3.4481 mills, meaning a tax bill of $206.89 on a $60,000 com- mercial property. The estimated amounts to be raised in each municipality for county taxation arc: Clinton - see County, page 15 HISTORY Colonel Anthony Van Egmond moved around through North America. Read part two of his story. see page two. grow. vstr.A.Wmparts Two percent cut in town mill rate Owl BY DAVID SCOTT Expositor Staff Seaforth residents may be paying property taxes ,this year at a 1992 rate. The Town of Seaforth 1994 budget was to be presented to Seaforth Council Tuesday night. If passed there will be a two percent decrease in the mill rate. (The out- come of the budget was not avail- able at press time). "Last year the mill rate was up two percent. The year before was a zero increase. So we're back to the same mill rate as '92," said James Crocker, Town Administrator. When asked when the last time was that the County of Huron, the Board of Education and the Town of Seaforth all expected zero increases in budgets in the same year, Administrator James Crocker replied, "Not in my time." Department heads were directed by Seaforth council to bring in a budget with a zero increase for 1994. "They met that challenge," said Crocker. Another reason for the two per- cent decrease was the elimination of garbage costs for the town since the Mid -Huron Landfill Site switched to a user -pay system with tipping fees for carriers. "We left in some funding (in the budget) just in case tipping fees don't pay for the operation of the landfill," said Crocker. The province's decision not to decrease transfer payments to municipalities also helped bring in the zero budget. Costs have risen in certain areas but things have balanced out. "Some things have gone up, like employee group insurance. But we made up for it by tightening the belt on other small -line items in five or six other areas. And we've made use of reserve funds for capi- tal expenditures and improvements," said Crocker. Seaforth residents speak against. GST by Pat Livingston Constituents in the Huron -Bruce federal riding were not beating a path to the public forum on the Goods and Services Tax (GST), in Lucknow last week. It could have been the short notice to constitu- ents, or the belief that what they have to say doesn't matter anyway, that produced the small numbers. Hosted by Paul Steckle, MP, the day was promoted as an opportunity for organizations, businesses and individuals to air their views on the replacement for the GST. The Standing Committee of Finance is currently reviewing several alterna- tives. According to Steckle, around six presentations were received from organizations and businesses. When it came to the afternoon public debate session, only three people attended. John and Catherine Rosenlund, of Seaforth, a retired couple said "We are not gcuing rich on old age assistance." He told Steckle that recently when he went to purchase a new car, he changed his mind because of the huge amount of taxes he would have to pay. They are against tax on food, referring to it as tax on a "sacred cow". Mr. Rosenlund suggested that GST be based on income and stressed he wants to be sure OST revenues are being applied towards the debt, not into the general account. They expressed strong opinions on the need for the government to cut back on spending. "You guys got to get your act together; if you don't, the voters are going to do it for you," said Mrs. Rosenlund.