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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-04-01, Page 1County budget at Huron County Council last week voted approval of a 1981 budget calling for spen- ding of 110.7 million. This is up by 7.5 per cent over the 1980 budget, though it is some $38,000 under ac- tual spending 1st year, when the county over shot its budget by more than a million dollars. Road con- struction and the new Auburn garage accounted for the overspending. As a result, the county por- tion of the budget to be collected from Huron municipalities has shot up by more than 21 per cent this year. 'The 1981 county appor- tionment is $2,748,100, up from $2,264,500 in 1980. Bill Hanley, county clerk - treasurer and ad- ministrator, explained the large increase in apportion- ment can be traced directly to the overspending. Whereas the county started last year with a 1253,538 surplus, It finished with a deficit of $504,150. In addition 1305,000 from highway reserves was used to reduce the apportionment last year, and so is not available in 1981. The remainder of revenue in the budget will come from Ontario grants of 16.4 million, fees and service charges of $1.7 million, other revenue ..of . ;2531069 and municipal grants and fees of 190,300. Mr. Hanley pointed our to council that over the past seven years the province has been picking up large an ever -larger share of the county budget. In 1975 provincial grants accounted for $3.3 million of a $6.7 million budget, while this year they represent $6.4 million of a $10.7 million dollar budget. the committee, which had been instructed to review its proposed budget with an eye to trimming some $200,000, brought back a revised budget to council. Lloyd Mousseau, com- mittee chairman, reported that by deleting the paving of County Road 11, cutting back resurfacing of County Road 20 to two inches of asphalt from three Inches and various other economies, the committee had managed to trim $177,- 000 from its budget. "This is about as far as we can go with our budget this year," he told council, noting that the increase in the county tax rate for roads is now 13.38 per cent. While there was little con- troversy over the county budget, which had been thoroughly hashed out dur- ing previous meetings, this was not the case with a proposal that the county switch to assessment as the basis for determining the percentage of costs each municipality is required to contribute, Instead of using a blend of population and assessment. In the end the change pass- ed easily, but not before there were some arguments by several reeves who felt the change would unfairly in- crease the burden to their municipalities. Bayfield Reeve George Fellows led the attack, noting that under the new formula his village would see its levy increase by near- ly 40 percent. He claimed the village was being penalized because • • $10.7 million it has a large number of summer residents, adding that the biggest part of the county levy is devoted to roads, while there isn't a single county road in Bayfield. Mr. Mousseau also pointed out that by switching to assessment as the basis for calculating the levy, in- stead of using population, cottagers who own seasonal residences in the county as well as permanent homes are being asked to pay twice for county services. "Do you feel these people are being treated -fairly un- der this assessment? " he asked. Mr. Hanley and Bill Alcock. the deputy clerk - treasurer. told council the intent of the change is to make sure everyone pays his fair share. When population figures were used, seasonal residents were not counted as part of the population since they are not included in the Ministry of Revenue census. Mr. Alcock pointed out. As a result, municipalities with a large number of cottagers were getting a break in paying for county services. At the same time, the municipalities themselves use assessment as the sole basis for levying their own taxes, so the cottagers were being charged for county services. It just meant that everyone in those municipalities was paying a smaller share that ratepayers in municipalities with fewer seasonal residents. Mr. Hanley noted that even with the 39.5 percent in- crease in its county levy, Bayfield still ahs what amounts ttthelowest county mill rate of any town or villagg in Huron. while Wingham's is the highest. "In previous years Bayfield was not paying enough. That's what the figures show." He agreed with a sugges- tion from Goderich Deputy Reeve Hobert Allen that sometime in the future there should be amove to county wide equalized assessment. -1 think market value is the only was to go," he said. "Sometime we have to have equalized assessment across the county. so no matter where you live in the county you pay the same." "Of course," Mr. Allen had pointed out. "that would increase Bayfield's assess- ment by quite a bit." Currently. even when ad- justed by the provincial Please turn to page 2 Ames Serving South Huron, North Middlesex avx One Hundred and Eighth Year • & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, APRIL 1, 1981 Felled by falling tree NOT LONG TILL SUMMER NOW — Colleen Sharon and Halina Crawford were two of the many models of Wednesday night's fashion show in Grand Bend. More photos and story on page 17. Staff photo Constable avoids collision with car Exeter police constable Dan Kierstead narrowly es- caped injury on Saturday when he was forced to jump out of the path of a vehicle while he was making an in- vestigation. Kierstead was checking a motor vehicle for liquor and had to jump onto the trunk of his cruiser to escape being hit by another northbound vehicle. The driver of the latter was subsequently arrested and will appear in court at a later date to face a charge of impaired driving. The incident occurred on Main St. near the Gidley St. intersection. Only one collision was in- vestigated by the depart- ment this week. it occurring No injuries in collisions Three area residents es- caped injury when their vehicle ended up in a small creek north of Exeter on Fri- day. It was one of three ac- cidents investigated by the Exeter OPP this week. The vehicle was driven by Leonard MacLellan, Huron Park. and it ended up in the creek after leaving Highway 4. Damage. most of it due to submersion in the water, was estimated at 12,000 by Constable Wally Tomasik. In another Friday collision, a vehicle driven by William J. Rowcliffe, RR 1 Hensall. went out of control on Highway 4 north of Ex- eter and struck a culvert. Damage in that one was listed at $400 by Constable Tomasik. The• other crash of the week was on Mondayand oc- curred near the general store in Kippen. A car driven by Jennifer Purkis, RR 2 Hensall, collided with a parked vehicle owned by Donald Parsons, also of RR 2 Hensall. Constable Don Millson in- vestigated and estimated total damage at $1,300. on Sunday on Sanders St. near' Main. Drivers involved were Robert Blair, RR 1 Centralia, and Steven Pfaff, Forest. Damage was listed at $300 by Constable Kierstead. Over the Weekend, the of- ficers made two separate seizures of drugs. One youth was approached with a small amount of marijuana and another had a quantity of LSD. They will appear in Ex- eter court at a later date. One icident of vandalism was reported. Fred Desjar- dine. custodian at Exeter Public School, reported that someone had thrown an empty beer bottle through two window panes. Constable George Robertson is investigating. On Saturday, Constable Jim Barnes arrested Steven Arthur Burley, Hensall, who was wanted on a warrent for theft by the Sebringville OPP. Elizabeth Hendrick ex- pects to be back behind the steering wheel of her school bus ina couple of weeks, despite the fact that she is recovering from a con- cussion and a back injury. The 39 year old Dashwood area woman was struck by a falling tree when she and her husband, Harold, were cutting wood on their farm along highway 21 Tuesday. She was taken to South Huron Hospital in Exeter, and later transferred to University Hospital in London. She was admitted to the neurological unit. By Saturday she was feeling better and released from Hospital. When con- tacted by the T -A Monday, Mrs. Hendrick said she was feeling much better, but she was still lacking energy. "I seem to have the zip to go, but I just can't get into ac- tion," she said. Mrs. Hendrick, who drives a Charterways bus for students of South Huron District High School in Exeter, says she really misses her work, and can't wait to get back at it. She says she can't remember anything about the accident. The last thing she remembers is eating a sandwich, while continuing to pick up brush. The men told her to sit down while she was eating lunch, she said. Soon after that, the tree, which was 20 centimetres in diameter, fell off course and struck her. She was un- conscious. She says that because the bush was not accessible by car, they had taken a tractor. Her son Allan, 16, and Doug Weigand went for help after the accident. Hoffman's Ambulance responded to the call, but the ambulance had to be left at the road, while the crew and their equipment had to be transported by pick-up truck. Mrs. Hendrick says that if she continues to recover as quickly as she has in the past few days, "there won't bd' any grass growing under my feet." SPRING CLEANUP — Saturday's ideal spring weather brought out yard cleaning equip- ment of many area homes. Shown in raking action ore Lisa and Julie Hendrick at their home on Highway 4 south in Exeter T -A photo Cancer canvass starts with 10,000 daffodils The 1981 cancer canvass starts this week for the Ex- eter area, and while the "Marathon of Hope" run by Terry Fox has brought the topic to the forefront in the country. local officials hope that the generous response to his run won't endanger the local canvass. This year's objective for the Exeter branch is $14,000, up from last year's figure of 812.500. which was exceeded. "Why do you need more. isn't Terry's money enough?" is one of the questions that has been pos- ed to Cancer Society of- ficials. The! answer is that Terry wanted the money he raised to be over and above normal campaign funds. "Terry's sacrifice would be lost if you substitute his efforts for your regular con- tribution." local campaign chairman Carf ('ann ex- plains. As requested by Terry, the DAPPODILS POR CAt4CI R — Members of the three Sororities in Exeter will be selling daf- fodils Friday morning. Shown above are the three presidents Janice Brock, Pat Fletcher and Verla Russell with a sample of the flowers. T -A photo Marathon of Hope fund will be kept separate from all other funds and go directly into a fund administered by .the research arm of the Society. Ongoing programs in research, as well as patient services and public education. receive none of this money Officials note that Canadians must act on the momentum which Terry created to strengthen dramatically the financial basis for cancer research in Canada. Huron's total objective for the April cancer canvass is $63-000 It has been noted that if the 1981 campaign falls short of its goal. the net financial result of the Marathon of Hope will diminish Of the funds raised in the campaign. til percent will go directly to research, 14 per- cent for public education which has many worthwhile programs for youth. adults and employees in industry. 16 percent will provide support to patient services programs that.are so important to existing cancer patients. The remaining nine percent is split between fund raising and administration. Kicking off the local cam- paign again this year is the Beta Signa Phi Sorority sale of daffodils. The sale is planned for Friday. The members will be out on the streets of Exeter and canvassing local businesses and industry in their sale of the daffodils. which are the cancer symbol. A hunch of 10 will still only cost $2 this year Residents are reminded that the daffodils are usually sold out early in the day and if they want to get some fresh flowers and help the cancer canvass they should plan to get them early. .A total. of 44.000 daffodils will arrive by Air Canada from British Columbia today for distribution to the branches in Huron County. Of those. 10.000 will be kept in Exeter They'll be stored in the refrigerated warehouse at the 13rewers' Please turn to page 3 Sewer At a spectalemeeting, Mon- day. Exeter council agreed to make application to the ministry of the environment for a $1 108.000 expansion of the local sewage works. In a 66 -page reort'. engineer Steve Burns of B. M Ross and Associates Limited. suggested there was no practical alternative to the expansion project, which will involve deepening two of the four lagoons from the present depth of 1.5 metres to 3.5 and adding aeration equipment to those two lagoons. The "do nothing" ap- proach would curtail growth in Exeter as the present sewage flows are already ex- ceeding the design capacity of the treatment facility and the ministry of the environ- , Price per copy 40 Cents Cost of heat conversion to be over $1 million The Minstry of Govern- ment Services has called for tenders for the installation of 15 heating plants in Huron Industrial Park buildings. The project is expected to cost over one million dollars. David Goodyear, informa- tion officer for the Ontario Development Corporation (ODC). said the current cen- tral steam heating system suffers a high heat loss, up to 30 percent. Of the planned individual gas-fired heating plants. only two will use live steam. Goodyear said only two com- panies need live steam in their processes. These are AquaChem TankarServices, and the Dunline division of Dunlop Industrial. The other heating plants will be hot water units. Goodyear said the existing steam plant was worthwhile when other companies were using steam in their porcesses. but he noted the original plant was designed to heat an airforce base. He said the cost of replac- ing pipe. and reinsulating was phenomenal. Jack Malone . ODC ad- minstrator at Huron Park agreed the present heating system is uneconomic. Malone would not com- ment on the manpower re- quirements of the proposed system. or the details of the installation. "You know more about it than 1 do." he said. He told the T -A he had not seen the press release on the tender call. Goodyear said a staff of about three will be required • to operate the new plants. The current staff of eight will be cut down by attrition he said. with several employees retiring. Two will be relocated. Funding for the project will be handled by the ODC, an agency of the Ministry of Industry and tourism, but Goodyear said any govern- ment purchases over one million dollars is handled by the Ministry of Government Services. Malonesaid he did not know when construction would begin. but the press release says the work is to be completed by October. Agrologists stage event at Centralia Centralia College of Agriculture was the scene over the weekend of the an- nual convention of the On- tario Institute of Agrologists. Festivities began •with registration and a wine and cheese reception at Huron Hall on campus. Ailsa Craig area cow -calf farm operator Ken McGregor was the general chairman of the convention. He was assisted by Dick Heard of OMAF and Dennis McKnight of the Centralia College staff, Former CFPL radio farm editor Roy Jewell was in charge of publicity and look- ed after the media needs. Louisa Ho. a plant breeder with Stewart Seeds of Ailsa Craig 'was chairman of the Spice program involving the ladies attending with their husbands. The ladies visited the Lon- don Art Gallery and Eldon House Friday afternoon and Saturday enjoyed a shopping ly trip to Exeter and tea at the home of Doug and Beth Jamieson. Joanne Dinney of Exeter's BIA committee was the guide for the Saturday mor- ning bus trip to town. The Friday morning theme speaker was Professor Max Brunk of Cornell University speaking on "emerging marketing concepts He was followed by former Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Peter Hannam on the topic •Challenges facing Marketing Boards in On- tario " Saturday speakers includ- ed MP Ralph Ferguson, David Hughes. Henry Pauls. Madan Mallick and Byron Beeler of Stewart Seeds and Ceiba - Geigy Dr. C M. Switzer. Dean of OAC in Guelph is the outgo- ing president. Ile is being succeeded by Larry Lenhardt of Sir Sanford Fleming, College in Lindsay. FARM TALK - Former Huron County Ag Rep Gordon Bdnnett was in attendance of the weekend conference of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists held at Centralia Cotteae Shown above are former CFPL radio form editor Roy Jewell. Gordon Bennett and CCA' principal Doug Jamieson. T. A -kc'. iob cost ment and the ministry of housing have placed restric- tions on new subdivision development Two sub- divisions have been turned down for insufficient sewage treatment capacity. "Exeter is a viable. grow- ing community with an ex- panding industrial base," and the report suggests that "a growth restriction is assumed to be socially un- desirable". The alternatives of con- structing a new mechanical treatment facility or piping sewage to Lake Huron were both outlined as being too ex- pensive. A new plant would cost between $214 and $31/2 million an the cost of taking the sewage to Lake Huron was outlined at between 13.5 to $4 million. Reducing sewage flows as an alternative was listed as being impossible as was a further alternative of spray- ing the effluent on land. In regard to the latter. the engineer said that this area does not require irrigation to any extent and in a wet year. the lagoons would be full and there would be no customers for the effluent. For the town to buy land for such a purpose would cost in the neighborhood of $I' z million and Burns described that as a "waste of valuable farm land'. When completed. the 81.- 108.000 expansion would provide for a population growth rate of one percent per year. or a population of 4.700 by the year 2005 ('ost of deepening the two 1 .1 million lagoons was estimated at $284.300 and the aeration equipment was set at $492.- 800 Another $42.500 would he required for modifiac- tuons to the pumping station and a diesel driven generator and a further $59.- 700,was estimated for phosphorus removal and effluent discharge control Engineering and contingen- cies were listed at 8175.900. Burns reported that the project could be eligible for grants of up to 75 percent from the provincial govern- ment and council members noted that if they received that maximum. the total cost of local ratepayers would be between 8250.000 and 8300.000 A reserve fund has already been established for the project and now contains $145.00o • B M Ross. who .attended the meeting ,t: weii said he telt the proie, t %could be given a high (y t,,rtty by the munrstr% alth.nri2h 1982 would be the e.irlitrt ,late for which :,i't'n,v,rt %;Fuld be .gr%rn ,,s the ,;rant allotmen�s n,%r .i ready beer made t.'r the current year In an,%set t,' .1 question troth Coo netllor .lav ('ampbell. Ku;';s • 51,1 that an emit „mt•er1.,i he.tnng would hat c to l' held hut it would not he .ut environmen- lal assessment hearing such as the one being requested for the proposed industrial haste site 10 South Cayuga, The engineer s.ud the Please torr to page ;(