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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-03-13, Page 3Hours of discussion gets increase to 5.9 percent County euts After cutting money from both museum and hospital reserves and doing some financial juggling with the historical atlas. Huron County Coun- cil reduced its 1985 budget increase from 11.7 per cent to 5.9 per cent. It took hours of discussion at coun- ty council's March 7 meeting before Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston came up with a plan to reduce county expenses. The reeve suggested that council eliminate a $100,000 reserve in the '85 budget earmarked for county hospital reserve fund, reduce from $300,000 to $250,000 the money being put aside for the Huron County Pioneer Museum and $75,000 that was to come from the taxpayers directly for the historical atlas will now come from reserve money already on hand. ( The money will be returned to reserves from atlas sales.) County council agreed with the Bayfield reeve by a 20 to 6 recorded vote. A further suggestion from the Bayfield reeve which called for eliminating $23,000 for the Goderich airport was withdrawn after Goderich Deputy Reeve Jim Doherty cried foul. Museum Continued from front page "It's time to get our heads out of the sand," he said. Colbourne Township Reeve Russel Kernighan said it's a tough decision because of the finan- cial hardships being felt in the rural communities, but he would support the museum. If the council elected this fall ap- proves putting in more money, a total of $1.15 million will have been raised in four years. This represents only the anticipated county share of a museum. It is hoped grants will be available. Those voting in favor of giving the grant are as follows: West Wawanosh Reeve J.R. Aitchison. Grey Reeve Leona Armstrong, Clinton Reeve Ernest Brown, Seaforth Reeve Bill Campbell, Hullett Reeve Tom Cunn- ingham, Goderich Deputy Reeve Doherty, McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell, Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston. Colbourne Reeve Russel Kernighan, Hensall Reeve Harry Klungel. Brussels Reeve Cal Krauter, Ifowick Reeve Jack Stafford, Stanley Reeve Paul Steckle, East Wawanosh Reeve Neil Vincent and Goderich Reeve Barry Worsell with two votes. w r• •s le Reeve J.F. Austin, Hay Deputy Reeve Tony Bedard, Tuckersmith Reeve Bob, Bell, Morris Reeve Bill Elston, Exeter Deputy Reeve Lossy Fuller, Zurich Reeve Isadore LaPorte, Turn - berry Reeve Brian McBurney, Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle, Osborne Reeve Gerry Prout, Stephen Reeve Alan Walper, Stephen Deputy Reeve Ralph Weber and !lay Reeve Lionel Wilder. Absent for the vote were Blyth Reeve Tom Cronin, Wingham Reeve Joe Kerr and Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling. gaxmagritat Save On Your 12 Wedding Cake Top ---Clip & Save-- Bring this coupon 1 and save 1 15% on the choice of your wedding cake top 0 Offer expires 1, March 30/85 1414 -Clip & Save --1 114 Mon.- Sot. 9.5:30 ant Closed Sunday ergason. Apiaries Hwy. 84 between Hensall & Zurich • 236-4979 • Council gave tentative approval to department budgets at its morning session, but in the afternoon, after in- itially approving $300,000 for the museum, council realized cuts had to be made when faced with an 11.7 per Tifnes-Advocote, March 13, 1985 Page 3 budget increase in haif cent increase. The budget was presented to go up from $16.2 million last year to $18 million this year. Councillors eyed the budgeted of the road department, library and. Huronview specifically when looking for cuts. "It's okay to cut Huronview, but each department must be cut the same," said Huronview's board chairman Marie Hicknell. No department budget was cut. In KINETTES DONATE — The Exeter Kinettes club recently donated an oxygen inhalator valued at $1,000 to the Exeter'fire department. Above, Kinette president Phyllis Humphries and Zone Co -Ordinator make the presntation. to Fireman Association officials Leroy Edwards and Pete McFalls. T -A photo Farmers oppose line Continued from front page thern route that would keep the power corridor out of Huron altogether. Bell said as reeve he is prepared to look into the need for the power line. He mentioned as one favourable aspect the fact the base of a new tower is 13 feet squared, as compared to the older types which took up almost triple that amount of land. Vern Alderdice, who has land along the proposed eastern route, is surpris- ed that particular route is even being considered. He wonders why the ex- t .._ --_ trans ormer station south could not be used for the new line. Tuckersmith farmer Marcel Van- neste makes no secret of his opposi- tion to the whole idea. He wants 011 to first prove conclusively the need for the power line. He points out that the corporation is presently in debt billions of dollars and needs "to clean up its act" before spending more money. He added that if farmers ran their business the way 011 runs theirs. they would be considered very bad managers. Eric Kints is just as outraged. He says seven or eight of the Huron Pro- duce farms operated by himself and brother Frank would be affected by the same route as it continues from Tuckersmith south through Usborne township. Kints said the proposed corridor goes through some of the best land in Ontario. Kints asks rhetorically why, after he spends a lifetime cleaning up fences andputtingIndrainage, should 011 come in pouring concrete and messing up his tiles. He went on to say the area around the towers tends to become weed beds. And those towers will be there for a long time. Kints said "if they want to put up poles, they can buy our farms: we'll nut a price on them " Osborne reeve Gerald Prout is not opposed to a route through Huron. arguing that "if the country is going to advance. the corridor has to go B ED - BATH - KITCHEN — GIFT The legendary 4 -leaf clover.. • is a symbol of good luck & fortune * enables young ladies to discover the man they will marry * aids one in seeing good fairies or gnomes * wards off evil spirits and is said to give its possesor mystical powers is carried by many to remember good times. i('n(i some dLuk to ft friend on tit. f'fttric k I)fty Or (Ia1'. $195 at the Mon. - Thur. 9:30 - 5:36 L. Fri. 9:30 - 9:00 Sat. 9:30 - 5:00 405 Main St. Exeter, Ont. 235-2957 somewhere". Prout hopes the route finally chosen will not affect agriculture too much. Neither Charles Kernick on conces- sion 3 nor Bill Pincombe on conces- sion 4 want a power line on their land. Kernick said he already has a line making an obstracle course through his fields, and Pincombe feels the line should not go through productive land. The story is very much the same in Stephen township. Reeve Alan Walper faults Ontario Hydro for poor *tannin!. I I7e• f y s ou ' encourage its industrial customers to move nearer to the source of the power, rather than disrupting thousands of people be bringing the power south. . Quality Produce owner Earl Neil would prefer not to have hydro poles or towers on this land. Lawrence Becker, on conte- iuu 8 of Stephen; agrees. Two of his farms would be affected ,and he already has an older power line going through on his land. He doesn't want any more. Opposition to the power line is also strong in Stanley township. Former reeve Tom Consitt, whose concession 8 farm would be affected by one of the proposed routes, said all three would come through some. of the. best agricultural land in Ontario, and one of the most productive bean - producing areas in the province. He advocates the northern route con- sidered several years ago. Present councillor Howard Arm- strong, another farmer along one of the routes, says comment until the selection of a route is narrowed down would be premature. Iluron County Warden Paul Steckle, who also farms in Stanley, adopteda differenlattitudefrom most of those contacted. Speaking as an in- dividual. Steckle said we need elec- trical power. He challenges those af- flicated with the NIMBY (not in my back yard syndrome to provide a viable alternalive.The power line has to be brought from the Bruce plant. and no matter where it goes. people will be living there. Steckle said he would not oppose a power line through his farm. but would want to make sure he got the hest possible compensation, and that there would be no problems with radio and TV reception. Steckle said whenever a cloverleaf is built, up to 100acresof land is ex- propriated: he has been told that on- ly 100 acres altogether would he taken out of production by a north -south power corridor. Steckle conceded 011 has not been a good trustee of the public purse, and is perceived by the public as a hunch of spendthrifts. However, nutnbered companies buying up huge blocks of land and razing all the buildings in townships like Morris and East Wawanosh were a graver concern, Steckle said. Speaking as reeve of Stanley township, Steckle said Stanley will not take a position for or against Ilydro's proposals Steckle said he will make sure the public has proper access to informa- tion, that Ontario Hydro treats people fairly. and towers go where they cause the least problem. A letter appears elsewhere in this issue from Tony McQuail, past presi- dent of the Huron Federation of Agriculture and a founding member of the Foodland-Hydro Committee which took part in the previous hear- On location or Studio Bart DeVri PHOTOGRAPHY CO(1M1IR(Ul - WIDOINGS PORTRAITS - GROUPS - PUNDOTY Telephone 215.1298 1 i7 Thamec Rd., tact, Exeter, Ont. tng in the 1970s to examine OH's plans to bring power from the Bruce plant. The Committee has arranged two meetings to help affected land owners organize to protect their property rights and prepare for the upcoming hearings. The first meeting will be held Thursday March 21 at South Huron and District High School, Ex- eter, beginning at 8:30 p.m. A second meeting will be held the following night at F.E. Madill Secondary School, Wingham, at 8:30 p.m. fact, in reference to Huronview, there was no decision to go ahead with im- provements to the facility. Each department head was in turn brought before council for the second time that day to defend their budget. Warden Paul Steckle expressed concern that if cuts were made from the department budgets, council would be "deficit budgeting". Usborne Township Reeve Gerry Prout said several tines that the $300,000 for the museum should be cut. Huron County will spend a total of $17.7 million this year. Of this, $4.1 million will be raised locally, up 5.9 per cent from the $3.9 million Huron taxpayers paid last year. Over half of the funding for the 1985 budget comes from provincial grants. They total $9.6 million and include $3.3 million for roads, $1.8 million for the health unit and $2.4 million for Huronview. In preparing the budget, county ad- ministrator Bill Hanly did not know if the province would increase its grant money so he used last year's figures. Late last week, the province announced four per cent increases to municipalities. This will reduce the amount county taxpayers have to pay. Other revenue for the 1985 budget will come from fees and service charges totaling $2.5 million. The largest share of this comes from Huronview residents in the amount of $2.4 million. Last year's general surplus of $290,275 and road surplus of $623,520 are also included in 1985 revenue. Social services, which includes welfare payments, Huronview's operations and the county's share to Family and Children's Services is the largest portion of the budget at $6.6 million. This is up from $6.3 million spent last year. Huronview has a budget of $5.3 million up from $4.9 million. Welfare, including its ad- ministrative costs is budgeted at just over $1 million which is down from a $1.1 million budget last year. The road budget of $6.1 million is the second largest section of the budget. ( Road budget story separate.) Health services will cost the coun- ty $2.1 million, up from $1.7 million last year. The health unit, with a budget of $1.1 million makes up the largest portion. Home care has a budget of $900,000 and family plann- ing has a budget of $56.669. The plum- bing and environment budget, not in- cluded under health services, totals $117,850. General administration of the coun- ty will cost $984,658. Of this, $430,880 is paid out in salaries, $250,000 goes • for the museum reserve and over $280,000 covers maintenance. Recreation and cultural services will cost the county $963,819 which in- cludes a library budget of $796.000 and a museum operations budget of $144,000. Planning and development has a budget of $465,000 for 1985. Members of council have a budget of $184,900, up from $164,315 last year. Councillors attendance at committee and board meetings will cost $61,500 which their attendance at regular council Meetings will cost $35,000. The warden recieves a basic stipend of $15,500. Councillors travel, convention and meal expenses are budgeted at $44,000. The warden's banquet is budgeted at $3,000 and actually cost $2,927 Last year. The results of the 20 to 6 vote are as follows: Those voting in favour of the 5.9 per cent budget increase are: Grey Reeve Leona Armstrong, Ashfield Reeve John Austin, Hay Deputy Reeve Tony Bedard, Tuckersmith Reeve Bob Bell, Clinton Reeve Ernest Brown, Goderich Depu- ty Reeve Jim Doherty, Morris Reeve Bill Elston, Exeter Deputy Reeve Lossy Fuller, McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell, Reeve Johnston, Colborne Reeve Russel Kernighan, Hensall. Reeve Harry Klungel, Brussels Reeve Cal Krauter, Zurich Reeve Isadore LaPorte, Turnberry Reeve Brian McBurney, Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle, Usborne Reeve Gerry Prout, East Wawanosh Township Reeve Neil Vincent, Stephen Reeve Alan Walper, Stephen Deputy Reeve Ralph Weber. Those voting against were: Seaforth Reeve Bill Campbell, Hullett Reeve Tom Cunningham, Howick Reeve Jack Stafford, Stanley Reeve Paul Steckle (warden), and Goderich Reeve Harry Worsell with two votes. 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