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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1992-01-22, Page 1Servtn#r South Hum Sine(' 1873 Inside Weedless Thiss non-smoking week page 2 What you think :P -et peeves driving page 3 o Making the environmen� a daily job page 5 *each immersion Lucan students in for the tong run page 8 Mikingpriorities Skater concentrating on school Second front Few traffic mishaps, despite snowfall 1 $''"tl►roughl tie air valid aDq ylhlg'the:snow wihich<iisstlllttd>ain dumped -rnrtke niea were lemrny-Dustman (above)a d yle Fusick (beloW)lit- Exeter `Pliblia' vl last '>W y. morning antes. EXETER - Despite closed road. •and heavy snowfalls only„,fivc mi- nor accidents were -reported to the Exeter OPP this past .week—Most of these accidents were weather relat- ed and no injures. were reponcd. say the, pulicc. However, police has c invesugated some 53 occur- renceslin the past week. On Saturday night, January 11, at around 10:30 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. its the Village of Zurich, person(s) un- known entered an unlocked red Ford pickup atthe rich arena and stoic approximately $1,200 in hockey equipment. Stolen property included a part of size 7 1n Tack skates, gloves, pais and a hocke . swelter with Mount Cannel Devils #13 printed on it. This equipment was all scared in a black and yellow, hockey bag with white straps. This post Sunday night at approx ornately 7:40 p.m. Exeter OPP re- covered a stolen 1986 Audi 5000 at McCurdy Pad he School in Huron Park. This:vehicle was taken front London on January 14. If you have any . information about these nccurxences orwiy btlt- ers, please contact Came Stoppers at 1-800-265-1777 or call the Exet- er OPP at 235-1300. - Police are reminding .drivers to wear their seathelts'while in a mov- ing motor vehicle. With heavy snoWfall and sbppery red condi- tions, a person no -wearing a seat- belt stands a high risk of serious in- jury if involved in an accident. The OPP would also like to make everyone aware that when roads arc closed by the police, persons choos- ing to ignore the barricades and drive on them arc subject to a ,$78.75 Cine. in addition. most insu- rance cuwpanies will not cover any dannege or injury claims coming as the result of an accident an a closed highway. Can you really afford the risk'' KidCheck to be held in Zurich ZURICH - The Zurich Optimises airing .with Child . B,ind of Hume County .will .be apopipring a Kid - Check for the Zurich area on Satur- day, January 25. Parents interested.in_the ide,ntift: ,. cation program arc asked to bring -their children to the Zuriclf-Com- ntwtity Centre between. lt:a:ua, and 3 p.in. Children must be acuompa- nied by a parent or legal guardian and. are asked to bring a recent pho. to. • raiser- meoide Insurranc v Medical Insurance See our ad page 5 235-2420 Wetine, nal Ianiaary 22, 1992 7!- eint,, But is it legal? Town staff denied wage increase as council aims to set no -increase budget 'EXETER - Even though three "Play Inrr se's " tbr'mwn -Staff -had been approved- by the exec ivc committee, town council put be idea nn hold Monday evening, r- sisting that all wage hikes shodl& wait to sec if the new budget can accommodate them. /Councillor Bob Spears first spoke about the executive committea s recommendation that three staff members receive merit increase, moving each one step up a pre- determined wage grid. tinder the proposal, the building official would receive a yearly salary of S35,700, the chief administrative officer $56,500, and the administra- tive assistant 522,900. Spears said he did not question the staff were deserving of the pay increase, but said "my question is . how we fund -it. He said that without a budget, council should effect a wage freeze, • delay the increases until the budget, or determine wage increases to match a zero -increase municipal budget. Councillor Ervin Sillery said he had "much the same thoughts as Bob had". "I would recommend no increase because if this is granted it would set a pattern for the budget for in- creases across the • board," argued Sillety, and spoke of even further restraint. "To my mind they should take a fife percent decrease." Councillor Ben Hoogenboom called the no -increase suggestion "premature",hut said'The ?rem ier's -tiattress. -nn - •pmvtrretal 'tttnding which could affect Exeter's transfer payments, was due Tuesday eve ning and suggested 'the wage in- crease recommendation he tabled "until we have the Tigures availa- ble". Deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller de- fended the increase. saving "this is not a pay increase. it is a moving up on the steE grid we implemented last year.' Councillor Toni Humphreys said he understood that if the employees moved up a step, they could then receive a pay increase Tater if the grid was increasekl. . Councillor Robert Drummond -said he appre- ciated the recommendation was based on merit, but spoke against an "across the board wage increase at this time". Reeve Bill Miekle, chairing the meeting until the mayor's arrival. explained •that the grid developed out of the pay solidly issue last year, and said the system included a per tormance rayls*: - - Mickle said other municipalities have attempted to prevent "grid movement'. but have -run into legal problems because the grid clearly sets out pay scales for qualifica- eons and merit. Hoogenboom moved to table the new wages until the budget is get. which despite some misgivings ex- pressed by Mickle, was approved by council. Wo -choice but to "bite the bullet" on soaring -county taxes, cn.ukcil concludes after Monday meeting EXETER - Still reeling from last week's news that town homeowners were going to be paying an average of 3122 more in county_ taxes,. acet- -et town council called. tax commis- sioner Gerald Morgan to Monday evening's meeting to explain why town properties were being hu with higher taxes while farms were see- ing a decrease. Morgan told council that the three percent.growth Exeter experi- ence i in 1991 had already been fac- tored into the increase, so.the -9.09 percent increase m residential taxes was an accurate reflection of the ef- fect of updating the county's lull market .assessment system from 1984 rates to 1988. Under full market assessment, all properties in Huron County, regard- less of zoning are taxed equally ac- cording to-markei valuc..However. .between 1984 and 1988. residences nearly doubled in value while farms increased only about 20 per- cent, hence the shift of the county tax burden from the rural areas to the -towns and villages. Reeve Bill Mickle-said he under - 'stood that market value assessment meant any given house would be assessed the same anywhere in the county, and asked Morgan Why ru- ral homes were not being taxed -as highly. However, Morgan argued only homes costing the same would be taxed the same, even though the physical sttucluressan vary in size "and quality. He also said Exeter s. land values were re -assessed on a "street -by -street basis . reflecting which were the most popular and valnable.parts of town. Morgan explanted that Huron C iinty is one of the very lew areas in Southwestern Ontario which have full market value assessment, which does allow taxation to shit t between classeyiof land. "The difficulty is that on a full county basis, farm and residential is combined,". said Morgan, adding that in Huron there is a very tow percentage of commercial, industri- al and multi -residential land uses. "The big advantage is Utas under full masket assessment a 5100,000 house is treated the same as, a S100,000 farm, S100,000 industri- al, or 5100,000 apartment build -- Mg," said Morgan. "'88 as tar as I'm concerned is a rotten year to pick for assessing houses." observed councillor Bob Spears. "1t (housing prices] prob- ably peaked about then.' The next reassessment in 199{ will be based on this year's market values, and although Morgan said he did not wish to cornmeal on what that would bring, Huron County tax evaluation manager Ted Ingha ni said "it shouldn't be as drastic as this one". . Deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller asked if. Morgan expected a lot of ap- peals. He agreed there would like- ly .be "a lot of unhappy ratepayers" 4 once tax bills were opened, but that if the assessment of their properties is correct, then the new tax rate will be correct. ."We don't collect.taxes. I'm not going to say we don't have any.41-1 feet on them because we do. We set the values, but we don't set the taxes," he said. Fuller asked about the proposal 10 phase-in the new rates, but Morgan noted that phasing iu the incrcasc also rcgwre, phamng "down' lite decreases. which would prove un- popular with those expecting their taxes to drop. "Its a two-edged sword." said Morgan. Continued on page 2 ABCA once again asked to hold the line on levy increase EXE'ThR - Alter '.sung to put three town staff mUut,;rs pay in- creases on hold, Lxctcr council then went in search of cutbacks elsewhere in the region's civil ser- vice. Town council Monday everting were presented with a resolution from Tuckersmith Township ex- pressing concern that the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority is Planning- on an average increase of Sive percent to its general levy Charged to its 36 member munici- palities, and that tete authority bpd ;ranted its "staff wnetubcrs a three percent pay increase fur 1992. Tuckersmith council are asking othermunicip>dities to support their concerns, and to ,ask the authority to review its cuts in "11rc ye oco- iC tunas". Wor Bert liogecuboom said he agreed - wifh Tac Craiiuitti's _resolution jird ledeuen eilaiit,u..vote to support it. The ARCA .wAs:Artw4 two .yoart . ago, after seve(al dowblt;.digit %.vy increases, to hold .Such increases yo an aver -axe Of fivpoeiecnt, or 1Ws..