Times Advocate, 1994-05-11, Page 14Page 14
Times -Advocate, May 11, 1994 TN THF, 1JF WS_
Education director
disappointed no
reforms in budget
By Catherine O'Brien
T -A staff
CLINTON - While there were no new or in-
creased taxes to be found in the Ontario govern-
ment's latest budget introduced on Thursday it is not
yet clear what the bottom line effect will be on the
Huron County Board of Education.
"It has me nervous," said board director Paul Car-
roll on Friday. "I don't have a lot of information
yet, but at the moment there is a combination of
good news and bad news.
"The positive part of the budget is that we won't
have to go through major restructur-
ing of how we deliver services," he
said.
When board members tentatively
set the education budget on April 25,
they were concerned further cuts
would have to be made once the
province passed its budget. That
doesn't appear to be the case now.
So as it stands, the residential mill
rate for education will stay at the just
over six percent figure set by board
members when they officially passed their budget
last Monday.
The board has has to undergo major expenditure
cuts in order to keep the mill rate increase to a mini-
mum.
For the past two years the board has had to deal
with the Social Contract Act, the Expenditure Con-
trol Plan, cutbacks in the province's 1993 budget
and revenue cuts through this years General Legisla-
tive Grants.
Carroll said if the board didn't sit down and be-
gin restructuring and cost cutting, the mill rate in-
crease could have been more than 20 percent.
"The good news is there doesn't appear to he any
drastic expenditure reductions, although I have
the sense that the total amount of spending on ele-
mentary and secondary schools is down a bit," he
said.
Ontario's elementary and secondary school system
costs about $14 pillion a year. The province bud-
gets some $6.4 million for education while property
taxes pay the rest.
One highlight of the budget that will affect educa-
tion boards in coming years will be how the prov-
ince shares tax dollars between separate and public
schools.
Starting in 1996, there will be phased -in changes
in commercial property tax assessments giving sep-
arate school boards between $50-60 million money.
That's about a one -per -cent increase in revenue for
the separate boards.
"It does introduce a level of fairness," Carroll
said.
He said this will eliminate the need to
chase assessment dollars which both
boards have spent millions of dollars on
over the years.
"It will lead to a reduction in the
amount of energy that is dedicated to
that task," he said.
"The downside of it, of course, is that
there is not a lot to be gained when the
poor share with the poor," he said refer-
ring to the dismal financial picture of
public boards in the area.
There is an interesting twist to this," Carroll said.
"Whenever a board's access to assessment values
goes up, the level of provincial support goes
down." So he said it isn't necessarily a positive
change for the separate board.
As well. Carroll said if the public board losses as-
sessment dollars, it should be getting additional
support from the provincial government to make up
for lost revenue. "That's if the system is working
well."
Carroll's overall reaction to the provincial budget
was disappointment because recommendations wer-
en't made by the royal commission studying educa-
tion.
"I had placed all of my hopes on the fact that
there would have been steps taken towards tax re-
form and that has not happened. It may well be
something that comes up in an election [provincial]
platform," he said.
"The good
news is there
doesn't
appear to be
any drastic
reductions,"
A haiid-inade card for Morar
• You will never buy for
Tess than right now
Mother's Day was celebrated a little early by the Toddler's inn Nursery School on Thursdlky
and Friday. All classes of the school performed special songs for their visiting moms, and
then presented them with handmade Mother's Day cards.
Youth centre
in the wor4�s
for Hensall
HENSALL - A youth centre has
been approved for the Village of
Hensall although the details have
yet to be worked out.
At a May 5 meeting, the Hensall
recreation parks and community
centre committee approved the free
use of the conference room in the
community centre for the purpose
of setting up a type of youth centre.
According to minutes of the
meeting, Joan Weiss and Peter
Groot, told the committee that the
Kinsmen and Optimists support the
idea of a youth centre and have of-
fered to contribute funds as well as
volunteers.
aohe centre would be for teens be -
Oben the ages of 12 and 17. The
centre will be set up for a trial peri-
od, based on availability, to con-
clude in September.
Come and visit the area's
LARGEST SELECTION
OF PLANTS
IN 30,000 Sq. Ft.
including 20,000 Geraniums,
25 Colours, Petunias
in 25 Colours, 25 Colours
of Impatients, 10 Varieties
of Fuschia Flanging Baskets
150 Varieties of Perennials, 30
Varieties of Herbs, 30 Varieties
o Vegetable Plants, 16 Varieties
of Tomato Plants
PLUS MUCH MORE
...� �± Wholesok and Reboil
on Pee ttr valt w+ n.vewael
'Beoutilrm8 Huron Coun Since 1981'
TE -EM FARM
tit Parad.:re
o►twobeoaer.dadr�no
' loo 15197°48i-3;20 va,e,. w .7..,
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