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Times Advocate, 1997-01-29, Page 3INT_HE NEWS Times -Advocate, January 29, 1997 Page 3 Johns says education reform good news for Huron system By Heather Mir T -A Reporter CLINTON - Huron MPP Helen Johns told. members of the Huron County Board of Ed- ucation she considers recent education reform announcements to be "a win for the students in Huron."However, some trustees were not convinced merging the Huron and Perth pub- lic hoards will benefit students or taxpayers. "I beleive there's really good news with the education finance reform," said Johns during an informal annual meeting held in the Educa- tion and Learning Resources Centre on Thurs- day. "We will see this through and this will be good for our kids." Johns spoke about the change in financing education, which has been traditionally funded through property tax. She said public consultation will begin this spring to help determine a flat per pupil rate for' education funding. The province plans to add dollars to' this rate for specific situa- tions such as disabled students, transportation and English as a second language pupils. When asked about -changes in allocating cap- ital funding, Johns adrnitted she is concerned. about the possibility of receiving grants on a per pupil basis. - "It may not be fine for us with 20,000 stu- dents,"said Johns. "That could cause us some consternation for us later. - Johns also outlined other intitatives the Mike • Harris' government has undertaken including a standard report card. a new curriculum, tech- nology improvements and secondary school reform. • Technology is a matter of concern for the Huron board as it merges with' Perth. Bay- field and .Stanley Township Trustee Abby - Armstrong asked if Perth was as technolog- ically advanced as Huron and enquired as to who would pick up the cost to bring both counties "up to speed" • "Who's going to bear the cost?" asked Arm- strong, noting the Perth board has a $4.6 mil- lion debenture for .capital ex- "We have to ask parents to be involved in their kids' education." Pherson • •penses. Johns replied the province's priority is to have a computer in every classroom, adding $15 million has been put in reserve to achieve this goal. She assured the board it will receive "fair and equitable" treatment during the amalgamation. Student trustee Vance' Mac expressed concern with secondary school reform that would reduce thenumber of years to complete high school to four years. "What has the government done to ensure this is not going to be a problem?" he asked. Johns said students currently in secondary school are encouraged to move through the • program at an accelerated rate if possible. As well, universities and colleges will have more spaced open in five years when a double load of students will be graduating. Accelerating the curriculum of students currently in grades 2 through 7 is left up to individual boards. Discussion also centred around an annouce- ment that student advisory councils will have a strengthened role in academic process, dis- cipline - and program offerings. Stephen Township Trustec Bob Heywood said apathy is a problem with many schools. • "We have to ask parents to be involved in. their kids' education," stressed Johns. By reducing trustee remuneration, Zurich, Hay and Usborne Township Trustee Bea Dawson, who doesn't plan to run for the board next year, is concerned it will be difficult to find good trustees. A cap of $5,000 has been placed on trustee salaries. Finally, Johns outlined an annoucement made last week to appoint a committee to su- pervise the elimination of more than half the province's school boards. The Education Im- provement Commission will start its work • in early Febrary and will exist for four years. Lo- cal committees are expected to be formed will report to the commission. "I welcome this committee. It is an im- -portant part of the transition,"said Heywood. "If we're running this board the way .we should be..: we won't have anything to worry about." " New initiative brings fairness to farm property owners GUL!LPH The Ontario govern- ment last week announced a new initiative aimed at protecting family farms from unfair municipal taxes. As part of Finance Minister Ernie Eves' Fair Municipal Finance Act announced recently,• the ,govern- ment is introducing a new reduced property tax rate for eligible farm land and outbuildings to replace current farm tax rebates. This meas- ure amounts to a $171 million tax cut and responds to concerns - ex- pressed by farmers for many years. "Farmers asked us to end , the needless red tape of the Farm Tax Rebate program currently in place, and we promised to do it in the Common • Sense Revolution," said Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Noble Villeneuve. "We are keeping our promise and following through on our commitment to make changes that will provide Netter services at lower cost to the taxpayer." The new rate will become effec- tive January, 1, 1998. The initiative will maintain a separate property class for farm lands which will con- tinue to be assessed on their farm use. Eligible farm lands will be taxed at 25 per cent of the munici- pal residential tax. "Where previous governments Police warn against scams HURON COUNTY - A recent telephone scam has been identified in Huron County. According to reports, callers identifying themselves as represen- tatives from a collection agency working on behalf of Bell Canada advises customer they owe the company money for an outstanding debt. • Police instruct Bell customers who know this information to be false to press the callers for more details, including their name and the name of collection agency be- fore hanging up and calling Bell Canada for verification. Police arc also warning residents about a scam involving businesses that have received letters from Ni- geria, postmarked Ghana, asking for help in moving several Nigeri- an bank accounts and offering a 30 per cent bonus of the account total in exchange for assistance. This amount may add up to $10 million. This scam is an attempt to extort money once a Canadian resident is enticed to travel to Nigeria. in some cases, police report victims may be kidnapped and held for ransom money. Because this scam crosses inter- national borders, the RCMP is in- vestigating. nave a news tip? Call the Times -Advocate 235-1331 have failed to bring about farm tax - reform; we have created .a tax sys- tem that is balanced and fair to farriers and their families," said Villeneuve. "As thelead ministry. for rural interests, OMAFRA will continue to work with farmers and 'rural communities in implementing this positive refonn." The Ministry of Natural Resourc- es also announced "a similar initia- tive for the managed forest and'" conservation land tax programs. Background information taxa- - tion of farm property and the Farm Tax Rebate Program The Farm Tax Rebate Program was' implemented in 1970 as an in- terim policy while awaiting`proper- ty tax reform to correct an inequity in the taxation of farm land. It is delivered -by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural -Af- fairs (OMAFRA) 'and currently provides a rebate of 75 per cent of property' taxes on the farmland and outbuilding 'portion of 'qualifying farm property. There are approximately 100,000 applicants: to the program each year. The rebates paid out to quali- fied applicants totaled $163.5 mil- lion for 1996-97 fiscal year. At $171 million, it is OMAFRA's largest single transfer. program. The rural Task. Force Report of the- Common Sense Revolution promised property tax reform: "A - Mike _ Harris government will retain the Farm Property Tax Rebate pro- gram until reform of the provincial property tax system is complete." The •Ontario Federation of Agri- - culture (OFA) and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), the two largest general farm organizations in Ontario. and other farm organizations have been urging reform of fain land taxation for 26 years and support the end of the farm tax rebate, provided net tax paid by farmers remains the same after the reform. A farm prop- erty tax reform discussion paper was developed and provided. for consideration by the government's. Who Does What panel. The government's decision varies from the recommendation" of the Who Does What panel. The panel recommended maintaining the cur- rent rebate tax system because of the potential impact on municipal budgets. The government has taken this into account and OMAFRA will work with inunicipalities to ad- just to thenew system of taxation. The changes will eliminate the current Farm Tax Rebate Program. Illuminated clock The clock on top of the Olde Town Hall tower glows brightly at night after town officials replaced all four clock faces with an illuminated weather resistant plastic material last week. They will maintain a.separate prop- erty class for farmlands which will be assessed on their farm use. Eligi- ble farm land and outbuildings will' be taxed at 25 per cent of the mu- nicipal residential tax rate. " The new rate will become effec- tive January 1, 1998. The qualifica tion for the new farm land and out- buildings tax rate will be consistent with current qualifications for the Farm Tax Rebate Program, includ- ing a valid farm registration num- ber.. - Rebekah Dlnney, left, helps Whitney Geberdt improve her skating skills at the Stephen Township Arena on Friday. 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