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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-04-16, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, April 16, 1997 Regional wrap up End of farm tax rebate will hurt municipalities NORTH MIDDLESEX - Ac- cording to The Parkhill Gazette, the townships of McGillivray and West Williams could be hardest hit by the province's termination of the farm tax re- bate. The two northwest Middlesex municipalities seem to have the highest proportions of agricultu- ral (including managed forest) property tax base compared with residential, industrial and commercial assessment in Mid- dlesex County. The Harris government will terminate the farm tax rebate af- ter 1997 but has informed mu- nicipalities they can only collect 25 per cent of the full taxes on agricultural and managed forest properties. " In effect, the Tories have downloaded the rebate program onto municipalities and proper- ty owners who pay the full tax rates," states the Gazette. Bi11103 delays OPP costing GODERICI-I Goderich po- lice may join the Ontario Provin- ,cial Police as soon as July if a contract is accepted by the town and police services board, re- ports the `Goderich Signal -Star. Although the costing for such a move was anticipated early this month, it was delayed due to the stalled . mega -city bill: Once the formula is approved, Goderich's costing could be ready ,within a weelf. according to Sergeant Rick Cazabon, of the OPP Contract Policing Sec- tion. A proposal will be brought to the town and police service board behind closed doors to determine if the proposal meets their expectations. ff the rest of the process goes smoothly, it sHould take about 90 days for implementation. Recreation committee downsized IN THFWS-- Summer maintenance begins on roads transferred to county By Heather Mir T -A Reporter HURON COUNTY - As of April I, the province officially downloaded to Huron County the responsibility for maintenance of severalarea roads. As well, connecting link agreements with municipalities were terminat- ed on April 5. Drivers travelling Highway 83 may have al- ready noticed some changes along the route through Exeter from Highway 23 to Highway 21. In keeping with other county roads, the speed limit along this section has been raised from 80 to 90 kilometers per hour. However, the limit has been lowered to 70 kilometers from 80 kilometers entering from the west of both Exeter, near the cemetery, and Zurich, close to Blue Water Rest Home. The cost of operating the por- tion of Hwy. 83 within town boundaries was transferred to Exeter. In the past, municipal- ities only paid 10 per cent of the maintenance cost for their portion of highway but will now bear full responsibility for this stretch of road. According to County Engineer Sandra Law- son, the Ministry of Transportation main- tained the roads well in the winter but didn't complete other much-needed work. County crews have been out along Hwy. 83 picking up brush and garbage while installing new speed limit signs.. Plans are in the workS for re - "High is the n one p for us b it's worst s surfacing of the road next year in anticipation of the International Plowing Match. The shoulders have also been graded and the county intends to work on a bridge structure as well as culvert maintenance this year. "Highway 83 is the number one priority for. us because it's in the worst shape. Eighty- three should have been resurfaced in '94." said Lawson. "We want to get it in good time for the plowing match." Highway 84, from Hensall to Hwy. 21 has also been downloaded to the county .and the municipalities will now he responsible for the total maintenance of the portions that run through Zurich and Hen- sall. Hensall received a one-time grant of approximately $50,000 for maintenance of the connecting link based on a five-year needs survey. The municipal portion of the road was last repaired in 1982. Exeter also received $50,000 and its portion of High- way 83 was repaired in 1993. Zurich's road, which has not been repaired since 1976, has not yet received an allocation of money. Council has submitted a request for a grant equal to other nearby municipalities. "We're trying to get $50,000 to $60,000 to equal what the other towns received;" said Councillor Brad Clausius at the April 10 coun- cil meeting. "If they look at it with any com-, mon sense, we should be getting some mon- eY " way 83 umber riority ecause in the hape." The responsibility for Hwy.- 87, from Hwy. 86 to the Huron -Wellington boarder, was also transferred to Huron County. Under the new arrangement,the province gave the county a one year's maintenance grant of 5350,000, based on 55,000 per ki- lometer. The county took over a total of,70.6 kilometers of highway. The county currently operates 14 patrol routes and Lawson estimates the downloading will only add approximately 5 kilometers to each route. "At this point, it extends us by 10 to 15 min- utes. Where it gets costly is in the re- habilitation of the roads," explained Lawson. Excluding the portion of road east of Exeter that was resurfaced in 1993, none of the other roads have had substantial work done on them. The county did receive a grant for 67.per cent - of what the province anticipated the capital needs would he for the transferred roads. The 54.2 million one-time grant will he allocated to highways the county will now maintain. Two roads in the south portion of the county were maintained by Integrated Maintenance Operation • Systems (IMOS) under . an area maintenance contract for the entire Ministry of Tra sportation Chatham district. Highways 4 and .-I, up to Hwy. 83, as well as Hwy.81 from Grand Bend are still within that district contract. When Hwy. 83 and 84 were trans- ferred, the contract for their maintenance by [MOS was cancelled. BAYFIELD - The Bayfield Arena and Community Centre Advisory Committee has been scaled down in hopes it will run more efficiently. reports, the Clinton News -Record. A bylaw passed during last Monday night's meeting de- creased the committee from 10 to seven members and required four to meet quorum. The for- mer structure, which needed six members to meet quorum, was under debate after six voting members failed to be present for three consecutive meetings. Girl dies following tragic accident EAST WAWANOSH - Funer- al services were held last Mon- day for a 27 -month old girl who died as a result of a tragic acci- dent, reports the North Huron Citizen. According to police, Shannon Vincent, daughter of Neil and Joan, of R.R. 3 Wingham, was playing in the barn on April 2 at approximately 11:30 a.m. while her parents worked. Police re- port she wandered off and was found later by her father, float- ing in a flooded run-off area. She died two days later in Lon- don hospital. Mill rate to increase . Continued from front page intendent of business, told meeting attendants education reform is scheduled to be in place for Jan. 1, and she urged ' individuals to send the, province a message calling for the finalization of the new' finance model. • "The high -spending boards should come down to the low - spending hoards," she said, adding, "We desperately need education funding reform, now! We .can't wait for any more studies." She outlined how, despite ex- penditure reductions of nearly -51 niillion, the mill rate must in- crease. The amount of pro- vincially -determined . support has increased over the past years while the locally -determined portion has steadily decreased. The province sets the standard Ontario mill rate as well as prop- erty assessment values for the pur pose of education taxation. This year, the province has increased as.g essment by 2 per cent although the tax rolls indicate an actual growth of only 0.5 per cent. The board has also been hit with a pro- vincial mill rate ,hike of 3.3 per cent. Although the per pupil ceiling amounts have been raised, this is based on shrinking enrollment and through the removal of Junior Kin- dergarten students from the cal- culation, the Huron board has ex- perience a loss of $950,000. These factors, combined with several others including interest charges due to the province stretching its payables as well, as commercial tax sharing, result in a ,net Toss of $1.5 million. Director Carroll highlighted re- ductions the board has made over the past several years since the so- cial contract was introduced such as asking staff to take days off' without pay. He added the number of staff, including administration and teachers, has been reduced and. partnerships with the private sec- tors has been encouraged where possible. Despite these long-term re- ductions, the board has managed to provide students with a quality ed- ucation that meets their needs and ensures they are competitive in post -secondary school and work. Colleen Schenk wins PC party candidacy By John Greig Wingham Advance Timet WINGHAM - Colleen Schenk of, Wingham won the Progressive Conservative party candidacy for the Huron -Bruce riding on the weekend. Schenk, 45. defeated Shirley Hazlitt of Benmiller. About 400 people attended the nomination meeting held in Wingham. Schenk made reference in her speech to the Little Engine That Could, the children's story, about the train which wouldn't give up. She says. the Conservative's need to be the same. Capturing the nomination is the first step up the hill for Schenk. A federal election, likely to be called for June 2, will be the next. "It's time to recapture the little engine's spirit," she told the audience. "In 1993 the people of Canada told us we weren't listening." Schenk said one of her commitments would be to communicate with people in the riding. The Tories held a series of town hall meetings across the riding in the last couple of weeks. _ Schenk said "You told me you and your Colleen Schenk children need jobs and you need them now. You're concerned the health care system is going down the drain. You want to retain the Canada Pension Plan. You said our military needs boosting, not torn apart. You want equality for all Canadians." Schenk also said , she recognizes the importance of agriculture as Canada's second largest industry. Schenk is a Huron County board of education trustee and runs a Mary Kay cosmetics business. at She is a graduate of landscape architecture programRyerson Polytechnic University and has lived at both ends of Canada. She's lived in Wingham for 20 years and has a very political family. Her husband, John, a Wingham lawyer, ran for the Conservative nomination in the last provincial election, losing to Huron MPP Helen Johns. Schenk has been active in the community in her church, as a board member for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and for the local figure skating club, as well as serving as the chairman of the Wingham planning board. Incumbent Liberal MP Paul Steckle will be running again for the Liberals, while the Reform party will select a candidate April 30 and the New Democratic party has a nomination meeting scheduled for April 23. Council reviews PUC minutes EXETER- As Exeter Council looked over the minutes of the most recent Public Utilities Commission meeting, Reeve Bill Mickle wanted . to know why the PUC was going to charge (and collect) about $41 • for each pole used by the local cable company when "... we own the poles. I say that because we are billed for them when they are de- stroyed or have to he replaced after car accidents. Works Superintendent Glenn Kells provided the answer: "The town owns the street lights only - not the hydro poles. There are no cable TV connections to any of.our poles." Exeter takes initiative EXETER - Exeter Council has decided to take the initiative in re- solving the Walper Street state of disrepair. ' Although the street is in Hay Township, Hay Council will not spend the money to make the nec- essary repairs as it believes Exeter will soon be acquiring the proper-. ty. Council moved to take steps to create a boundary adjustment that will bring the road and the adjacent - properties into the town. Once that is done, the street will he brought up to standard. Sump ppump discharge problem easily corrected, council hears Public works department will install tile along the boulevard to. collect discharged water from pumps the sewage treatment plant." The Village has encouraged res- - idents to install sump pumps on their properties or in their base- ments and has subsidized the pro- ject by providing them with a grant • of up to $1,500. - Between 350 and 400 homes have foundation drains hooked into the sewer system and to date, the public works department has dis- connected 56, with 85 yet to go. Johnston said installing a 6 inch tile along the boulevard in the af- fected areas to collect sump pump discharges should alleviate the problem. At the April 1 council meeting, he outlined the project with a draw- ing. Johnston estimates the .total cost would be approximately 520,000 which is included in the capital works projects fund. Council tabled the issue until the next regular meeting. By Chris Skalkos - T -A Reporter LUCAN - It seems solving one problem has created another in Lu - can's ongoing effort to correct, an infiltration problem. The Village began a program last November aimed `at separating storm run-off water from the san- itary sewer system by ' dis- connecting foundation drains and installing sump pumps. However. council has received complaints that water being discharged is crap -,tying onto sidewalks. Councillor Rosemary Gahlinger- Beaune said this poses a hazard in the winter. "This is serious...we may he li- able if someone takes a fall because we created that problem." she said during a March 25 council meeting. The problem began in the late 1960's and early 1970's when Lu - can councils gained Ontario Min- istry of Environment approval to al- low developers to connect weeping tile into the sanitary sewer lines. As a result, rain run-off water was di- rected into the sanitary sewer sys- tem. This practice has since been phased out. Lucan's lagoon system handled the • infiltration without added cost but with the opening of the new sewage plant; infiltration became an issue as rain._water en- tering the sanitary sewer 'through manholes'. weeping tiles and down- spouts could affect the overall func- tioning of the system. A more 'immediate problem oc- curred last summer when base- ments were flooded by a rain storm followed by three days of steady rain. • "The water coming from founda- tion drains was overloading the sys- tem. We need to disconnect them and` keep rain water out of the san- itary sewers." explained Public Works Superintendent Doug John- ston'. "The system was designed to take sewage water, not storm water. We're putting too much water into