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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-08-05, Page 1Strong crowds at Friedsburg A pained expression. Exeter's Chris Watson won the Wristwrestling Super Heavy title on Saturday at the Friedsburg Days. Property owners hit with tax hikes EXETER — Property 'owners ei- ''.her breathed a -sigh of relief or felt.` ' their blood pressure .rise 'when'.they opened their tax notices last week. , 'Syme people. have seen sig ' nificant increases` in their property,, taxes, others decreases.. and some have seen no change. - • An „increase in- property, assess= rnent,'through the -new Current Val,. ue Assessment system and changes 'to *tax ratios are. the primary. cul- prits. A provincial initiative, the re -7 assessment was to bring everyone onto an even playing field in taxes. Receiving the tax notices mid-'' way through the, year made thc tax hikes especially hard . to swallov. . The re-assessinent applies to the entire 1998 tax year but .municipal- ities: did not receive the figures un- til recently so the entire increase is divided between the third and fourth installments. - Tom Hartai, owner df Thomas H. Fine Menswear and Brigitte's Fash- SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 411/ Reserve i,olrr copy of Titanic Today SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 20 Wing Mea! Deal $9.99 Inside Rodeo line-up for this weekend See., page 6 Catch a glimpse of Friedsburg See page 10 Interview with Michelle Wright See Crossroads Second front Hensall home to Bluewater Atom girls See page 14 School Board is facing a shortfall of funds by Michele Greene place. he said. . . 'The Avon Maitland District "You have to be -realistic about School Board is facing a.shortfall how long students are on the bus," said Armstrong, who:said some students' already ride the bus for one hour one way. The beard will also receive $20.000 less than it ex-pected t< fund the Early Learning Oppurtunites for kindergarten to Grade 3.sittdents at North Easthope ..Ptiblic School and Upper Thames given the hoard $127 million. The Elementary School, in West Perth. hoard generates about $.1 million in.' The province is providing $176,000 revenue front rentals and other but the board expected $195.000. areas, but it's not enough .to cover Armstrong said the program expenses reaching $126.8 million,, won't be scaled back. Trustees will The hoard is left $489,279 short. have to make cuts in other ways to Chairperson Ahhy Artnsttong is provide the program, she said. '- blaming blaming . 'the .: c.utbac,ks in But the bottom line for trustees is transportation for the. shortfall. The the funding,.model is not fair. said $7.7 million transporatation,grant is- Armstrong. In previous years: three per cent less than tkte_amount . Markle'vit`r. said. the board has the hoard received last year: Bui already made reductions . in. Marklevni said the sehool year for transportation and has no more 1998/9.9 is' five days longer: The, "'room to move. . ministry hasn'tallowec$ (or them in' we • had not made the the transportation .grants. She said- reductions, we would he getting .the Board expects a_shortfall in • funding and have more roost to 'transportation revenues of $442,90). cut," she said. . The - }:grant ' reduction • in • Ford said some boards spend up transpeirtatutn is almost equal to the_ •to•$9.000 per students while the budget sIsortfalll: Said Armstrong. Avon Maitland spends'.$4,500 pn "if we . didn't have the , _elementary students and"$5,100_ on transportationcuts,`we would havo ;'secondary students. He argued the a balanced budget," she said.. • difference in spending and funding Vice=Chairperson Ray Ford said, from the provinceisn't fair -when -all there' is''n't much the heard can die, taxpayers are paying at the same -about the transportation cdsts.3Helevel.' - said students havo to_gct'to'school. • Trustee Wendy Anderson said it , Double busing and,sharing busing ' was time for the hoard to` be. ,wi tI,i other, hoards already take 'or. Continued on page 2 of almost $500,00( and there's not a Is trustees can do about it LaSt Tuesday night. Marilyn, Marklev'itr, superintendent .of business and finance said the board expects $124.6 million grant revenue from. the Ministry of Education and Training although previous rnformation.wouldhave Stephen council awards drain tenders STEPHEN TOWNSHIP — StephenTownship council ,", granted a number of tenders at its July 21.mcering, including: a'• tender -to A.G. Hayter Contract-. ing.for $21,453.50 for construc- tion of the Coolmap municipal , drain: anothcrtcnder to A.G. Hayter for $23.240.40 for the Webber Municipal drain; and a , portion of the Weber -Ford mu nicipal drain. to Jennison Con- ' tralcting for $6,971..05 and a por- tion to A.G. Hayter for $17,216.30. " . ' All tenders awarded went to the low bidders.. Blaze destroys barn near Granton GRANTON '— Doug Cook was across .the road from his farm north of Granton Friday.af- ternoon when his neighbor no- ticed smoke coming from his barn. "By the time we got there the barn was just.a big ball of Circ," said took. • , , The Granton and Arca Fire Department- responded at ap- proximately 3:30 p.m. hut the barn, a stone picker, a water truck apd 20 acres of wheat stubbage ' in an adjacent field could not he saved. Hay being -stored in thc barn was also lost Granton Fire Chief John Da- men 'speculates, the . blaze was caused by an electrical ,short in the barn. Estimates of the damage will not be available from Cook's in- surance company until Wednes- day. . Cook is doubtful there will be enough insurance money to re- build the barn: ions didn't want -to tell "the T=A what his taxes were but said his taxes are"up considerably." While his assessment increased "a bit" his taxes arc up a greater percentage. "I don't have a problem paying, my fair.share,",Hartai said, adding the taxes aren't going to force him out of _business.' But that doesn't, make thc in- cttase any easier to take.. Hartai has gone searching for an- swers to his assessment questions but hasn't had much luck. When fie received the assessment- figures a few months ago, he phoned the ,as- sessrnent office in Goderich. He said. an official promised someone would visit his store but no one showed up. When Hartai phoned the assess- ment office last- week after: te= ceiving his tax notice, the person responsible for the commercial sec- tor was on holidays and no one else could provide any answers. - Jesse's Journey arrives to area on Aug. 10-11 By Scott Nixon T -A Reporter . EXETER - - After four months on the road John Davidson will fi- nally hit the Exeter arca as he walks across the country liar his fund- raiser, Jesse's Journey. ' Inspired by his scan, Jesse Davidson; who suffers from• Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Davidson hopes to raise. $I() million duringhis 8,300 -kilometre trip. ,- . Local residents can help the cause by participating when Davidson comes to Lucan, Grand Bend and St. Marys. - in Lucan on Aug. 8-9, the Lucan-Biddulph firefighters will be holding a barrccuc at Darlings E'oodland during suppertime'to raise money for the cause. On Aug. 10, the firefighters will pick up Dav- idson in Elginfield and drive him to Lucan,_ where a special ccr- cmeny will he held at approximately 4 p.m. in the centre of town. Also on Aug. 10, Davidson will'visit Grand Bend at approximate- ly 6 p.m., when he will walk down Main Street to the Lion's pa- vilion where speeches and cheques will be presented. ` or Continued on page 2 Hartai also' phoned MPP Helen Johns' office but the staff on' hand were not able to • address -his con- cerns. •' 'Properly ovners'h:ivc until Aug. 31 to file an appeal on the 1998 as- sessment or Sept. 9 if an amended assessment notiee'was.re eivcd. Not all taxpayers are in.the same , The taxes:at Stedman's V&S in Exeter have decreased slightly. Bob" =Gchan owns,the business hut not' the building. However.'he is still, rc- spensible for paying:his store's por- tion_of theproperty taxes. Geban said the assessment "went up a touch" but pert of tlic building - was empty for a portion of .1997 •which put it in a lower lax class. ' Exeter treasurer and tax collector Elizabeth Bell .said :some `of the smaller retail businesses have been hit harder in the re -assessment. "It's mostly the re -assessment," she said when explaining the tax in creases. in total, Exeter commercial apd industrial assessments dropped from 1997. This meant ..the- town -was. not able to -maintain the sally ratio of the: multi -residential, cern mcrcial,' industrial 'and residential taxes as last year. •• The husine s. tax was also elms-.' inated. A change in tax ratios'has also af• - fected taxes. Under the new 'cgisla- 'tion. residential taxes arc at a.ratio of 1.0 and Huion .County set the multi -residential, industrial and res- idential taxes at -a ratio of _1.1. the highest allowed hill adecrease, from previous years. Exeter uouncil ' still needed to raise the same amount of money so residential taxes have to pick up the difference , which resulted -in a $89.064 increase in taxes for hone • owners. The Huron County portion of the tax hill also lncrcased ,because the province downloaded. many pro- - 'vincial programs to counties and re Bions. in exchange. the -province said it would pay half ' the 'res • - idential cducation.ratc. The picture for property owners and tenants may not get any bright-' er next year. The province has . handed' out grants to ensure the downloading did not result in• tax . increases this year hut '‘,611 not guarantee the grants a:ill continue. People_ in the communities sur- rounding' Exeter; have not received -their tax notices yet. . Lucan administrator Ron Rcvnncr expects some businesses in Lucan ' will also. see tax -hikes •which could have dire impacts. -He said the in-, creases could put some businesseti under if they are already' financially ,"on the 'edge" . He maintains ,it's out of Lucan's - hands. - "'there's nothing we can - really do for them:: he said., - Come to the Rodeo EXETER -. Spectators w ill be . treated to a full rodeo prograiu Sat- urday' and Sunday at 2 .p.m. at the South Huron Recreation Centre: The event is one of the top eight rodeos in Ontario and is part of the Dodge 'Truck Rodeo -Series. It is a fully sanctioned Ontario Rodeo As-' sociation'event with cowboys and. cowgirls competing for the year- end finals. Organizers. promise the Exeter Rodeo will attract .some of the -top competitors in the province. A Bar K Rodeo Productions is once again managing the rodeo. Steer wrestling, barrel racing, hull riding, bareback riding,+ saddle bronc riding, team roping, calf rop- ing and mutton busting •arc all on tap. Here is a brief description of the , events; • Steer wrestling After beginning behind a harrier, ihe steer wrestler rides along lite left,. sidc'uf the running steer. He then slides itif the horseand grabs the steer by the horns. 'Alter stop- ping.or turning the steer, the wres- tier uses leverage. strength and technique to wrestle it. to the ground. -The clock stops when the steer is Tying Orr its side with all lour legs pointing the saute direction. The steer is kept in position in prepara- tion I'or the contestant's dismount by a "hazer" (a. helper chosen. by the wrestler). Barrel racing In •barrel racing. .the contestant enters the arena at full speed on a sprinting horse The horse triggers an electronic eye to start the clod.. -The racer rides a cloverleaf pattern ' around three • •barrels, and sprints - back out of the arena, tripping the eye to stop the clock. The ridet rei ceives a live -second penally for overturning a barrel. • Bull riding • Bull riders must have the reflexes and the body control of a gymnast to be successful. A hull rider stays- on by cleans of a ilatthraided rope With a loose handhold. Using his grip and. a little dry res- in, lie keeps the rope tight around the girth of the hull, ,just •behind the ;front legs. Bull riders are not re- quired to "mark out" the, hull or Spur at all times, but they increase Continued on page 2 Floor Model Clearance Tinneyq Savings up to 50% 1 1 ioi' I itr;iil:i 'I' t* lW'indowi' 1li front, 467 Main Si. Exeter � 235-0173