Times Advocate, 1995-11-22, Page 1SEIP'S
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If you don't understand, you're not alone
By Bruce Shaw
EXETER - So, your taxes have
gone up. Your neighbor, whose
house is assessed more than yours,
has gone down. Why is council
raising my taxes; I thought they
Said they weren't going to increase
taxes? My house is assessed more
than I paid for it just
last June - what's go-
ing on?
Gerald Morgan and
Bill Frye from the
Provincial Assess-
ment Office tried to
point out to the coun-
cillors everything
made perfect sense.
Councillor Roy Triebner wanted to
know why one house had its assess-
ment go up $30,000 and another up
by $50,000 had such drastic tax bill
differences: one had a reduction of
$180 and the other went up $270.
"My
asses
than 1
it just
- wha
Councillor Bob Spears wanted to
know if the age of the house had
something to do with the increases
- were, in effect, older houses being
hit harder. Reeve Bill Mickle asked
if two identical houses in different
parts of the county would pay ex-
actly the same county and educa-
tion taxes.
The answers were
interesting, and the
complexity of the is-
sue was not lost on
council.
Morgan said the
overall assessment
process deals with a
very detailed analy-
sis of all sales in all parts of a com-
munity. The previous assessment
was conducted in 1988 and the
most recent in 1992 with considera-
tion given to the two adjacent
years: 1991 and 1993. The analysis
house is
sed more
paid for
last June
is going
on?"
includes an estimate of land values,
their fluctuations and their re-
lationship to other properties. At
this point (1992), there is more
competition for "lower end, starter
homes" and so their "market value"
has increased. " 'Sales dictate as-
sessment' and there were lots of
sales in that period to give us a very
thorough and complete picture of
market activity to justify the assess-
ment."
In explaining why it is possible
for assessment to exceed current
market value, Morgan added that
1992 is the base, ". . . and right
now we're on a down -swing."
The good news is that although
the overall increase for the county
is 30 per cent, Exeter's taxes for
county and education will decrease
by $180,000 if things remain the
same as last year. Exeter's res-
idential taxes have gone up while
Lucan gets educated on
user pay garbage system
Brenda Burke T -A staff
LUCAN - A user pay garbage
open house was held at Leprechaun
Hall Thursday night in an effort to
inform the public about the pro-
gram affecting approximately 640
households in Lucan beginning Jan.
1.
With a user pay system in place,
council expects a 30 to 40 per cent
reduction in landfill wastes.
Last year Lucan disposed of 563
tonnes of garbage at a total cost of
$76,695 including $40,000 for the
collection, $34,051 for landfill fees
and $2,644 for special collection.
Each household, through their tax
bill, paid $109 per year for garbage
and $22 per year for recycling. The
commercial garbage rate was $154
per year. This year total waste costs
have risen to $80,186 with tipping
fees at $62 per tonne.
"We've only had one person op-
posed to (user pay)," said Village
Administrator Ron Reymer while
attending the open house.
Reymer is confident a user pay
system will be accepted by res-
idents.
"I expect it will go over fairly
well," he said. `People know what
user pay means and it's not as if
we're the first ones to do it."
Greig Archibald, coordinator of
operations and marketing at Blue -
water Recycling Association, in-
formed people at the open house
using a display of recyclable ar-
ticles and information.
"User pay will see twice as much
(recyclables) come out to the
plant," he said.
When Exeter began a user pay
system in 1993, it's amount of re-
cycling doubled within the first six
months. Concerning Bosanquet,
which began a user pay system the
same year, Archibald added, "They
already have 80 per cent in re-
ar Continued on page 2
business and industrial have de-
clined. This phenomenon is re-
flected in the sales in those three ar-
eas; housing sales have been brisk
in comparison to businesses and in-
dustries,
The answers to your questions
can be found at the open house the
assessment office is holding on
Nov. 22 and 23 at the Masonic
Hall. If you're not happy with the
answers you receive, you can al-
ways appeal, for $20.
Members of the First Exeter Scouts organization unload a
truck full of paper Saturday morning. From back to front,
Kristie Van Dongen, Peter Darbishire, Marshall Jeffery, Jer-
rold Rundle, Ron MacEachern, Kim Dawg..and Scott Keys.
See story on page 2.
Community salutes Chief Gary Middleton
EXETER -When Exeter fire-
fighters say goodbye to one of
their own they do it with humor,
enthusiasm and sincerity.
This was the case Saturday night
as one of the best kept secrets of
the fire department came to an end
when recently -retired fire chief
Gary Middleton walked into a
large crowd of well-wishers at the
Rec. Centre auditorium.
The genuinely -surprised Middle-
ton was piped to the head table
where he would be the target of
many people he had come in con-
tact with over his long career with
the fire department. It was "roast
Gary night" as speaker after speak-
er poked fun at the popular chief.
Middleton, who started with the
Exeter Fire Department as a vol-
unteer Dec. 1, 1960, retired re-
cently. Newly -appointed chief
John Morgan paid tribute to Mid-
dleton's contribution to the de-
partment. "We're particularly
proud of the fire prevention pro-
gram which was set up by Gary,"
Morgan said.
Among the humorous comments,
a variety of speakers pointed out
Middleton's contributions to the
fire department. Presentations were
made by: Exeter Mayor Ben Hoo-
genboom; Tom Tomes, of the Ex-
eter Fire Board and Bill Armstrong
of the Exeter Firemen's Associa-
tion.
Middleton also received a pin
commemorating his" 35 years of
service from Ontario Firemarshah,
Bill Rowley.
After spending most of the eve-
ning on the receiving end of a va-
riety of speeches, it was finally
Middleton's turn to get even.
"I'm going to have to keep my
comments short because I didn't
have time to make any notes," he
said, referring to his habit of using
post -it notes as a memory aid.
In thanking everyone who at-
tended the surprise party, Middle-
ton took time out to salute his fel-
low firefighters and their wives.
"Our wives have been very sup-
portive, especially when it's never
certain what unexpected circum -
stances a firefighter will run into
when responding to a call," he said.
He concluded by stating his suc-
cess as chief was only as good as
the officers and firefighters in the
department. "I've been extremely
fortunate in this regard," he said.
The setup
M.C. Jackie Wells called on sev-
eral of Middleton's friends to com-
ment on their personal experiences.
Among those taking part were: Jim
Hoffman, Dashwood Fire De-
partment; Robert Drummond, Fire
Board member; Peter Snell, former
Willing participant
firefighter; Peter Armstrong, fire-
fighter; Robert Pertschy, Stephen
Township tire chief; George Finch,
Exeter OPP and Donna Hoffman.
The party continued with dancing
to the music of Eddie and the Ed-
sels.
Surprise
Firemen's Association president 8i1! Armstrong, right,
presents a gift to retiring fire chief Gary Middleton Saturday
night.
One of the highlights of Gary Middleton's retirement party was when both Middleton and
chief John Morgan were invited to become members of the `Knights of Firefighting" de-
scribed by Stephen Township chief Robert Pertschy as an ancient and honorable society.
Both were told they had to remove their shoes and socks and knee! blindfolded to begin the
initiation ceremony. They were told to use fire axes to cut up a two dollar bill as part of the
ritual. Guess what, the socks were substituted and were sliced to pieces by their un-
suspecting owners.
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