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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-12-14, Page 1• Tax reform means good news... and bad new BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER It may be a while before there is a province - wide change in the property tax formulas for municipal ratepayers, but there are indications that Goderich taxpayers might be in for some good news - bad news - in time for the 1979 tax collections. Jack Letner of the Ministry of Revenue told council at its committee meeting Monday evening that if staff from his office does a study of assessments in Goderich .... and if there are significant inequities in assessments discovered .... the Minister of Revenue Lorne Maek could allow the town of Goderich to levy taxes under Section 86 of the Assessment Act which permits certain new equalization factors to be used immediately. "But my minister has to know there are inequities before he will approve a resolution," said Letner. It didn't take long for town councillors to pass a motion to request the Minister of Revenue to make a study of assessment in Goderich. That motion will go before council next week. Letner said the report would probably be completed by February and if the minister agrees there are inequities, the resolution could be passed in time for the 1979 taxation. "It is a full reassessment of a municipality," said Letner. "It equalizes property in a class, using as a base market value." Letner explained it would equalize residential property to residential, commercial to commercial, industrial to industrial and so on. "It wouldn't equalize one class to another," Letner was careful to point out. In Cambridge, for instance, a study revealed that the same home valued at $60,000 ... depending where it was located in the city ... would pay taxes anywhere from $627 to $1697 per annum. "Essentially the same home," said Letner. By using Section 86 of the. Assessment Act, the taxes in Cambridge on like property were equalized. Some taxes went up: some went down. No additional tax dollars are raised through this scheme. Reeve Eileen Palmer said the County of Huron was asking for a study to be done, and she wondered if it was necessary for Goderich to request the Minister of Revenue to have a study done as well. Letner told her that each municipality 'in Huron County would have to apply on its own. There will be no cost to municipalities. There are new equalization factors to be published in 1979, Letnertold council, which will give a "much more realistic picture",' Municipalities will have until November 1, 1979 to appeal those new equalization factors. Letner said he had no idea when property tax reform would be enacted. He did say that market value assessment without property tax reform would be folly. In 1970 the province took over the assessment function. Market value assessment was. planned for 1974 and again for 1976, but never became a reality. Former Ontario treasurer Darcy McKeough found property tax reform would be "too costly for government" although McKeough had planned to get this program off the ground this year. Council discuss -° director's job BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER On Monday evening during the first meeting of the new 1979-80 council, a committee meeting only, councillors and Mayor Harry Worsell went into committee of the whole to talk with members of the Goderich Recreation and Community Centre Board. The press and public was called back into the session after about one-half hour to `see the following ,m otion passed: "That the necessary ad be placed for a recreation director; that the recreation board interview and recommend to Goderich Town Council the successful can- didate for their consideration ; and that the ads to read that salary will be commensurate with experience and qualifications." Mary Donnelly, a member of the rec board, said in open session she felt the interviewing committee should be kept small - perhaps the rec board chairman and vice-chairman along with the two council representatives, still to be named. The only member of council to speak against going into committee of the whole was Coun- cillor, Elsa Haydon. She pointed out the discussion would centre around the job of the recreation director, not personalities to fill it, and for that reason should be open to the public and to the press. Deputy -reeve Bob Allen and Councillor Stan Profit voted with her, but the motion to go into committee of the whole was approved. Board gives equipment priority BY JEFF SEDDON Huron County Board of Eduction trustees didn't want to get involved in a buy now, pay later scheme Monday night because they were concerned they wouldn't be able to pay later. Trustees were hedgy about approving a recommendation to set aside about $75,000 to replace outdated or worn out . vocational equipment in the county's high schools. The recommendation was made by an ad hoc committee set up to investigate complaints from teachers that equipment in vocational classrooms was badly in need of repair or replacement. Complaints have been coming to the board for two years and a committee composed of four trustees, high school prin- cipals, school department heads and teachers toured the classrooms and came up with several recommendations for the board. Board members recognized the problem and agreed something had to be done about it but couldn't agree on its priority. Some arguedthat it would be foolish for the board to decide now to spend that kind of money on equipment replacement without knowing what impact it would have on other expenses in the budget. They felt that if the board made equipment replacement a top priority it may find later in Turn to'page 24 • the derich IGNAL-STA YEAR 131-50 Thursday, December 14, 1978 35 CENTS PER COPY Tinney acclaimed BY JEFF SEDDON Jack Tinney, reeve of Hay township, was acclaimed warden of Huron County in a peculiar turn of events at the inaugural session of county council Tuesday. Tinney was ac- claimed' after . Harold Robinson, reeve of Howick township, used his five minute cam- paign speech to council to withdraw from the election for warden. The Howick reeve said he felt support promised Tinney by councillors after last year's election for warden was a "hard wall to run up against". and withdrew from the election. Tinney opposed Gerry Ginn for warden last year and was defeated by the Goderich township reeve. He apparently turned last year's defeat into this year's victory. Robinson told council he had discovered the support Tinney had been promised when he began campaigning for warden. Candidates for thejob usually run a personal type campaign. •, amongst county councillors prior to the inaugural session and Robinson said when he had visited members of county council he had been told many had promised to support Tinney after his loss to Ginn in 1977. He said he was convinced that Tinney had the election half won before he even started campaigning thi year. Tinney told council he planned no major changes at county council adding that any changes would come from council since he was only the chairman. The Hay reeve conceded to. council that he may not be the most intelligent or able man for the job but promised to try hard. He said he was not all that concerned with the need for county council to be restructured and said he planned no proposals for council to consider. Restructuring was a favorite topic of Gerry % Ginn's and he used his parting remarks, to council to mention that council should be prepared to take a look at the matter. Ginn always claimed that a 45 member council was too large to effectively govern the county and that many of the members were not needed. He felt' that many municipalities, or perhaps all, did not•need to send • both a reeve and deputy - reeve to council and suggested that deputy - reeves be taken off the county council roll. Tinney said he felt deputy -reeves played "an important part in the county" and that the role was an "education for them for when they become reeve". - Tinney, a fatherof eight, has been a politician for 16 years, the past six of which have been spent at the county level. Robinson first came to council in 1965 and served until 1972 when his township "took the halter off and turned me out to pasture" because of a bylaw requiring county township employees to retire,at age 65. He said four years later he was approached to get back into politics and the "halters were put back on and we were asked to run the township again". Retiring reeve Ginn told Tinney that his philosophy of government was to always be vocal. He told council that if members had anything to say "for God's sake say it". He said he always did and although he quite often got in Turn to page 8 • erarxr,clairns trees a problem BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER There hasn't been much -snow to plow in Gorleri-ch-so-far-this winter, but town foreman of public works, Stan Meriam, told council Monday evening there would be a problem on the new sidewalks on The Square when it is time to take the snow plow up there. Meriam pointed out there will be difficulty plowing around the boxes left for the trees to be planted on The Square and warned that when the trees are in the boxes -and growing -if will be even more difficult. "We get five months of winter in Goderich, maybe six," reasoned Meriam. "We have a park right across the road with 100 trees in it." Commissioner of Works Ken Hunter hadn't arrived at the meeting when the matter was brought to council's attention, Councillor Elsa Haydon felt Hunter would have some thoughts on the problem. Council also agreed that members of the Business Improvement Area (BIA)_should. be notified concerning Meriam's fears. In other locations in town, tree trimmers are doing their work this fall. In answer to a question posed by Reeve Eileen Palmer, Meriam told council that citizens are free to help themselves to any wood that is left following such trimmings. Chairman says GEDC position is "laughable" Retiring Huron County warden Gerry Ginn makes some adjustments on the chain of office after he turned the chain over to 1979 warden Jack Tinney, reeve of Hay township. Ginn, past reeve of Goderich township, turned over the chain of office, the gavel, and the warden's pin to Tinney acclaimed .warden in the inaugural county council Tuesday. (photo by Jeff the key to the after county was session of Seddon) he McManus says zone park now or I quit BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Gord McManus, chairman of the Goderich Economic Development Committee, says he will not attend or chair another meeting of the committee until the Industrial Park is rezoned or until he receives assurances that it will be rezoned promptly. He said the committee has been "frustrating"him for the last year. "It bothers me that we have not been able to oblige potential customers. I think we will function much better when clear cut decisions are made (about the Park) and guidelines given," McManus . told the other committee members when they met last Wednesday. McManus read the committee a letter from Milt Place of Goderich Glass stating that he would have to defer his plans to build in Industrial Park since he had not yet received approval to build there. "I'm quite sure he would have proceeded with his plans if we could have speeded up operations," McManus told the committee. He went on to say it wasn't the first time someone had been discouraged from locating in the Park because of red tape. "During the election, many councillors said they . wanted to bring new industry to town. They should be brought up to date on how difficult this is," said McManus. McManus told the committee that he "has spent hours" with people who are interested in locating in the Industrial Park, "only to have them come back and say you don't know what you're talking about, you haven't anything to sell." "It certainly puts you in a laughable position," he said. "If the park is not zoned industrial by the next meeting, why bother to have a committee. I do- not want to serve on a committee with no input," he continued. The committee agreed to write a letter to Milt Place stating that it would be willing to con- sider any of his future proposals to locate in Industrial Park but that it could not reserve the present location he had requested. OTHER OPINIONS OF COMMITTEE The committee members then went on to discuss their own opinions of the committee and its functions. When asked if he would be willing to serve on the committee for another term, Bruce Sully said he was anxious to be on the committee if he could be of some help but that he was won- dering about the committee's value. He said on many occasions he had also found it very rrustrating to serve,0 the committee. j Hcard the Comnriitteeembers were just like any other citizens trying to promote in- dustry in the ehrnmunity but, over the years, a number of stumbling blocks had been frustrating them, with one of the biggest of these stumbling blocks being the rezoning of the Industrial Park. He said he was not blaming any one group in particular but he went on to say that the committee couldn't be expected to have responsibility without also having some authority: He said he felt the committee had to be improved in some way with some type of identity and guidelines to follow. "We need a clear delineation of our authority and responsibilities," he told the other com- mittee members. He went on to say that he felt it was ex- tremely important for the community to have a broad industrial base and that no one was more anxious than himself to see this happen. _..It's a difficult position to sit in a town with a population of 7,000 and have 1,000 employees. I'd like someone sitting up there with me," he said. SELF-INFLICTED? Elsa Haydon said she has felt frustration sitting on the committee also but she said she felt quite a bit of that frustration was self- inflicted. She said the other members shouldn't think the committee is, "a waste of time just because things don't go as we want them." She went on to say that whenever she brought up the subject of the committee's terms of reference or guidelines, there was always "a certain impatience" about it. Dave Gower said that perhaps it ,was "the nature of the beast" which made the GEDC so frustrating. He said parallels couldn't be drawn between the Planning Board and the GEDC because the Planning Board could bring their matters to a final conclusion while the GEDC was more of an investigative or fact-finding body. Huron County Development Officer and advisor to the GEDC, Spence Cummings, agreed with Gower. "This committee is getting mixed up in planning. This is an action committee. You try to sell. land and every time you sell a piece of land, you have to go through the complete routine." The "complete routine" of rezoning a piece of land (which at present must usually happen before the land in the Park can be sold), in- volves taking the proposition to the Planning Boardrwhich in turn makes recommendations to town council which in turn formulates a rezoning bylaw and circulates the proposed bylaw to those within 400 feet of the proposed zoning change and then sends it on to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMR). If there are any objections to the rezoning which the OMB considers valid, a hearing it held before the rezoning bylaw can be passed. SUBCOMMITTEE The GEDC recommended to town council some months ago that the Industrial Park proper be rezoned industrial so that there would not be so many delays when someone wanted to buy a piece of property in the Park for industrial use. This recommendation then went to a subcommittee made up of members from the GEDC, Planning Board and Town Council who were to study reports on the .Industrial Park, in particular the Inducon Report, and come up with a plan for the Park. Ken Hunter, Commissioner of Works; said this subcommittee has been busy trying to deal with property lines, road patterns and rail patterns and will report to Town Council in January. The GEDC passed a motion to recommend a joint meeting of council, the Planning Board and the GEDC when the subcommittee presents this report. A letter from CHAMPCO was read to the GEDC meeting suggesting that a sign and map showing the different industries located in the Industrial Park be put up at the Industrial Park entrance. Mrs. Haydon said she had been suggesting this type of thingfor a long time but perhaps now, with a big company behind her, the idea would be made into a reality.