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Home My WebLink AboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-04-05, Page 3LeYan says bridge School board costs too prohibitive budget will for Wescast pr&'ec Continuedfromfront page "Even ifcouncil had given us the land, the outcome would have been the same," hesaid. "The other thing I wanted to ex- plain is our new employee facili- ties. I think it came out in the paper that we were' going to spendington of money on landscaping. Es- sentially what we are providing are • new employee facilities for the foundry and machining people." LeVan said the previously re- ported amount of $L5 million on landscaping was inaccurate. "That's a lot shrubs," hejoked. In actuality, the previous media reports stated, following a meetinwith the representatives of Wescast and council, that $L5 million would be going to landscaping and paving the entire parking lot and $4.5 million for building expan- sion. LeVan said with the rigid Minis- try of Environment guidelines, the majority of the money being spent outside of building expansion was going to parking lot improvements and water control measures. He did mention how much was being di eCti raise taxes rected to this aspect plan, nor how much the building expansion would cost. However, LeVan did say the landscaping portion was a "very minor part in terms of the total cost." It should also be noted that the Advance -Times was told the auto parts manufacturer was preparing to enter into negotiations with the union later this year. The CEO did say he was in fa- vour of preserving the former CN bridge, but "it wasn't in the cards" for a driveway for Wescast. He said Wescast would support the town's efforts to preserve the bridge as he felt it was an attractive structure. "I apologize for the mix-up. It was as much our fault as anyone else's," LeVan said. Of coL se, this takes the pressure off council, which had reached a crescendo following reports two weeks ago in the Advance -Times that they had rejected Wescast's of- fer to purchase the land. Council said following the meet- ing with LeVan that they will now wait until the hear from the bridge preservation committee. Annual reports presented to Huron County. Council Continued from front page LIBRARY this was done with reduced staff," Beth Ross, county librarian, told Merrall said. The staff currently sits council funding remained stable for at 43, down three from the previous the county library system in 1994; year. as did the level of activity. "Last year was a transition year "Increases in library use and de - as the department was adjusting to mand for services, decreases in greatly reduced revenues." funding and impending technologi- But, that was not to indicate the cal changes provide ample opportu- county roads department was any- nities to search for new paracjjgms • thing less than busy in 1994. of library service," Ross said in her Merrall said that over 40 kilome- presentation to council. ters of road was resurfaced, with Iii confronting the rapidly chang- the relatively mild fall weather ing world of information delivery helping them achieve that. The and communications, Ross said the fork brings the total county paved library system _ has entered into a surfaces to a total of 554 km. Only strategic planning process to identi- ' 52 km of gravel roads remain under fy changes for the future. county jurisdiction. "There are several challenges Roads redone in 1994 came in facing, us. Our staff had to focus:, under the $2,126,000 budget level more on helping people with infor- at $2,088,175 mation and less on bulk provi- Of this Merrall said it was his sions."• feeling it was more important to the In January 1994, the library sys- residents of the county to have tem moved to a new. circulation paved surfaces to drive on than ser- policy whereby the public could vices such as grass cutting and borrow hooks for a longer period of weed control: two areas that were time. In her report,, Ross said that reduced to control budget expendi- 'despite the closure df eight tures. branches between 1988 and 1993 Good news also came to proper- and a stable population base, li- ty owners along the county road brary circulation in Huron County system. The actual tax load per had increased by 18 per cent. Be - property decreased. In 1992, the as- cause of financial constraints from sessment on $100,000 worth of both the county and provincial fun - property was $96.27. in 1994 that ders, resources were not available dropped to $89.47. to increase staff to accommodate Overall, the cost to drive on the this increase in library use. A drop county roads came in at $0.032 per of 10-15 per cent in circulation was kilometer. A total of 211,493,000 anticipated, based on other librar- vehicle kilometers were travelled. ies' experiences with this process. The roads expenditures came in at Our actual drop of only seven per $6,769,488 for 1994. cent indicates continued growth in "So, are- we winning? I would library use." say yes. In our needs study we have Ross told council that over half seen that our needs have decreased of the total county population have to $44,105,000 in 1994 from library cards; an exceptional figure„ $48,087,000 in 1993. The 1993 for a rural region. work led to our net improvement," Of local interest, the Belgrave Merrall told council. "We now Branch Library closed last year have a better road system than we when the Township of Morris had before at better money. We are agreed to shut it down after public winning." review and usage trends. INFIORMATION MEETING To consider the possibility of an Airport Development on Concession 1 of Morris Township adjoining the Town of Wingham Wingham Armouries Thursday, April 6th, 1995 - 7.00®8:00p.m. There ,vitt be a 10 minute presentation at 7:00 p. m. SHARP, with question & answer period to follow. Anyone with an interest in the proposed airport development is urged to attend. By HEATHER VINCENT Special to the Advance -Times CLINTON — The mill rate Will in crease approximately 10 per cent i 1995, which translates into a hike of $56.10 per household. After two defeated motions a Monday's meeting, the Huron County Board, of Education trustees narrowly passed a motion to raise the rate. The school board budget is ap- proved with board expenditures of $62,027,228. This is up slightly from the 1994 actual of $61,729,237. Some expenditures are realized through the implemen- tation of Junior Kindergarten, how- ever, this is also, supposed to raise revenues. Huron trustees were divided on how much the mill rate should be increased per household' for the 1995 budget. The blame, according to the board, goes to the federal and provincial governments for cuts in transfer payments. The increase reflects imposed mill rate changes, UIC and CPP federal increases, negotiated bene- fits packages, grant, adjustments and interest payments on capital projects. Payment from the provincial government on these projects are deferred and carry a flank debt of approximately $100,000 per year. t HCBE director Paul Carroll, calls this delay in cash flow pay- ments "a new and growing phe- nomenon." Joan Van Den Broeck, trustee for Colborne and Goderich Townships, stated she feels it is important t "recognize our responsibility fo thkeids.cost of educating our ow - n Morris and Turnberry Townshi trustee Doug Garniss did not agree with the sentiment' expressed by t Van Den Broeck. Garniss said the smaller boards should be crying foul to the province. Boards who have been "under -taxing" and who have a smaller tax base .should not have to compensate for other boards who have been spending more. "A 12 per cent increase is getting to the level that would be unaccept- able to most taxpayers. It is not fair for the HCBE to pay for the over- spending of other boards," Gamiss said. He added that this inequity is probably out of the board's control. The board's spending levelled out at $61.6 million in 1994. In 1995, the estimated spending re- mains stable with a slight increase for the implementation of a Junior Kindergarten program which will be offset by an increase in revenue. Carroll said dollars are being stretched as far as possible''iithout cutting back on supplies and servic- es for students in the classroom. next year the impact of the federal budget will be felt more. "Dollars are short and are going o be shorter still next year," Car- roll said. Huron County ranks 36 out of 40 in local taxation per household. Even with a 12.5 per cent increase, this ranking position would not have changed. y Morris Township will review ownership fees Because of recent events, the entire dog tax issue in Morris Township will have to be re- viewed by council. A discrepancy in the number of dogs counted in the north and south areas of the township creat- ed some tension among council- lors. • One resident requested a refund ✓ because his dog died a week after • the dog counter had been there. And, now Allan Dettweiller is p opposed to the dog tax because it costs more for a spayed female than it does for a neutered male. In a letter to council, Dettweill- er said that the fee should be the same for both male and female. At the Morris Township council meeting last Tuesday, clerk - treasurer Nancy Michie was in- structed to send a letter to Dett- weiller, informing him that coun- cil will be examining the whole dog tax issue, at which time they will also consider the fees for males and females. 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