Zurich Citizens News, 1977-12-08, Page 4Page 4,
Citizens News, December 8, '1977
Cold reality
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Planning is vital
At last Friday's meeting of County
Council, when budget projections for the
coming year were tabled, the cost of
operating the county's planning depart-
ment was discussed at length.
Council turned down the planning
boards request for another senior planning
technician, but did give tentative approval
to six percent increases for the existing
staff of one planning director, two planners
and a planning technician.
Councils main concern was with the
substantial costs increases proposed plan-
ning board budget represented, up some 36
percent from last year. Morris Reeve Bill
Elston said planning board costs were get-
ting "completely out of control" and said
ways should be found to reduce the cost of
planning instead of asking taxpayers to
meet yearly increases.
Goderich reeve Bill Clifford told coun-
cil the costs of planning have been in-
creasing in recent years, especially since
municipalities have been formulating
secondary plans to the county's official
plan with the help of the planning depart-
ment. He noted that if council vetoed the
request to add another planner, the process
of completing secondary plans for
municipalities would be slowed down.
Exeter Reeve Eldrid Simmons said
hiring another planner would be cheaper
Wasted
`Tis the season to be jolly' and it's also
the time of year for the federal
government's version of a horror story, the
Auditor -General's report.
As with past reports, fiscal mis-
management consumed much of the
report's pages, but this year in keeping
with the latest parliament hill fad, un-
authorized information disclosures, we
learn that ifs not all that difficult to find out
what your next door neighbor pays in taxes.
According to Ruben Rosen, a specialist
hired from the private sector by the
Auditor -General's department, computer
security in the federal government is very
lax.
than asking the municipalities to hire out-
side consultants when their secondary
plans were underway, and accused council
of "not looking far enough ahead on this."'
The argument should serve to reinforce
the fact that planning is vitally important
in Huron County. agriculture is at the base
of the county's economy. and land is
agricultures most important resource.
Huron is under pressure from expanding
urban areas in other counties, and there is
also substantial pressure to develop more
lakefront property, with the increase in use
and population that represents.
The county councillors are to be com-
mended for seeking to hold the line both on
rising costs and the growth of a
bureaucracy. But any restrictions imposed
on the planning department should be
carefully weighed against the departments
ability to function efficiently and effective-
ly. Huron needs a strong and competent
planning department. That is going to cost
the taxpayers more as other costs rise. But
planning mistakes here in Huron could
have far more serious consequences than if
they were made in other, less agricultural-
lyoriented areas.
County council should keep the plan-
ning department high on its list of
priorities, and be careful that budget
restrictions don't limit its effectiveness.
Huron Expositor
oney
The Unemployment Insurance Com-
mission which has been a target for
previous auditor -generals received careful
scrutiny from Rosen. In 1976 Rosen es-
timates that there was an overpayment of
95 million dollars in U.I.C. benefits in addi-
tion to five million dollars in overpayments
discovered by U.I.C.'s own fiscal control
programs.
One•can hope that -the parliamentarians
can take some time from the criticism of
the RCMP and take a look at something
where there are quite a few secrets that we
the public don't know about: the public ser-
vice.
I
FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Lida
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario ,Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editor - Tom Creech
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
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Miscellaneous
Rumblings
By
TOM CREECH
This lottery panne
Turn the pages of time back about four years ago....the
1974 cars hac just been on the market for a few months,
Pierre and 'Maggie' were the effervescent hip couple of the
70's, the word `Watergate' was beginning to take on a new
significance in the United States and the word `lottery' took
out Canadian citizenship papers.
It was at this time that a diminutive Frenchman by the
name of Drapeau told the Canadian public that the 1976
Olympiad would be self-financing...and we believed him.
But the pocketbooks of Canadians were not going to es-
cape unscathed from this massive undertaking for we could
participate in the Olympic lottery and become an `instant
millionaire.'
As the years rolled on and the millions rolled in, it
became apparent that this might be a fine way to make
some bucks.
After the Olympic lottery had died, its son Loto-Canada
was born and the millions continued to roll in only this time
to the federal government.
Meanwhile back at Queens Park, plans were being for-
mulated by King Billy and cohorts to divert some of this
green stuff to the Ontario coffers and low and behold `Win-
tario' became the newest game to play, only this time in-
stead of spending two and half hours of your wages. you
could get those thrills and chills of becoming an almost
winner for only a buck a throw.
Something else was needed: a lottery that didn't cost as
much as Loto-Canada to play but gave bigger prizes away
than Wintario and so the Provincial was born.
Soon the gospel according to Provincial spread to Vic-
toria, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Edmonton, the masses
responded and the millions rolled in.
This somewhat sardonic view of lotteries is used to
emphasize the one fact that all lotteries have in common:
they are big business.
In North America lotteries are operating in 24
provinces and states with Ontario the thirdlargestmarket
jehind New York and Michigan. In the 1976-77 fiscal year,
not including Loto or Olympic sales $218,423,475 was spent
on lottery tickets in Ontario.
Based on annual per capita sales of weekly biweekly
lotteries, Wintario is the most popular lottery in North
America with 85.9 percent of Ontario households having
purchased at least one Wintario ticket since its existence.
Lottery ticket sales gut across every socio-economic
group in the province. According to the 1976-77 Ontario
Lottery Corporation Annual Report, `There does not appear
to be a significant difference in participation by income
groupexcept as you might expect those people in higher in-
come levels tend to participate to a greater degree. 90 per-
cent over $10,000 as compared to 76.3 percent under that
figure.'
In a chart that accompanied the above statistics a few
interesting facts surface. In terms of education and occupa-
tion university graduates in professional occupations tend
to buy fewer Wintario and Provincial tickets. When examin-
ing the sales in term of income, the populous who earns
$10.000 or more purchases more tickets on a percentage of
category basis than do the lower income brackets.
One can therefore infer that its your upper income blue
collar worker who buys the largest percentage of Wintario
and Provincial tickets.
An aspect of lottery sales that to my knowledge has not
been examined, is the percentage of income that lower in-
come groups expend on lottery tickets as compared to the
upper income groups.
I suspect that its the people who can least afford it who
spend the most money on these games and could turn out to
be one of the more regressive `taxes' that we have.
That's essentially what government run lotteries are, a
tax, albeit a voluntary one. Maybe they're a good idea in
that funds are allotted to certain areas that otherwise
might not receive much government financial support but I
wonder if we're not creating a gambling mentality that in
the long run could be harmful to society.
Take for example the University of Waterloo. At that
institution student fees can be refunded if a student makes a
request. Replacing mandatory fees is, you guessed it, a
lottery with first prize one year's paid tuition.
Illegal lotteries have been with us for a long time, legal
lotteries have been here for about five years and I'll give
you three to one odds that they are going to be present for a
long time to come.
The illness you'll never see
coming. Get in shape—and
don't give the enemy
a big target.
Fitness is fun.
Try some.
Pa7R T/C/PLr7CT/Of