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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2005-09-21, Page 1e W��0:: Iilam' 0 DEERE HURON TRACTOR (519)235-1115 www. h u rontractor.com dl i MORTGAGE INTELLIGENCE A GMAC Company 519.238.HOME Making it easy... SunCoast.ca TIMES -ADVOCATE Exeter, Ontario, Canada Wednesday, September 21, 2005 1.25 (includes GST) Hensall wants out Firefighters battle car blaze By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF HENSALL — After over- whelming support at a public meeting Monday night, a committee push- ing the deamalgamation of Hensall from Bluewater will take its ideas to coun- cil. In a nearly full Hensall Community Centre, 148 Hensall residents voted to take the next step towards pulling out of Bluewater, while only three opposed it. However, the deamal- gamation committee has a long road ahead of it — its next step is to make a for- mal presentation to Bluewater council, which committee chairperson Kay Wise said she will do as soon as she can get on council's agenda. Deamalgamation has been an issue in Hensall for well over a year. Residents packed the Hensall United Church in the summer of 2004 to hear about the issue and a petition on deamalgama- tion had the support of 93 per cent of the population (516 signatures). That petition noted the resi- dents' unhappiness with amalgamation, saying Hensall was coerced into amalgamation with Bluewater and is asking the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to rescind the amalgamation order and return the local municipal government to Hensall. Monday night's meeting was a chance for the com- mittee to present its busi- ness plan to residents and, based on that information, have the public either give the committee its blessing to move forward or stop the deamalgamation efforts. Monday night Wise said Hensall residents are unhappy with the services the former village has received since amalgama- tion about five years ago. She said services lost include the watering and care of flower boxes, leaf pickup, sweeping down- town streets, maintaining and upgrading street flags and Christmas decora- tions and erecting a new fence downtown. Wise said those duties are now done by volunteers. She said if Hensall dea- malgamates, residents won't have to worry about garbage in the streets and streets needing sweeping. As a result of this dissat- isfaction, Wise's commit- tee looked at whether or not separating from Bluewater was financially viable or, as Wise put it, "To see if we were better off out of Dodge." According to the com- mittee's business plan, done chiefly by Nick Bjelan (who has 25 years of budgeting experience and is the chief financial officer for South Huron and Alexandra Marine hospitals), an independent Hensall would have a bal- anced budget in 2007. Bjelan predicted rev- enues of $1.2 million in a 2007 Hensall budget, with expenses of just over $1 million, leaving a surplus of $163,000, $100,000 of which would be trans- ferred to reserves for roads and infrastructure. Answering the question why the committee wants deamalgamation, Bjelan's presentation states that Bluewater council has no agenda for Hensall and the municipality has a lack of respect for the municipality. Also, he said water and sewage issues are not being addressed and there are concerns about village signage. In preparing his busi- ness plan, Bjelan said the municipality hasn't been co-operative at providing information. He added the Hensall group is breaking new ground — there is no precedence for deamalga- mation in the province, but "we're further than most people have gone." He added some munici- palities chose not to amal- gamate — places such as Oil Springs, Newbury and Howick — and are doing fine. In order for a Hensall separation to occur, Bjelan said it would have to be financially viable, would have to leave the rest of Bluewater with fair taxation levels, would need the consent of coun- cil and then need to be taken to the county level and the province. Bjelan said there is no funding from the province for dea- malgamation. As for how pulling out of Bluewater would affect the rest of the municipali- ty, Bjelan's report stated taxation collected from Hensall in 2005 repre- sented only 8.26 per cent of Bluewater's general taxation levy. "This wouldn't be a hin- drance to Bluewater if we left," he said. In making up his fman- cial forecasts, Bjelan said he looked at Bluewater's financial statements since 2000 and used the Consumer Price Index to factor in inflation. He described the figures as estimates prepared on a "without prejudice basis." As part of the study, Bjelan showed how homes in Hensall have a per home debt of $980 because of the new arena in Zurich, while there was no debt per household before amalgamation. see HENSALL page 3 Above, Exeter firefighter Jeff Musser battles a car fire at South Huron District High School last Thursday at 1:15 p.m. Principal Jeff Reaburn said students noticed the car was smoking from under the hood and notified a teacher and custodians, who went out to the fire with extinguishers and called the fire department. No one was injured and there was no damage to the school. Reaburn said a wiring or mechanical mal- function caused the fire.The car belonged to a student. (photos/Scott Nixon) SHOWCASE OF COMMUNITY GIFTS Saturday, October 1st FIREMEN'S BREAKFAST AT THE FIREHALL 7 AN. TO 11 A.M, Q • ON THE GROUNDS OF TRIVITT MEMORIAL ANGLICAN CHUR 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. • Entertainment (for all ages) • Displays • Children's Play Area • Food Sunday, October 2nd at 3 p.m. Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church Community "Service of Thanksgiving"