The Citizen, 2015-02-26, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015. PAGE 7.
Prolonged sub-zero weather
causes pipes, drains to freeze
You’ve got a friend in me
What’s better than Toy Story?Toy Story on ice! Members of
the Brussels Skating Club brought the story of Buzz
Lightyear and Woody the Cowboy to life as part of the club’s
‘A Night at the Movies’ celebration last week. Shown are,
from left: Madison Koch, Jesa Fischer and Allyson
Barbour. (Denny Scott photo)
Huron County budget
approved despite
concerns over process
Continued from page 1
“We haven’t cut one thing out of this
budget.”
Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn,
however, felt that the budget could
be trimmed even further, saying that
he felt a two per cent tax increase
was too high. He said the growth in
the county was only 0.8 per cent, a
figure to which he felt the increase
should be closer.
Dave Jewitt, Central Huron
Deputy-Mayor, however, said he felt
he could support the budget with a
two per cent tax increase, but agreed
with Blumhagen and Van
Diepenbeek that the county’s path
was completely unsustainable.
He reiterated council’s need for a
priority-setting session where
service levels need to be evaluated
and reviewed further.
Council approved Blumhagen’s
budget proposal as presented.
In a chart Blumhagen provided to
council, he detailed the effect the
county’s established taxation rate
will have on county residents, taking
into account the rise in assessment
nearly across the board.
For the county’s portion of taxes,
the rate across all property classes
will actually represent a decrease of
3.28 per cent in tax rate.
In residential, county taxes on
$100,000 of assessment will be
$527.96, which is up 0.87 per cent
from 2014. This comes in a year
where $100,000 of 2014
assessment is now worth $104,291
in 2015.
For farmland, county taxes will be
up 9.34 per cent, from $130.85 in
2014 to $143.07 in 2015 after
farmland assessment rose to levels
where $100,000 in 2014 assessment
would now be $113,049 in 2015.
County taxation will be down
slightly for the multi-residential
class at a decrease of 0.43 per cent,
while taxes will rise 11.51 per cent
in the commercial class. Industrial
land will see a large decrease in
taxation in 2015, dropping 30.24 per
cent.
The budget will be on the table for
approval by way of a bylaw early
next month.
County defers HealthKick grant to board
Huron County Council has
referred a grant request of nearly
$350,000 over the span of four years
to the newly-formed Economic
Development Board.
The grant request, made by the
HealthKick Huron program based in
Seaforth, spans from 2016 to 2019
and asks for $87,000 per year over
that time period. The basis for the
request is the program’s current
grant, which was approved in 2012
for $87,000 per year between 2012
and 2015.
Treasurer Michael Blumhagen
spoke to council about the request at
council’s Feb. 18 committee of the
whole meeting, saying he had a
number of concerns with it.
Blumhagen’s first concern, he told
councillors, was dependency.
If council were to approve the
grant request, the county would
account for 86 per cent of the
program’s annual funding.
Blumhagen said this would make the
county the program’s primary
funding source, something the
county has sought to avoid when
approving grant requests.
He also said that a dependency
had been demonstrated by the
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 8
Cold, cold cold! We have certainly
had cold weather. I have heard from
many folks about frozen water pipes
and drains in the past week and it
certainly is not fun. Hopefully one
of these days, the weather will get
warmer. A three-hour bus delay
Monday morning due to the cold
was ordered by the school board
office. I will admit that -17°C is
warmer than -24°C, but bus delays
really just cause a major problem for
working parents and bus drivers.
Children arrived at school for three
hours and then time to go home.
Hard to get much done for anyone.
Our condolences to the Schmidt
family on the passing of Grace
Schmidt. She will be missed by her
mother Vera and siblings Rosemary,
David, Pauline, Leonard, Clair,
Kevin, Ron, Joseph, Tim, Virginia
and Denise and their families. Our
sympathies to all.
Our condolences to the family of
Bill Nethery of Belgrave. He will be
missed by his children Dianne and
Andy and their families. Bill will be
remembered for his years as a
member of the Brussels Pipe Band
and an avid card player. Our
sympathies to all.
Our condolences to the Rapson
family on the passing of Annie
Rapson. She will be missed by
children Jim and Tom and their
families. She had been a resident of
the Ritz Villa the past few years after
living in Seaforth and retiring from
the farm in McKillop Township. Our
sympathies to all.
The Brussels Walton Trailblazers
held their monthly meeting at the
Walton Hall on Wednesday evening.
A good year so far for
snowmobiling and the trails have
been busy.
The International Plowing Match
committee had a meeting at the
Walton Hall on Thursday evening.
They met with landowners and
others to discuss the plowing match
slated for 2017.
The Cranbrook Dart Club had 21
players venture out in the cold on
Wednesday evening for darts. Team
3 - Brad Speiran and Jane Zwep,
Team 6 - Ern Lewington, Teuni
Smith and Steve Bowers and Team
8 - Karen Bowles, Ev Blake and
Frank Workman, all won four games
out of six before the lunch. Jane
Zwep took high lady shooting 111
and high men went to Murray
Houston and Ern Lewington hitting
120 each. There are some very good
players in the Cranbrook Club.
Lucky prize winner for the night was
Steve Bowers.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week to almost finish February
include Shawna Terpstra, Helen
Brenie, Steve Blake, Kathy Clark,
Tyler Williamson, Steve Knight, Joel
Dalton, Kevin McNaughton, Rachel
Sutcliffe, Bruce McDonald, Tamara
Williamson, Chris Lee, Carly
Terpstra and Terry Nichol. Happy
birthday to all.
By Jo-Ann
McDonald
Call
887-6570
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