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The Brussels Post, 1978-02-15, Page 21Radie Maek Winter carnival of Values =_R`)) DX.160 Mult!band Receiver Reg. 219,95 'Round the . World' Brifigs Neva from 169 " negative ground. Also has jack to accomodate headphones. 20152 shortwave bands. With speaker. Operates on 120VAC or 12VDC Expand your listening horizons with this 5-band corhMunications receiver. he DX-160 tunes: AM, CB and Ham, Longwave and two • Is YOU CAN'T BUY SERVICED SELECTION AND XPERIENCE B'UT AT BOB & BETTY'S VARIETY Main Street, vve PROVIDE ALL THREE Seaforth imOs 1000 MOO NOR 1000 gilii 0 0000 ail 100 000 00000 0000 4 Radio Shack Where the 'action' THE BRUSSE‘S POST FEBRUARY 15, 1978 Cpunty aga i nst rai sed taxes BY SHIRLEY 3. KEILLER. You've got to be kidding! That seemed to be -the attitude of county councillors who voted last Thursday at the February session of council in Goderich to a recommendation from the executive committee designed to even up taxes in. Huron for county purposes, • Bill Clifford, reeve of Gederielr; urged county councillors. to "look at what is fair and what is jot" when they perused figures that showed what the various municipal apportionments would have been had the 1975 market value assessment figures been used in 1977, .added to the equivalent equalized assessment for grants in 'lieu, together with the population base for library, Assessment of farm land in Ontario, based strictly on market values, could haVe far reaching implications. for the farming industry in this province. Nearly all land in Southern, Ontarici 'is -affected by real estate values not related to the productive agricultural value. The Huron. County Federation of Agriculture feels 'that taxation based on market value, under these circumstances, would not reflect a farmer's "ability to pay", which is supposedly- the basic principle of-faxation. TheH.F.A.'s Executive supports the' Ontario Federation of Agriculture!s - position on property tax reform,: which is outlined below:" • (1) O.I.A. has a long standing policy that property taxes should only be used to pay for services to property. Education and other people-oriented services should be supported, by some other form of taxation. The government recognized this principle when it agreed to the 50% rebate of their property tax, which farmers can apply for.But apparently, this rebate, system will not be incorporated in the ,proposed tar reform. (2) 0.F.A. believes that assessment of farm land must 'be based on productive value, not on market value. The government refuses to accept this principle in the proposed property tax reform. (3) Since the provinCial government is not prepared, at this time, to recognize the above two basic points, and since market value assessment appears to be a "sacred cow" that must not be violated, O.F.A. has proposed that if farmers are to be assessed at market value then (a) They be assessed a one unit: house, farm buildings, farm land, woodlot, etc. (b) The agricultural portion ( farm buildings, farm land, woodlot, etc.) be considered non-tax bearing assessment and legislation passed to make such a declaration permanent. The provincial government would pay the municipality an unconditional grant, equal to what the taxes would have been on the total agricultural assessment of the municipality. It should be ii*oted that this is quite different than the Over/intent paying the taxes on individual! farms. (c) The balance o the farm assessment that was applied to the residence should become the ass esSed value of the farm Koine and the farmer would pay taxes based Ott this Value, social services, Huronview, family and children's services and health costs. In general, the figures showed that urban dwellers would have paid substantially less into the county offers, while the rural dwellers would have been tagged with many more tax dollars. A recorded vote tallied 28-19 opposed to a committee recommendation that the final 1978 county apportionment be raised on the system. Those opposed were C. W. Bray, Allan Campbell, Ken -Campbell, Tom Consitt, Frank. Cook, Murray Dawson, Cecil Desjardine, Bill Elston, Gerry Ginn, Simon' Hallahan, Bob Lyons, J. F. MacDonald. Dono The government has proposed that the farm house and a deemed lot be assessed separate from the farm. O.F.A. is opposed to this proposal because a farm house is an integral part of the farm and does not bear a similar value to a house on a severed lot. O.F.A. President Peter Hannam will be the guest speaker at the annual banquet of Hay and Stanley Townships on Friday, April 7th. Any O.F.A. member who would like further information about the above policy is welcome to attend this meeting. Tickets are available at the Federation Office, Vanastra. A Post Classified. will pay you dividends. Have you tried one? Dial Brussels 887-6641 'McNeil, Ralph McNichol,Tom Miller, Bill Morley, Harold Robinson, John. Stafford, Paul Steckle, Grant Stirling, Oack Tinney, Roy Williamson and Warren Zinn. Those in favor were R. M. Bell, Bill Clifford, Bill I Dale, Norman Durst, John. Flannery, Fred Haberer, Joe Kerr, Cal Krauter, Royce. Macauley, D. J. Noble, Eileen Palmer, Ervin Sillery and Harold Wild. All other councillors were absent from, the meeting, Warden Gerry Ginn was a little embarrassed about voting in opposition to the recommen- dation, especially when he was acting chairman of the executive committee when it conceived the recommendation. "I' believe there should be tax reform," he said, "but I believe grant reform should come in with it. But this does point up the fact there are inequities." "I don't believe we can enter into this 'before' we see grant reform," agreed ReeVe Paul Steckle of Stanley Township. "We need to know where the grants are coming from and where they're directed." THE FIGURES Two sets of figures were set out for comparison. One set showed what the actual 1977 apportion- ment for, county expenses was for each municipality. The second set •showed what each municipality would have paid had the 1975 market value assessment. figures been used along with the equivalent equalized assessment for grants in lieu together with the population base for what has come to be known as "people services" which were figured on a per capita basis. The results were surprising for some council members. It showed that in every rural municipality MINIM SIM but one, Tucketsmith, ihere would have been an increase in the apportionment, while every town and village in,Huron would have realized a reduction. Goderich. Township would'have been hit the hardest in the rural municipalities,-$23,276 more. Running neck and neck for secohnd spot were Sanley Township with $17,193 more and Ashfield Township with $17,153 more. In fourth spot was Hay Township with $14,787 more and in fifth spot was M6Killop Township with $14,437 more, Other rural municipalities would have paid additional taxes as, follows: Usborne, $13.770; West Wawanosh, 011,746; Stephen, $10,621; Howick, $9,934; Grey, $9,322; Hullett, $9,263; Turnberry, $8,271; Morris, $7,735; East Wawanosh, $6,502; Colbofne, $6,159. Tuckersmith would have paid a total of $23 less than they actually did pay in 1977. This was attributed to a very accurate assessment in 1970 and a very even rate of real estate inflation through the years. The 'Town of Goderich would have paid $72,452 less in 1977 had the new ,formula been applied. Winghain would have paid 330,217 less' Exeter, $26,029 less; Clinton, $21,151 less; and Seaforth $11,478 less. Among the villages, Hensall would have paid $5,892 less; Zurich, $5,448 less; Brussels, $4,238 less; Blyth, $2,718 less; and. Bayfield, $543 less. Reeve Bill Elston of Morris argued that according to the figures, the people of Morris who total about half the people of Wingham would be "putting up" almost as much money, as the people in Wingham. The Morris share of the expenses based on market value assessment would have been $55,094; the Wingham share $62,471. "I can see this is going to cost McKillop a lot more money," observed Reeve Allan Campbell. "That's two or three more mills on top of what we're paying now." A Simon Hallahan, the East Wawanosh reeve who can always be counted on to inject humour into any situation, said that if his ratepayers had •to raise much more money each year the costs for welfare. in. Huron County would go up considerably. Not to be outdone, the reeve of West Wawanosh, Bob Lyons said, Reeve Hallahan shouldn't quibble since ratepayers in East Wawanosh would have to come up with just about half of the increase that would be attached to • West Wawanosh. Reeve Bill Clifford of the Town of Goderich asked that councillors not be as concerned with how much more the rural municipalities would have to pay as with what reduction r would be applied to . Goderich. Reeve Clifford said it was clear that Goderich had been paying more than its shake for years and years. "Illiese are not arbitrary figures," he reminded council. "These figures are based on facts, on work done by our municipal assessors." "I will it could be made retroactive," said Reeve Clifford, "but I'll be quite happy tb have it made fair from this point on." Deputy-reeve Eileen Palmer raised applause in the chamber with this remark: "If we've been paying this much too much all these years, I would say we've been carrying the load for a good j OFA supported on tax reform position many.'