The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-01-11, Page 7,4
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY
. V
Huron County,
1978 THE LUCKN* SENTINEL, LIJ NO.W, ONTARIO
Huron County Council Mgt
Thursday, December 29 for a final
1977 session and during the '
day -long meeting `studied more
budget figures and gave prelim-
inary approval to them. •
The first budget draft for the
Huron County road < committee,
shows that the total county
contribution in 1978 will be up
$167,000 or 13,2 percent.' Howev-
er, R: W,, J. Lyons, chairman of
the road committee pointed out in
his budget that the "budget is only
a preliminary one, and that .the
Ministry of Transportation and
Comrntlnications may allow' a
supplementary allocation for
municipal drain, assessments,
" "This could increase the MTC
total contribution by $20,000 and
reduce the county rate by $20,000
resulting in an increase in the
county rate of only eight Per-
cent," said Lyons in the -'report.
The regular MTC allocation is
expected to be up six percent by
$94,000 to $1,661,000 ,in 1978.
There is° an ` estimated surplus
from previous years of $190,000.
This surplus will not be .known
accurately until the. county 'audit
is completed in' mid-January.
Most fixed costs in the county
road budget - roadside mainten-
ance, hard surface maintenance,
gravel surface maintenance, safe-
ty devices and culvert mainten-
ance - are -tip in 1978+. Engineer
Robert Dempsey, however, esti
matedwinter control at '$450,000
for the year - $25;000 less than in
1977 because, as Dempsey.told ,
council, he's hoping for a more,
normal winter this y'ear..
Expenditures for fixed costs are
up from $1,726,000 in 1977 to
$1,913,000 in' ON:
Road
construction and paving
will cost an estimated -$:1,098,000
a + and • includes County . 'Road 30
from Clifford West; County Road
1 from Carlow to Benrniller;
County .Road 31 from Varna 'to
Road .13; County Road 25 east of
Walton; County Road 16 from
Brussels to the Perth Boundary;
and boundary Road 25 with
Perth.
The road committee answered
questions concerning salt applica=
tion during the winter months,
and Engineer Dempsey said that
while other substances have 'begin
termed .satisfactory , for winter
roads, salt 'has_ been found the
osis up in 1978
most effective and the most
economical,
Dempsey said that people have
coxae to expect a "certain levet of
service" even in the severest
winter weather and said the .only
thing to ensure the provision of
such a level ofservice is salt.
Less salt has been used, in 1977,
. said Dempsey, than in 1976 but
that is simply because Mother
Nature has been looking after
-winter control for the county road
department.
In other business, the road
department reported purchase of
one 27,500 G.V.W. truck with
cab, chassis,. box andhoist from
Reg, McGee and Sons Ltd.,
Goderich, at a total tender price
of $21,948.48.
The budget for the health unit in
Huron County is up about $50,000
in 1978, from $518,782 in 1977 to
$566,340 in 1978. The county and
the province share the costs on a
50-50 basis, the report noted.
Salaries and wages are up as
are employee benefits, fees for
services and _honoraria, rents and '
utilities and administrative ex-
penses Travel expenses, equip-
ment purchases and .materials
and supplies have been reduced'..
The Family Planning budget is
down about $12,000 from $65,430
in 1977 to $52,920 this year. The
province funds this prograni in its
entirety. • , '
The plumbing and the environ-
ment section of the health unit
brought in a budget, which is up
from $79,550 in 1977. to $86,850 in
1978. • The county pays $28,950
towards this department; •this
province? $19,000; and inspection.
feesgenerate an estimated $38,-
900. ,
General government: costs are
down slightly - in 1978, from:
$84,800 to $78,900 ,with the major
item being funds for the history
project - $10,000 - transferred into
...,the library budget, The general
administration budget is up an
estimated $2,000 from $196,100
in 1977 to $198,000 in 1978.
The library budget is up
considerably from $354,650 in
1977 to $383,550 in 1978.
Adminstrator Bill Hanly said the.
main increases are in salaries, the
cost of books and periodicals and
telephone costs.
It was explained that the library.
telephone has been extremely
busy with 25 percent more
bookings for films over ,1976 and,
telephone requests for infprma
_tion and material from headquar-
ters and the Midwestern Regional.
Library System. For this reason,
another telephone line into V the
library has been installed making
the monthly telephope.bill higher.
The planning board -buds
which was turned •back at the
November session of county
counwil for restudy by the
committee, was • revisedand
approved a total of $145,800. The
initial budget for $162,200 called,-
' for a new senior planning
technician which was deleted
from the revised budget.
Huron's share of the budget is:
$135,150 Community 'council grants were reduced, council
learned, as a ° result of certain
projects being deferred.
•
PAGE SEVEN
In all, 25 projects nine of them
already in ,
progress,' will have to -be' delayed:
due to the lackof funds and the '
budget cuts. Included are projects
in Wingharn, Bayfield, Colborne,
Hawick, Goderich, Seaforth,
Blyth, Brussels, Hensall, Hullett,
Stephen, East Wawanosh and
Clinton.
Chairman of 'the' planning
board, Bill Clifford, Goderich,
said the budget still represents an
8.7 percent increase. Grants for
the planning board, Clifford said,
were' reduced by one-third as
compared • with other county
budgets where in practically all
cases, grants remained. unchang
•ed or were increased. ' 4
According to Gary. Davidson,
planning director, the workload
will be, divided between the three
planners in the d'epartnient with
much of the. routine drafting and
metric conversion ,work being
handled by a junior planner and
draftsman.
Metric conversion is a costly
item, ,Davidson said, adding that
it is time consuming for staff. He
said all plans, even those in_
existence, ^ will have to lie
converted to metric measure in
compliance with provincial regu-
lations.
Mine banking couid pay
dividends to Bruce County
From The London Free Press
Bruce County engineer Eldon
Yundt is investigating a system of
time banking which , could pay
dividends to the county" and its
highway workers by cutting the
cost of overtime and allowing
road crews more time off.
Yundt said here Tuesday the
system would 'allow road crews to
store hours they work over their
40 -hour week and instead of
receiving overtime, pay' ., they
would ,.be given time off with
regular pay.
"They'd get paid for 40 hours
no natter what they worked," he
said.
The average wage •for the 45
highway workers,is $5.91-aii hour,
increasing to $8,85 for everything
they work beyond the regular
' 40 -hour week.
Yundt said the system is still at' ,
the discussion stage but repres-
entatives Of Local 1654, Canadian ,
. onion of Public Employees '(CU.
PE), `.the bargaining unit for the
workers, are looking at the idea
favourably.
"It's been suggested. The
union has thought it worth
while," he said.
Local president George Goetz
said he has looked attime
banking but is not prepared to
discuss the matter until he has a
full meeting with union metnbers.
Yundt said he'd like to see a
pilot project tried this winter.
"We thought we might get four
or five fellows who are interested
as a trial to see how they like it
and how we like it."
Yundt said the question of
,when the time bank would be
spent by the men still' has to -be
answered.
He said the union would ,like
the time stored until April when
things are, normally slow while
the comity would like to be able to
tell them to take a few days off in
'the winter. .
"lt would save us money if we
could send"thein home," he said.
He said the system would not
result' in anyonebeingpaid less
than his normal 4p hours and` no
worker would be forced to work'
„1„
° more hours in bad weather than' is
the case now.
"The benefit is they ,work long
hours in weather like this and
when it clears we can say 'okay
take some time off." .
Yundt said the question of
overtime is not a 'major problem
for the county.
"It's more of an irritating
thing. We are watching it and
trying to control it."
'The county has room to experi-
ment with such things as time
banking since mild weather in
November resulted in money
being left in the fall snow budget.
"I'msure we' 11. have something
left but I don't have the figures,"
he 'said.
Yundt said the fall budget was
$100,000 to cover snow clearance
up to 1978, and the new budget
has not been calculdted.
Figures' on what` it eta"st the
county in overtime last year\ for
snow.clearance were not available
but Yundt said the entire control
budget has ` jumped from,. about
$303,000 in 1975,.,to $500,000 in
1977.
JIM PFRIMMER
Al & Ken.McGee of McGee Pontiac -Buick in Goderich are most
pleased to announce the appointment of Mr.'J1m Pfrimmer as
Service Manager. Jinn ;,is well qualified for this lob having,
been a Class "A""ikeinced (mute mechanic himself fqr the past
11 years, with the last 9 years at our'dealership: His appoin-
-tment takes over the position held by our brother Ron McGee
who did an excellent lob for many years and has now
resigned from the firm to pursue other interests..
Hciimilton St., Goderich
Pontiac -Buick
Y - Cadillac
524-8391
CLASSIFIED ADS
Need
Replacement Parts?
Drop into Gurry's Auto Service
M1 I*know
Replacemnt parts .available for car, truck.
tractor, recreational vehicles, etc.
• G�rry',s AutoService
Phone 528-3022
Lucknow
NOTICI
TOWNSHIP OF WEST WAWANOSH
Will not be responsible for darnagescaused by its
snowplowing: equipment to mail boxes or vehicles
parked on township roadsides and/or hamlet roads.
NOTICE
WEST WAWANOSH TOWNSHIP
Disposal Site will be open on SATURDAYS
ONLY. for the months of January, February
and March.
JOAN ARMSTRONG
Clerk
-Township of West 'Wawanosh