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PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2006.
Ratepayers want lower taxes in Wingham
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Approximately 20 people filled the
North Huron council chambers
Wednesday night during the Feb. 22
public meeting to submit a petition
protesting high taxes in Wingham
and to ask council for answers.
George Oriold, a home builder in
the area, said that he and Erwin
Stone started the petition "so if you
want to blame anybody, blame us,"
he told council.
Oriold gave the analogy of a frog
sitting in lukewarm water to explain
MARY (SIMONIS) VAN
LAMMEREN
Mary (Simonis) Van Lammeren of
Huronview in Clinton and formerly
of Blyth passed away peacefully
surrounded by her family at
Huronview in Clinton on Saturday,
Feb. 25, 2006. She was in her 93rd
year.
She was the dear mother of Louis
and Betty Ann Van Lammeren of
Kitchener, Josie and Paul Cook of
Clinton, Gertie and Ivan Blake of
Hanover, Emma Simonis of
Lethbridge, Alberta and Theresa
Gebhardt and Ernie Albert of
Wingham. She will also be lovingly
remembered by grandchildren
Carrie Ann, Michael, Sandra, Kathy,
Ron, Julie, Charlene and Suzanne
and eight great-grandchildren. Mrs.
Van Lammeren is survived as well
how he sees the situation. "As the
water heats up the frog doesn't move
but sits until it is boiled. Right now
Wingham is boiling," he said.
Oriold said he would like to see
Wingham as a possible place for
people to retire but "one of the
biggest companies in the area, Royal
Homes does not build homes in
Wingham because they can't make
any money here."
He said as a builder, "if we want to
work in Wingham, we will be
working at a loss because we can't
make any money here."
He added that other realtors in
by three sisters and one brother in
Holland and the U.S.A.
She was predeceased by her
husband Bert and six brothers and
siste7s.
Relatives and " friends were
received at the Falconer Funeral
Home, 153 High St., Clinton on
Tuesday evening from 6 - 9 p.m.
The Mass of Christian Burial was
celebrated at St. Joseph's Roman
Catholic Church in Clinton on
Wednesday, March I at 2 p.m. with
Rev. Father Ernest Varosi
officiating.
Interment will be in Clinton
Cemetery.
As expressions of sympathy, the
family would appreciate memorial
donations to the Heart and Stroke
Foundation or the Alzheimer
Society.
other towns use Wingham's tax rates
as a point of comparison when trying
to convince potential home owners to
move to their town.
"[High taxes] are hurting the
community to a great extent," Oriold
said.
North Huron reeve Doug Layton,
said that he understands what the
figures are in Wingham but feels
cutting taxes is not possible without
cutting services.
"I pay taxes here too, just like
everybody else," he said. "Taxes have
been notably high in Wingham for 20
years now."
Wingham has the second lowest
assessment rate in the county, Donna
White, director of finance said. "It's
no mystery why taxes are high in
Wingham. We have the same
services as Goderich and half the
population. The only way to cut taxes
is to cut services," she said.
"You tell me what services you
would like to see go," Layton said to
the crowd.
Oriold responded that somehow
other towns are able to manage to
have services as well as lower taxes
and stated that it was the
responsibility of elected members of
council to investigate how other
communities are able to manage this.
"We didn't have to scratch deep to
get people to react to this," he said.
"People talk about how lousy the
services are here. If you are going to
boast about how wonderful the
services in Wingham are you should
know that. We're just saying what we
have heard from the people we've
talked to."
One woman in the crowd said that
she would like to see the position of
a full-time fire chief go. "What does
he do all day?" she asked. "We don't
need a full-time fire chief."
Councillor Jim Cambpell said that
Blyth's fire chief is a voluntary
position. "The fire chief has to do a
lot of inspections now and in Blyth
our fire chief does them all in his
spare time," he said. "Would you like
to do work that cuts into your family
time?"
The woman said that it was a
volunteer position and so whoever
volunteers should know that
beforehand. "If he doesn't want to do
that then someone else should
volunteer," she said.
A man in the crowd said that he
bought a house in Wingham for
$75,000 a couple of years ago and he
pays nearly $3,000 in taxes. "I'm a
senior on a fixed income. How are
we supposed to afford that?" he
asked.
Former North Huron reeve, Ian
Moreland, said that he was a resident
of Wingham for years but had to
move away to Brantford because of
family reasons. He has recently
moved back.
"When I came back to Wingharn I
was struck by a change in the place.
People are walking the streets with
long faces. Shops are closing.
Nothing good is happening around
Wingham," he said."It's going to the
dogs."
Layton responded that it was much
easier to get small businesses in a
small area 15 years ago than it is
today.
"I agree that [small business
owners] are leaving, more than
some," he said. "Farmer's are having
a hard time now also as well as
business people."
He advised the people confused
about the tax situation in Wingham to
come to the budget meetings. -
Councillor Archie MacGowan
agreed. "Our budget meetings ' are
always open to the public and I have
yet to see you two gentlemen (Oriold
and Stone) at the meetings."
"It's all laid out in the budget,"
White said. "We need a consensus as
to what services could be'cut. That's
what we have to do (in order to lower
taxes). We have to do some drastic
cutting to find out what [the people
in the town] can live without."
White added that the people said
they wanted a complex, a day care,
and their own police service and
that's what council provided for
them.
"We don't take any of this lightly,"
she said. "We have never just passed
something off to the taxpayers."
Layton added after the people had
left that the municipality was
running a deficit of about $175,000
per year for the old arena and pool.
"Nobody bitched, nobody said
anything," he said. "We just went
along with it."
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