Loading...
The Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-10-07, Page 4PAGE 4 —GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7,1981 dave sykes I would have to boast of being a sports fan of the loyal variety. My loyalty to a team is unrelenting and unwavering regardless of the team's for- tunes on the playing surface and position in the standings. As advocated from the top, I am loyal to my teams. One of my loyalties is just now beginning to reap dividends after a It -year affair. The Montreal Expos have won a pretend pen- nant, remnants of a strike -shattered season, and advanced to a mini -playoff against winners of the first half of the season to earn the right to play the winners of the other division. The winner, naturally, will earn the right to represent the National League in the World Series, if you, understand what I'm saying. Anyway, this serious affection for the Expos, the only real Canadian team in baseball, has survived two aborted attempts at the pennants, late nights listening to an BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second class mail registration number -0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded in 1011 and published every Wednesday at Ooderkh, Ontario. Member of the CCN* and OWNA. Adver. Using rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance 914.11 in Canada. 17.0 to U.S.A., '55.0 to all ether coun- tries, single copies SN. Display advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rafe Curd No. 11 effective Oc- tober atober 1. 1441. Second class mall Registration Number 091I. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of typographical error. the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Rem. together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the ap- plicable rote. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at o wrong price. goods or services may not be sold. Advertising 1s merely an offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star Is not responsible for the toss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing pur- poses PUBLISHED BY:SIGNAL-STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. BOX 220, HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 4B6 tl' away game on the radio and assorted disputes with the better half over television rights. The loyalty runs deep. For years now, the baseball team has turned this writer into an avid fan and with it I have developed all the fan idiosyncrasies andnervous ticks. All the home games that appear on national television are, of course, devoured along with snacks and beverages. During one pennant drive the little woman found this fan standing an the bed with a radio in one hand, getting the right angle to bring in the radio signal from an away game. The announcer., was barely audible through the crackle of the interference, but to a sports fain, it is the effort in the face of adversity that counts. That effort was negligible last week, and ashamedly I must offer the following scenario. The little lady of the household was growing irritable at the prospect of the Expos resurrecting some sort of post -season honors from a shortened season, thus prolonging the endless nights of ball games featured on television. My efforts to convey the magnitude of the situation, a pennant drive is important to life, fell on deaf ears and she offered a look in return that bellowed,"You can bet your jock strap that this one -television household will not be tuned in to all the ball games." Sigh. And while the Expos clinged to a thread of the pennant last Wednesday, this fan was going wild NOT watching the televised version. ' In a weak moment, actually some thought was given to the matter, I relented and a semi -enjoyable evening was spent viewing the first part of a three-part movie. Now before conscientious fans hurl condemnation upon this correspondent, there was a method to my madness. First let it be known that at every.commercial break the situation in Pittsburg was checked closely. By giving in to management on this oc- casion, I figured, that when the Expos became involved in post•season play, the little lady would return the favor and obligingly insist that I watch baseball. Reciprocity is fair play even in a pennant race. There are a hundred other matters' about the household that require urgent attention but my heart is in the baseball playoffs.. Canada deserves it and I would give anything to see Howard's Cosell's 'toupee whisked into the upper deck by a gusty Northwest breeze as he announced the game from a booth in Olympic Stadium. The lawn could use a trim, I was going to start a construction project in the basement and the television will be inundated with ball games for the next six days. I don't think the little lady will un- derstand. FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524.8331 Taxpayer still pays The Huron County Board of Education has finally made a move to collect the 'education requisition four times a year. Previously, the board had collected education taxes twice annually which was in line with the tax collection system of most municipalities. Education costs have risen drastically over the last decade and naturally the board is looking to trim expenses in any way possible. The, move to four installments will mean the board will have substantial capital available by March 31 which will eliminate the 'need for credit at lending institutions. The saving .is estimated at $80,000 per year in interest Charges. While the board may realize substantial savings by not having to borrow excessive amounts to meet ex- penditures, the problem and related costs are simply passed on to the municipalities. In fact, most municipalities in the county, with the exception of Goderich, collect taxes twice a year. Since the education requisition will be collected in four installments as of January 1, 1982, it leaves the townships with two options. They can collect taxes three or . four times a year or leave the system as it exists and borrow money to meet the education requisitions. Regardless, the taxpayers of the county will still have to carne across with the dollars. The move by the board of education ostensibly shifts the onus to the municipalities. The town of Goderich, by collecting taxes three times a year has realized substantial savings in paying the -education requisition Last year,by pre -paying its portion of the education tax early, Goderich was awarded a discount of $29,218. The board credits the town with the interest it would have to pay to borrow that same amount of money. Under the new system, the town will not be afforded a discount which offered a higher return than investment would secure. The board has considered change in the requisition system for a long time and it knew full well that the townships were against paying on a four installment basis. One township treasurer explained 'that the farming community is not paid on a regular basis and, in fact, the bulk of payments are received in the fall after harvest. The tax collection system in the township is designed to accommodate farmers. The new requisition system will make the board look better, about $80,000 better. While the board saves on interest charges, those charges are passed on to the municipalities. It virtually transfers the problem and townships will have to borrow money earlier to meet payments. For the sake of convenience and to accommodate the 'farming community, township councils will likely still collect taxes in June and November. Some may opt for an interim tax billing. The education budget is now over $28 million and 71 per cent of that or $20 million is needed for salaries and benefits., As a result of that increase in the education budget this year, the majority of a Goderich ratepayer's tax bill goes to education. The Huron County Board is one of only three other boards in the area where the education requisitionis collected twice a year. The savings of $80,000 was based on lending rates as of August 31,1981. To be fair, everyone has to keep their own house in order and take advantage of the opportunity to trim costs. Perhaps the Ministry should examine an alternate method of collecting education taxation that would provide an equitable formula. When municipal taxes increase each year, municipalities like to point out where the increases occur and the board of education is generally the target. Let's hope that if the board is making a sincere effort to cut costs wherever possible that the interest charges are only the beginning. D.S. A time to reflect Thanksgiving is , as tradition and heritage dictates, a day set aside to offer thanks for a bountiful harvest. The harvests haven't always been bountiful and with respect to prevailing economic conditions, the harvest of the agrarian sector may have been meagre. That may well apply to everyone. The harvests may be meagre for a few years but, ad- There's something wonderful about bureaucracy. It is difficult to put my finger on, but I think the wonderfulness stems from the fact that bureaucracy makes rue laugh. I tingle all over whenever I have a bureaucratic experience. How many of you out there in readers' land know that there happens to be a body of individuals which calls itself the Tea Council of Canada? 1 confess that until recently, I was unaware of the T.C. of C. In fact, I had never even entertained the thought that tea needed counselling in the first place. I found out about the distinguished Tea Council of Canada via a large packet of press releases in the mail addressed to the Tea Editor. None of us in here quite knew who was to open the envelope, due to the fact that all of us drink coffee. Mine was the last desk the manilla en- velope landed on, so I ventured inside for a peek. There inside was a whole mess of really interesting information about tea, mittedly, Canadians enjoy a rather healthy and prosperous lifestyle. Most of what we need is within our means. It' is for that comfortable existence, for family and friends and perhaps, for better days, that thanks will be offered Monday. Take thetime to reflect. D.S. introduced by none other than the T.C. of C. I would like to know who the people are that comprise this council. What do they get paid? Who pays them? Where are their council chambers? And above all else, do they drink tea? The 'of Canada' addendum bothers me a bit. Can you imagine any Canadians who care about tea enough to forma council? If it was The Beer Council of Canada itwould be quite believable. But tea? Anyway, this pile of fast -breaking press releases was giggled over for a few very brief moments and tossed with gusto into the trash basket. Our attitude was, "If the Tea Council of Canada wants to tell their story, let 'em buy an ad." And then we promptly forgot about them. Until the next day. Lo and behold there was another manilla envelope sitting ominously on my desk addressed to the Tea Editor. I thought to myself, 'Do those guys at the old T.C. of C. know I tossed their previous release? Are they sending me hate Riding the wind By Cath Wooden D EARREA BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER , Marcel Saddy, mayor of Sarnia, tells it like it 'is. Seems that Sarnia city council gave into pressure from a lobby group for a boys' home. The lobby group wants permission to make application annually to the city for additional funding. This year, the boys' home supporters want an extra $30,000 or so. According to Saddy, the city has -to draw the line somewhere. Welfare and related social services accounts for a budget of something like $4,000,000 per annum there. The provincial government is gradually withdrawing more and more support from these various agencies. So far, the municipal taxpayers have been picking up the slack. Sarnia is getting behind. The alternatives involve raising taxes .... or being more selective where municipal funding is concerned. Saddy obviously prefers the latter ... andhe's not afraid to stick to his guns. Apparently though, the majority of Sarnia city councillors just didn't agree. Or if they did agree, they didn't have the guts to tell the lob- byists who crowded into the meeting room. Sarnia council voted to consider funding for the boys' home on an annual basis depite the fact that at an earlier, meeting they had decided to withhold municipal money indefinitely for that purpose. On a radio program this morning, Saddy ex- plained that while all theseelfare and social service type things are worthwhile, taxpayers simply cannot afford to finance all of them ad infinitum. He claims, rightly so, that in Sarnia as in other mail now?' But not to worry. Inside the manilla en- volope was an expensive looking file folder. kprettily designed logo for the Tea Council of Canada (in English and in French) wase!. etched upon it. There was a cover letter that said, "Dear Tea Editor: Recently we mailed you the first in a series of press releases on behalf of our client Tea Council of Canada. In error we didn't include the enclosed file folder to be used for your convenience in filing Tea Council information." It was signed Bowden's Information Services. It's hard to fired good help these days. Someone from Bowden's Information Services butt is on the line. Whoever forgot to mail out those press releases in the specially made file folder must have en- dured the wrath of the Tea Council of Canada. I can envision the whole thing. After mailing out the press releases, sorne poor sod from Bowden's Information Services D ERS communities, people are having 'a difficult time paying their current tax bills. The last thing they need on top of high energy costs, mounting in- terest payments and declining real dollars, is more property taxes. The majority of council members apparently agree with Saddy in the quiet and the privacy of the committee. But before an influential, persuasive lobby group with a cause and a vote, many councillors backed off from common sense and allowed emotion to rule. The Sarnia experience is not unlike what's happening in Goderich ... or in Colborne Township. People here too expect a good deal more from municipal government than they did in the past. And what's more, we've noticed here too, that there is a tendancy on the part .of provincial government to approve programs, institute them ... and then leave the municipality holding the bag. And it's hard to take away a service once it has been put in place ... and accepted by the public. It has been suggested that each time a lobby group requests special funding for some pet project, that same group should be required to scour the municipal budget and 'find' the needed tax dollars for their program. , In other words, it should be left to the lobbyists 'to consider which municipal programs will be cut to pay for their favorite cause. It should never be assumed that the municipal tax pot would just magically expand to fund something new ... or that the answer is to raise more tax dollars to pay for it. That exercise would probably stall a good many lobby groups who probably would have no more stomach for publicly slashing other was cleaning off his desk the next day. He discovered a massive pile of file folders stamped with the attractive Tea Council of Canada logo in two languages. "Holy Moly! Jeez, am I ever gonna get heck!" he moaned. The lowly employee couldn't afford to send out all the file folders at his own expense. He donned his knee pads and went to his superiors who promptly told him that he would learn a darn good lesson from this one and that it would be good for him to go to the T.C. of C. himself and ask if they could go over budget to send out the forgotten file folders.. Which he did. I can see him standing behind a great huge mahogany table, the grey tweeded members of the T.C. of C. peering down at him from behind their spectacles. As punishment, the members'' of the T.C. of C. hurl wet icky tea bags, bringing the poor sod to his knees. They adjourn for tea time, shaking their heads in disgust. "Tsk tsk tsk. Only in Canada." programs than council members do. Of course, there are still those out there who believe that social services which are a direct benefit to people, should not ever be paid for through taxes on land. Programs for people should be financed by, all the people through people -type taxes. Only projects involving the land and property should be funded through pretperty taxes. But that is a political hot potato that is just too dicey to get anywhere in a hurry. Which brings us back to the start. And this very valid question: Are politicians in general making decisions for the good ofthe people or to be re-elected? In this column, it's been stated over and over again that people are too dependent on .gover- nment for too many things. It's the crux of much of the current misery on all fronts. Marcel Saddy is dead right. The line has to be draivn somewhere .., and sometime soon, politicians at all levels are going to have to ac- cept the fact that they cannot please all of the people all of the time. In fact, it may not even be possible to please all of the people some of the time. It's time politicians forgot about getting re- elected - and remembered that the public purse has limitations. But more than that, it's time taxpayers began to consider which government funded services should be phased out. And maybe it's time folks started paying the piper directly from their own wallets for those things they feel are essential. It's the only safe way to keep things in focus in a world where wants are too often confused with needs.