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WhItby F roe Pres, Wechiosday, May 1i1996, Pap3 Over $382,OOO for Wib Durham hospitals beneifît from special, funding Super senior RUBY ROBERTSON was recently named recipient of the annual mayor's senior volunteer award for her work with the Canadian Cancer Society, Red Cross, Meals on Wheets, Whitby. Seniors' Activîty Centre, Heart and Stroke Foundation, St. Mark's United Church and Whitby Mental Health Centre. Photo by Jeremy Dresar, WhItby Free Pres By Mi k. Kowalski Ontario's cost-cutting govern- ment has reversed itself slightly ond Durham Region hospitaloffi- diais could not b. happier. Detailo of a pr.viouoly announ- ced fundigain for hospitalo ini hig- uaon-owh* areao were reeased by Helth Minlter Jim Wilson l1 w.k. Durham's share of the $25 million that will go ta 17 non- Metro hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area ie about $6 million. Ranging from a high of *3.5 million for Oshawa Generol Hos- pita1 ta a iow of $134 410 for Cttage Hospi-tal in fxbridge the grant. wiiij alleviato much of the pain caused by a reduction in provincial transfer payments sorlier this year. In Whbtby Generol Hospital's case, the Z382,864 it receives from the funding "pool" a]most offsets the $462,30D it lot in February. «From our perspective, it gives us the ability te mauntain ser- vices for the cumnin& year," said Whiby Geeral vice-presdent "We're glad the minioter taok the advice of hospital councibs in thie GTA-905 repens,» said Kea- bey of a bobb iyng campaig dt ng bock ta lastyýear' provincial election.' «The neit ste p le ta continue working towards a formalized funding approach for high- growth areas, he said., (Ini announmgcreation of the "r.investmet" pion in Febriiary, Wilson said details of a pr manent funding formula wii b. developed by a comniittee repre- senting oh the heolth ministry od Ona0 Hospital Assoca- tien.) Jim Armstrong, executive director of the Hospfital Council of Durham Région, soid lust week's announcement in on im- provement over traditional meth- ode of fundlng Ontario hospitals. Armstrong noted that Dur- ham, Halton, Peel and York regions are home ta, more thon haif of the GTAs population ond growth continues atabout four per cent annuaily. Since hospital funding does not talc. population growth ita con- sideration, the. average Der capita allocation for .GA-905 hospitals le «slgnificantly lesm? than the prvincal average, Armstrong saidi. Trustees stili grappllng Iwith schooi- budget By Mark Reesor Public echool board trustees trimmed $35,000 from their 1996 budget Monday night a nd voteid ta spend*$1.7 millon ta restore programs1 they had pre- viously eut. Trustees fIip-fiopped on educa- tion asistants (voting ta rescind a five per cent eut and leave the program untauched), decided ta spend $775,000 ta buy 300 com- puters (lnstead cf 1,200 as cri- ginally planned), reintat.d the outd6or educatien programi (restar ing ail but 3 1. per cent cf -the prcgram's *573,000 annuai bu *)sen 96,000 ta resus- ca 17school-basedservices (SBS) counselling program, $200,000 ta r.tunn maximum walkbng distance for Grade 7 and 8 studenta ta 1.6 kfiometres (from 3.2) and *267,000th brbng bock lunchroom supervisors. -i lii. reinstatements wifl, I they survive, ke.p 19 educationý assistants, whe assiat physically and mentally handicapped chu-_ dren in the ciussroom; maintain outdoor educatien but at a redu- ced level and with a $3 a student user fe. and *60 charge, (up from *50) for e vernight stays; kLeep 300 lunchroom supervisers (down from 513), wluch would provide one supervier per 50 'ta 149 students depending on the sehool (schoofs with "high needs" wili b. given "speciai super- vision"). Th.e ut., a mk h%,ienot reversed at tngts(ens day) speci'al =buts comitte. meeting (7 pam. at board head- quarter.), include a $680 (five r cent) reduction ta rses $13 600-a-year salary, a *5,880 (33' p.r cent) chop ta board chairs' *23,800-a-year stin and a n*e ~r cent (a5Z0 reduction ta evice-c- Tefour liaison chairs sa w the extra pay they receive for hold- bng thefr tien reduced frm $1,000 ta $500 and trustees ais voted ta reduce their conference aliowonces from *1,750 ta *1,250 a year. A motion by Uxbridgé truste. Faith Neumann ta put an 18-month moratorium con truste. and staff conference spending was defeated. Th. buf st MI $5 million les. thon lut year, wbich wl meon almost 200 stofi hnluding about 85 teacheris, wllloetheïr jobs. six per ecent ut i* provinia Ifundin&- inflation 1-and .s tudent grwt eai that, unbess trus- tees reconsider, Durham rate- payera.iwhe, support the public board wbli b. booking at on average miii rate hike cf 2.75 per cent - $35 for the average house- Th. proposai ta eut salaries, aise, made by Neumann, taok up the first' two heurs cf the. six- hour meeting and prompted a fiery debate. Some 250 people wiitched as one side argued that truste.. have ta, set an example and the other countered that trustees are already underpaid ond many can't afford ta talc. a eut. 1I don't know how anybedy le gongt take us seriously if we dont eut ourselves," said Osh- awa truste. Kathleen Hopper. "W. have ta, talc. a lut and it hus ta b. ta our ýcketbooks... this is about integniy. 'Tm taking a hit every day here"» countered Pickering trus- te. Jiii Hamilton. "! know there'. ne sympathy eut there for us,, or very little... (but) this is a hard job and the amount cf money were getting paid is peanuts for what we put inta it. Mayb.e trustees will get a pat on the bock by taking a cut, she said, "but I don't need a pat on the back right now'hIneed moe (and) I culd use a h u y "f this was a job,ffthink that we are grossly underpaid ,» said Whitby truste. Deug Rose, who added he thinks cf it as public service ond doing somethingfor the community -- "and vou can't place a dollar ývalue on that... "f every employee and every student in this Duirham Board cf Education has ta bite the bullet ini these hard times, I think -we ought ta b. men and women enough ta do bt alongside." 'Tm angry that we are discuse- bng a piddly' ameunt lik. this and ifwe want ta b. taken serieusly and look as if we have integrîty, let'.ge on ta the biggr issues &pthis," redAjxtrus- te. Colleen Jordan. .Pickerffig truste. Ruth Ann Schedlich accused Neumann and a colleague whe supported the p ay eut tcf igameng the trus- tes"net fulfilbing ther ebliga- tuons on a regular bubais- and-- leaving the rest ef the trustee. ta, pick up the slock... "Don't try ta> impose the five per cent reduction oný trustees Who are fulfding their roles and their responsflbilties.» After narrowlyapproving the out on;a vote.kcf 8,e-.,theboard voted ',ta tabl.eý a motion 'by Whitby trustee Patty Bowman -- who vioted against the five per cent pay cut -- ta suspend al trustee pay for a year, beginning in Septeniber. Bowman also opposed tem- poraril e1 liminatxng "rutee con- ferenoe expenses, arguing con- tinuing educationis crucial if the board is ta efficiently run the second largest employer ini Dur- ham Region, with a budget of $366 million laot year. Bowman accused her col- leagues of "political grandstond- mna ta the max" on the issu. he issue isn't whether it's right or wrong ta, attend con- ferences, countered. fellow Whitby truste. Dou.g Boss. Mme oe issuj, io It morergh for trustees ta go 'ta conferences Cops are hir ed 'for board meetin s The Durham lc ochool brd spent ost $1,000 ta havet ormed police offi- cers 8 d guard,.atbuÃŽdet meet- ings Monday nigh-t ond last Wed- nesday.. The'officers, who receive $37 on hour each (there's lso a $100 fiat fe..-for theïr cruiser), were booked for'-five hours by board chair Audrey Macon, but left both nights a couple of hours beforethe me.U ended. MacLean soidthey were there ta prtct ogainst .potentially rowdy"spectatàrs« Havn the police there was "a waste ofmn», sid Whitby truste. e,ug Rosohoadded the spectatars wer. o.rderly. "Who cares if semeone colis out the od4 comkment... my life hasn't beén threatened. This bu crazy.» this year than it la for kido to go to outdoor ed? Jo it more impor- tant for trustees ta go ta con- ferences thon it in ta put more EAo bock in the claosr-oom?... "I don't. even think we should b. debating this; thio should be a given.w SFOÃ"RTUF F .1 NA N C "Thi reinvestment fund Je ve= tinely, very much apprecia- ted, and ini our view, just a start,» lh. said. When viewed i the conteit of the *8-million chop i tranofer payens Durham hospital offi- ciais sti&;ac "Bmrechallenges in preparing their 1996'-97 budgets, Armstrong said. "ut it's definitely awhole lot eaoier ta manage with thon with- out," h. said. <'Thrugh efficien- cieand shavingtof ricsw will be able to alanoe budgets for netyear."n Whitbiy General HoMUspital's 1996-97 oeatin1,,bud~e ilb $13.4 million, which *11.4 million wiil corne fr-om the pro- vince, E:ealey said. The aprxiately *80,000 dif- ferencebewen the loseocf trans- fer payments ond the blh-fi growth fundlng grant nb recovered teroeg greater effi- ciencies, lhe addd Ini addition ta thie aforemen- tionSled Durham hospitals, Ajax & Pickering Generai _Hositalwl receive $1.3 million; eMoril Hospita niiBowmanville, $64 . 632 and Community Memor-al hIospital i Port Perry, $1459773. Meanwbile Why General officiais are iso pl.ased with the helt minust(sapproval of a '$l4OOG a ta upgrade fire safety .qnment at the 27-year- old hospitaL . "'This la a long overdue infras- tructure pro.eetand we!Sre ady beu ok in a month'stime said -a -Florence, .dixrector cf support services, in a pr.pared statement. Ite Whitby General HSiital Foundation aise contrlbutat *teproject as part of the hospi- tares on nredevélopment. Aj L INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT e "RETIREMENT PLANNING *TAXI ESTATE STRATEGIES 666-82,45-- DEBBIE MORGAN STAR TO ..1 VU LANDCPIQNO. 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