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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1980, WHITBY FREE PRESS whiwby Voice of the County Town Michael Jan Burgess,1 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whîtl r Publisher - Managing Editor by residents for Whitby residents. Publshed every Wednesda. by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography nc. Phone 669-61 Il The Free Press Building. 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206. Whitby, Ont. Michael J. KnollI CommunityEdîtor Marjori A. Burgess Production Manager Karen Thompson Advertising Manager Mailing Permit No. 460 Member mf the Whltby Chamber of Commerce Ten year old Assesment Act a failure Dear Sir: Over 10years ago the Ministry of Revenue spent an enormous amount of our tax dollar to create a new Assessment Act. Since then they have spent more money on studies and reports on the subject to reduce the new Assessment Act to an Act of after thoughts. Will Bill 164 dated November 30, 1979, they have enac- ted Section 86 (3) or better known as the band aid approach. We know as well as anyone else in Ontario that we desperately need property tax reform. We also agree that the feeble attempt to try to eliminate some ,inequitites by reassessment under Section 86 is turning out to be a miserable fallure. One reason for this fallure is that ten years of expensive work by the assessors to try to establish market values for property is turning out to be a waste of money because 90% of the valuations are not even close to actual sales. Another reason is that our Assessment Com- missioner was avoiding the truth when he em- phasized in one of his speeches that "There is no difference what- soever between classes in the way market values have been established." Due to the drastic taxshift within classes, under Section 86 (3) without tax reform, we find that the tax burden borne by low and moderate income in- dividuals and familles are unduly aggravated. We have heard from one municlpality so far who has considered Section 505 of the Municiapal Act to phase in the tax in- creases and decreases in order to give some protection to their citizens. in our town we are experiencing tax increases of over 300 % and at the same time we have properties which sold for over $100,000.00 and are only paying about $70.00 in taxes. This means that the inequities still exist and that they were only shifted around. Tax reform can not happen with a market value system which is based on opinion rather than fact as is demon- strated by the reassessment in Niagara-on-the-Lake & many other com- munities. Under market value assessment the province will be forced to create a "Property Owner Welfare Class" besides ail other relief schemes, gr hand-outs. To taxation provi inequities municipalitiec ween wards ween propert will have eliminated fir as it is done u tion 86 where wagging the d A real ta would institu curate me assessment, simple for ev understand a eliminate sh< f rom prope make all th and relief unnecessary. achieve this course need, sense approe than a purely one. Interest in downtown core essentialto town survival ants and The County Town Carnival of 1980 has officially ) have fair ciosed ieavlng people to wait for it's return next nce wide, summer. Whiie not on the scale of Caravan in between Toronto or even Fiesta Week in Oshawa, such an s, bet- event, which involves the town as a whoie, is and bet- necessary to the weil being of Whitby and any y classes otherhostcityortown. to be This year was extra speciai for this town In that st and not Whitby ceiebrated it's 125th birthday, a theme that inder Sec- was picked up on by the carnival and was the tail is especiaily refiected in the annual parade. Towns log. have survived without a feeling of togetherness and a sense of history, but they somehow iack In ix reform the full depth of being a true town. ite an ac- Whitby, in the past while, has become sowly thod of more linked with both the aspects of togetherness plain and and history. With the likes of Eugene Henry and eeryone to The Whitby Historicai Society providing insight in- nd would te this towns heritage and concerned groups like cool taxes the Downtown Improvement Area Board creating Brty and interest in the business sector of Whitby, this town e welfare lsbeginningtoblossom. programs one cf the most recent functions provided by the To later was the outdoor mail held on Saturday, July goal we of 26th during the town carnival. More than one town a common has been build around it's downtown core reiying ach rather In whole or in part te lt's survivai and continued academic proliferation cf it's business dealings. A city Is like a tree In this sense. When a tree dies It usually rots from the nside core outwards. Sincerely, The Downtown Improveement Area Board has R.S. Birch been in the past year, striving te revtalize Whitby's downtown section. Many smail businesses thrive within this very town unbeknownst to many residents of the surrounding areas and towns. The advantages of small stores as opposed to larger businesses is the personal service propriators can provide to customers who frequent the stores. This is one aspect of shopping pleasure which has ail but died in the larger department stores. With Oshawa Just a short distance away their multitude of larger mails draw people of the region to them in increasing amounts. Many do not know the shopping opportunities afforded them right in their home town. The outdoor mall was an ex- cellent opportunity for shoppers from the area to become familiar with the stores and services provided them in Whitby. Whitby's downtown core is a shopping centre in it's own right. It just has no roof and so people fail to recognize It as such. The downtown mail, with the co-operation of downtown merchants, held a sidewalk sale in con- junction with many other activities to accustom the shopper with business in the core. The event drew several thousand customers and prospective customers to the centre of town for an enjoyable day of shopping and activities in the open air. Despite the intermittent rain the event came off a success. Business in Whitby is alive and well but it needs the support of people willing to believe in the towns business capabilities. Pouring money Into Oshawa and surrounding business will in the long run kill business in the downtown core of Whitby. I I IM