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Mr. Dane Found of Bow- raanville presents a framed, needlepoint picture to Mr. Gord Atkins, of the Orono Amateur Athletic Association which will be the prize of a draw being held at the official opening of the new Orono arena.' Mr. Found, formerly of Orono, has in the past played a big part in the promotion of hockey in Orono and especially especially the Orono Orphans. He as well assisted in the promotion of the Orono Figure Figure .Skating Club and was always available to help with such promotions as carnivals and other undertakings. In the past few years Mr. Found has taken as a hobby hëèdlepoint work and spends many hours during the week with his new found hobby. The donation to the Athletic Association, Association, he said, took some 250 hours to complete. Schedule arena opening April 14th ui uiiu ïi rciuj ji micay wt # j, cwiuaij < »«*» 'A dream come true' local taxes to drop From all available - information information at this time it now appears that municipal and educational taxes are to drop' in Clarke Township and the Village of Orono for the year 1979. This is not due to a cut in spending by either the Town of Newcastle or the Board of Education but rather to a reassessment of all properties properties within the municipality. municipality. Last week the Regional Assessment office mailed out thê new assessment figures to all property owners and provided a formula by which property owners could- make a comparison of their actual 1978 taxes to what they would have paid if the new assessment assessment figures had been in effect for the 1978 tax year. The new assessment figures, figures, based on market value, will be used for the basis of taxes in 1979. In a brief survey of residential properties in Orono and in Clarke Township Township there is a noted dramatic drop through the comparison and it stimulates a belief that there will be a drop in residential taxation in this area for 1979. A check of a few residential properties in Bowmanvillé and Darlington Township has also shown a drop in taxes using the comparison formula. formula. These decreases do not appear quite as dramatic as in Clarke. The Assessment Department Department has provided residential and >farm property owners with a simple formula to work ut the comparison. Property - owners can find their 1978 actual tax payment on the 1978 tax bill. To make the comparison the tax payer only has to multiply the new assessment figure as received received in the mail on Monday by 2*06 mills to arrive at the comparison tax dollar figure. AN ACTUAL COMPARISON In 1978, the writer's residence residence was assessed at $2,500 with an actual tax of $676.00. Under thp new revised sys* tem the assessment is $2,370.00 and with a mill rate of 206 mills'taxes in 1978 would have been $488.22 or a reduction of $188.38. Property owners in Clarke Township and Orono can expect a substantial reduction, reduction, in their taxes for 1979 even Education expenditures may increase. The Town of Newcastle in late 1978 asked the Province to institute market value assessment throughout the Town for taxation in 1979. As a result of this motion the Province has taken the step and has issued all property owners in the Town with their revised assessment figures. The Times has checked with a few farm property owners and has found that farm property taxes seem to be /increasing. One farm owner with a number of properties states he has three pluses and two minus while another farmer reports an increase using the formula. The question now being asked is where is the slack being picked up and there appears no definite trend at this time with the limited information available. though Ttiwn and Board of ' The Town of Newcastle still Teachers ratify $990.00 increase The Elementary teachers employed by the Northumberland Northumberland and Newcastle board of education have ratified an agreement which increases their salaries by $990.00, The increase is not a percentage increase across the grid but rather a set $990.00 for each and every teacher. The Board of Education have yet to ratify the agreement but are expected to do so this Thursday evening at their regular meeting. Negotiations between the teachers and th^ Board have been underway for almost six months. The new agreement and wage schedule will be retroactive to September 1st, 1978 and affects some 583 has to come up with the money to operate and to turn over to the school boards and when someone gains a reduct- ion someone else has to be ( Continued to page 4) ■ Plans are now underway for the official opening of the Orono Arena and Community Centre complex in Orono. The date for the festivities have been set for April 14th and a : tentative program has been devised. •,, Plans for the late afternoon and evening include a reunion , of the Orono Orphans as well as, members -of the early years of the Orono Figure. Skating Club which dates back to 1948. A dinner is being planned for th,e late afternoon prior to the official opening ceremonies ceremonies to be held at 7:30 p.m. Later in the evening at 8:30 the Orôno Orphans are to take -to the ipe for two periods of hockey ■along with some demonstration of figure ska- A hobby takes hold elementary school teachers. The increase will cost the Board close to $600,000 above previous increase. LUMP SUM INCREASE The elementary teacher's settlement has set a new precident for the teachers and board in that the increase is to be the same amount for all teachers no matter where they are placed on the grid. In former years the increase has been expressed as a percentage percentage increase of the individual salaries. As a result teachers in the upper brackets received received a greater increase than those in the lower categories. Under the present system each teacher will* receive 1 an ( Continued to page 2) Mr. Dane Found of Bow- manville displays his tech- , nique in needlepoint a hobby , which he has become quite interested with. ting by former members of the Orono Figure Skating Club. Public skating is to conclude the program along with a social hour in the community room. A draw is to be held in connection with the official opening. Tickets will shortly be on sale for this feature of the evening with the prize being a framed needlecraft picture of a Swiss Alp scene. The needlepoint picture has been donated to the Orono Amateur Athletic Association by Mr. Dane Found who in past, years played an important important part in the winter sports of this community. It is expected that the commtinity room for this occasion may well be completed. completed. Dane states that, lie now spends many hours during the week with this hobby. Dane has donated a fine piece of needlepoint work to the Althletic and Skating ■ Club and' this work has become the prize for a draw being held in connection with the upcoming official opening opening of the new Orono arena.