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Orono Town Hall Volume 66, Number 1 750 GST Included Wednesday, January 9,2002 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Local concert in aid off Papal visit Regional spending out of control Bringing in the New Year , Mayor John Mutton (L) extended New Year greetings to the Mayor of Oshawa, Nancy Dianiond (R), at the Mayor's Levee held at the Bowmanville Town Hall last Sunday afternoon. The Catholic Womens' League of Durham has organized organized a benefit concert to raise funds for the much anticipated visit by Pope John Paul II to Toronto this July. The Pope will join over 2 million youth expected to « attend the World Youth Conference. Durham' will play host to over 10,000 of the visiting youth, and activities are being planned locally to show Canadian hospitality. The Womens' League have organized a benefit concert featuring local talent, ' for, January 17, 2002, to be, held at* St. Stephen's Catholic High' School çn Scugog Road, Bowmanville. Ticket?; are $ 10 each and can be purchased at the door, or in advance at all local Catholic schools. Looking back on the year just past, Mayor Mutton says he regrets not having reeled in the spending at the Regional * level. "Spending is out of control," control," said Mayor John Mutton in an interview with The Orono• Weekly ' Times on Monday, adding, "Perennial 6% increases are unacceptable." unacceptable." . With Durham Region's high. assessment growth and low inflationary pressure at this time, Mayor Mutton feels the tax increase could be very . close- to zero if it weren't for the Region's involvement in providing added services. In fact' as a result of a motion made by Mutton at- the last Regional Council meeting, the Finance Department is prepar- ing a report listing all the serv ices provided at the Regional level, distinguishing between services, they are. obliged, to provide and those they are not. .Items like the construction of Hwy. 401 interchanges which the Region has undertaken undertaken in Ajax, have traditionally traditionally been a Provincial responsibility. responsibility. There are also items in the Social' Services Department that the Region is providing over and above their mandate. "Personally, I am looking at slashing non core services and go to something realistic," stated Mutton. Making sure Clarington's emergency plan was up to date was one of the significant undertakings of the past year. This along with the fire plan and the alerting zone around the Nuclear Power Plant went to the top of the priority liÿt following the September 11th attack on the U.S. said the 1 Mayor. Approval of the twin pad arena in Courtice was a high light of the year 20t)i in the Mayorts book., "This will frée. ,yp ice time in,the existing arenas arenas ' and, allow leagues to, expand," he said. Still of • a concern to the Mayor is how the Province will deal with Clarington's agreement with the aggregate industry in terms of gravel extraction in environmentally sensitive areas. The municipality municipality had arrived at a deal with the aggregate industry which is more restrictive than that outlined in the recently adopted Oak Ridges Moraine Protection Plan. Looking ahead, Mayor Mutton promised 'improvements 'improvements to Clarington's transportation transportation system. A number of roads will be upgraded to urban standards and a public transportation .. system, in Bowmanville will become a reality. Final selection of the site for the ITER research facility will be made this summer, and if Clarington were to become the preferred site. Mutton predicts predicts the largest economic growth this area has ever seen, ■ for years to come. If the ITER facility were to be built ini Clarington, the Mayor says we could, see a zero percent tax increase - for many years. As it is, the municipality is working within a 2% tax increase target for this year. " Mayor Mutton felt the biggest challenge he faced last year was to build a team with the new council. Having (continued page 3) Evidence stolen Thieves broke into the Esso service centre at 8786 Hwy. 115/35 early Monday morning and tooH an unknown quantity of cigarette cartons. They left behind only footprints and a smashed front door. 'When pôlice arrived on the scene at 3:10 a.m. in response to an alarm call, the place was abandoned and the suspects had removed the surveillance , tape from the VCR. Footprints .indicated that the suspects had jumped over the counter to remove the cig- • arfettes and then fled in a vehicle. vehicle.