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BOWM ANVILLELIBR A R JJJJ5 > 163 Church Street Licip7 Bowmanvtlle, O $1.00 GST Included Wednesday December 8, 2004 Hir r. i |l l | i!i | *!^ H ii,iüliHÎrfüiliwiilii'. 1 1.».'--«AiUIimij .u.. Orono Town Hall Serving Kendal, Kirby. Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Regional taxes increase 6 per cent The Regional portion of the property tax bill , is set to increase by at least six percent next year. Regional Finance committee committee has set a six per cent increase as a guideline to regional departments as they submit their 2005 budgets. The six per cent increase will represent a $25 million increase in spending over 2004. Of the fixed costs accounting for the $25 million million increase, $13.1 million is going towards labour contract settlements for regional staff and police. Debt charges "The whole taxing system is out of skew " --Oshawa Mayor John Grey Warn '■ .iiliiliilliii'.ii j il. i i 111 liipliiHpiiüi iPli in ii!i Dawson Puk discusser his wish list with Santo Claus at the Town Hall Board's breakfast Saturday morning. __--- Wedding bells to ring at Bowmanville Town Hall ... .. „ a .ormrt CVctP.m th( Clarington Town Hall will soon offer one stop shopping to Clarington couples wishing to tie the knot. Clarington's General Purpose Purpose and Administration Committee approved a plan to add civil marriages to the list of services offered by the Municipality. Municipal Clerk Patti Barrie hopes that by March of next year, all the paper work will be in order so she can start performing civic marriages marriages at town hall, for opposite opposite sex and same sex couples. Under the current system couples can purchase a marriage marriage license at the town hall for $100, and have a judge or justice of the peace solemnize the civil marriage. The alternate alternate option available to couples couples is to have wedding banns published in a church prior to the ceremony. The province announced changes to the regulation of Marriage Act last September, to free up court officials to focus on their court related duties. "Ifthcv really want to clear up the court system, they would allow us to start processing processing divorces," stated Mayor John Mutton at Monday's General Purpose and Administration Committee Committee meeting. "That's where the real money is," he said. The municipality has set the fee for a civil marriage at $250, Couples wishing to get married at Town Hall will still have to purchase a marriage license. Then, they will have to book an appointment WEDDING BELLS see page 3 for the Region's three long-term care facilities will cost $4.5 million in 2005, with an additional $.5 million to be spent on 65 new long-term care beds which are expected to open in late 2005. "It's time to look at the Region's commitment to operating operating homes for the aged," said Mayor John Mutton, who is chair of the Regional Finance Committee. "We are mandated to operate one, we choose to operate three," he stated. Mutton went on to suggest suggest that it might to be time to let the other two homes go to the private sector. A six per cent increase in the Regional tax levee will have an impact of just under $100 on the average home in the Region of Durham. Durham's share of the greater Toronto area (GTA) pooled social assistance and social housing costs that had councillors talking about a tax revolt. Oshawa Mayor John Grey observed that while Regional tax increases seemed to be flat lined at six per cent, retirees don't get a pension increase to pay for the increase in taxes. "The whole taxing system is out of skew," he stated. The property property taxpayer is asked to pay too much, while the federal government is turning in great surpluses, he noted. Mayor Ryan of Pickering threw out a suggestion that the Region engage in a tax revolt, by not paying the GTA Social Assistance and Social Housing pooling costs. Finance Commissioner Clapp told councillors that while Durham Region is ______ responsible for a percentage of the GTA Social Assistance payments, payments, they have .no control over how Toronto Toronto spends that money. In fact Durham Region partially funded the $853,000 that Toronto wasted on renting renting hotel rooms '-- near St. Catharines Catharines for the homeless last year. The homes were never used. The provincial government tells the region how much they must contribute to the costs of social housing and social assistance in the GTA, yet the Region has no way of finding out how that money is spent, according to Clapp. The Region is anticipating their 2005 share of the pooled GTA Social Assistance and Social Housing costs to be $.8 million. million. The public have an opportunity opportunity to comment on the budgetary process prior to the Regional council meeting of April 13, 2005. At that meeting that the Finance committee will bring the 2005 budget to council for approval. ■w; Heather Rebekah Lodge Orono Fri., Dec. 10 4-8 pm