The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

{7g oi 3] Ad eo ih a Pr AR ¥ ge EEC AEH 2 Beh Hc Har Ge 32 Pages Wednesday, January 24,1979 Gymnasts Show Winning Form Lisa James [left] of RR 2, Blackstock and Lynn Bradbury of Port Perry display the gymnastic form that helped them earn a gold and silver medal respectively at a meet held January 13 in Lindsay. The two 11-year-olds won their medals for overall points in four 'Hospital gets 35.3% hike Port Perry Community Hospital administrator Dave Brown says "it will be tough" to meet the 5.3 per cent budget increase an- nounced for the hospital last e week by the provincial goverment. Mr. Brown told the Star Monday morning that he will have a clearer picture of the overall impact of the spend- ing restrictions in the next four weeks as he prepares the hospital budget for the fiscal year 1979-80 which starts on March 31. "It is too early at this time to say what the effects will be," he stated. "But a 5.3 per cent increase is nowhere @ near the annual rate of in- flation." : Last Friday, provincial health minister Dennis Timbrell restricted spending this year for active bed hospitals in Ontario to 4.5 per cent. The Community Hos- ® pital in Port Perry received 5.3 per cent because it has less than 50 beds and a total budget of under $1.8 million. In actual dollars, the budget from the provincial government for the 46-bed hospital in Port Perry will be $1.65 million, up from $1.56 million the previous year. Mr. Brown feels that whether the hospital can keep within the 5.3 per cent increase will depend a large part on the outcome of labour negotiations later this year. The CUPE contract covering RNA's and service workers will expire on March 30, and the contract for RN's is up at the end of September. In addition, the hospital will continue with cost- saving measures already in place that have resulted in reduced use of fuel oil and electricity, and savings through group purchasing with other hospitals in Durham Region. This year's budget for the hospital represented a 5.6 per cent increase over last year and there are no staff cutbacks or reductions in essential service areas, and Mr. Brown is hopeful that this can be repeated in 1979- 80. The health ministry has also announced that the ratio - of hospital beds per thousand population will be cut back from the present four to 3.5 Sand beach project underway After a year of delays for various reasons, it now app- ears certain that the Kins- men sand beach project for the Port Perry waterfront is a reality. Tom Armstrong of the Port Perry Kinsmen Club, told members of council Monday evening, that app- roval has been received from the provincial government for a $2600 park extensions grant, and the club has ear- marked $3500 from its own budget this year to complete in 1981. This, however, will not neccessarily mean fewer beds at the hospital because the base population in Scugog is on the increase. The Community Hospital has 38 active beds and eight chronic care beds and new measures announced by the government last week will the project. However, in order to let the club get started on the actual work in the next couple of weeks, the Kins- men. asked council for in- terim financing of $5100. Council agreed, and Mr. Armstrong said the money would be repaid as soon as the $2600 grant is received from the province, and the Kinsmen Club would repay the remaihing $2500 by the end of June. The sand beach project hydro Scugog Township council will push ahead with its efforts to expand the Port Perry Hydro system into surrounding urban areas in- cluding Prince Albert. However, council was told Monday afternoon that just to get a cost study of such an events: vault, beam, uneven bars and mats, and helped their team from the Gemini Gymnastic Club earn the team trophy in the first qualifying meet for the Metro East District. mean that any patient in a chronic care bed for more than 60 days will be assessed a daily fee of $9.80. Figures from the local hospital show that the average stay in a chronic bed is 18 days, but any patient staying longer than 60 days will have to pay the extra costs. was originally intended to be completed in time for last summer, but it got tangled in grant applications and the necessary approvals from various government agen- cies. However, Mr. Armstrong said Monday that the Kin- smen Club is now ready to start placing some 2500 cubic yards of sand on the ice in an area 100 by 250 feet just to" the north of the tennis courts. An additional 500 square yards of sand will be placed study expansion off the ground would require permission from the provincial minister of energy, and actual expan- sion into these areas is pres- ently not permitted under provincial law. Despite these obstacles, and some opposition from Port Perry Hydro Comm- ission members, the Council will formally ask the provin- cial government for per- mission to proceed with the initial study. Council met with members of the Hydro Commission and representatives of Ont- ario Hydro to discuss the issue Monday afternoon, and Tom Bennett of Ontario Hydro said that existing leg- islation does not allow a Hydro Commission to ex- pand into part of a munic- ipality. He said that any expansion would have to in- clude all of Scugog Town- ship, a move which even members of Scugog council agree would not be feasible. However, council does feel that expansion into Prince Albert and new subdivision areas immediately surr- ounding the Port Perry 'boundaries is desirable. The study, if it is allowed to pro- - ceed would come up with the costs of purchasing existing equipment from Ontario Hydro such as transformers and lines, and attempt to calculate how such an ex- pansion would affect the user rates presently being charg- ed to customers in Port Perry. REBELLION The fear that such an ex- pansion would drive up the rates in Port Perry is the main reason for the opposit- ion from member of the Hydro Commission, and was expressed at the meeting by Commission member Ted Griffen who said if any rate hike to Port Perry is excess- (Turn to page 3) While Mr. Brown made it clear that keeping within the 5.3 per cent budget while at the same time maintaining the present level of essential services and staff members is going to be difficult, he added that at least "we are better off than those hospi- tals that only got a 4.5 per cent increase." on the shore to complete the beach. The sand on the ice will be placed over sheets of plastic which will sink to the bottom of the lake in spring and prevent the beach sand from being mixed into the mud on the lake bottom. Mr. Armstrong said Mon- day that the actual dumping of the sand on the ice will get underway on February 12, and there will be enough sand to cover the area to a (Turn to page 3) 0 ¥ EADS WS SAS ADAIR