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--_--l > er Fs ESE NERA ys & e! BIG ~ or) ro -, Cr oak oe FRR 2 ) Re Toa £ Se = ---- ----te 5 Na re J NZ KR Secs ys ee 7 A -- me. AS oA aS, lad, SW XE, Halo xd ~ hy oa a Io 2 CE 2K Mes «vl n 2 Ne a" BC hy -- BS JEN WV - AR Ay } hala neal LEEPER 2X = "ag JLB oe . hr he' AXA PPO ANAS RL AF oO PUA Ia Bg A SS CT A AN EER a A CE IN Lar LE A INE ve LAT CLARA CE SNE A DP CUES ERIC BSR AR L700 Rt TRAIN UFFE RSS ATE ET POE RTE SST DES LES TAL 1 Maid CORON RS aS RR AY a A SA SAP te YAN RA SUR Se S The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost Durham Region council has been thrown into turmoil over the past three weeks because of the 1980 budget, and the fact that new equalized factors could mean a hike in property taxes paid by citizens in five Durham municipalities. Politicians from these five municipalities, which include Scugog Township, have been instrumental in first blocking final passing of the 1980 budget and second, getting their fellow Regional councillors to agree to try fo chop $1 million from the budget in an effort to lesson the tax impact on property owners. Whether a further $1 million can be whacked from the budget remains to be seen, and Regional council could be in for a stormy session when it meets again on April 16. What is certain, is that if this amount is slashed out, it will mean a reduction in levels of some Regional services. And if the inflation rate continues at the present rate of 10 per cent, taxes for Regional purposes in 1981 could go up by as much as 15 per cent. What is fundamental to remember is that the new equalized factors implemented by the provincial government for all Regions and counties in Ontario this taxation year are hurting rural municipalities like Scugog, Brock, Uxbridge and Newcastle. Although the factor system itself is exceedingly complex, the reasons why rural municipalities are feeling the pinch are simple enough. The market value of residential and farm property has increased more substantially in rela- tion to the increase of the market value of industrial and commercial .property over the past decade. The new factors are used to determine what share each municipality will pay to the Durham Region budget based on a market value assessment of all property within each municipality. Communities like Oshawa and Whitby which have a broader industrial and commercial base will have their share of the Durham budget reduced somewhat, while farm and residential communities like Scugog and Uxbridge will have to pick up the difference. It is a fair system in both theory and practise, although the bottom line is extremely difficult for rural politicians to have to explain to their tax- payers. Scugog Township, for example, is now paying for the phenomenal residential growth experienced in the past half-dozen years; a growth which was not matched by industrial expansion. The expanded water and sewer systems in Port Perry, for example, primarily service new residential development. With the increase in the number of residents comes a RR SEG SS LACIE AA Ena SII SII SSIS a" ll rr Za aid (ddan Ll " ta CITT 1 Po 0 ff GV PP PTTL 20007 IPI FFF 0 0000 200 mr, ol 0S DRIFT PFS LSS SIA AAPA AISA, Rp 20 70 SAL FPP SSPE IIS FRPP IIE A, dc dream arrrrrrr iar 277 ddan mm -- -- 77 e772 SOIL IIY IRIS LIRA 2 200s 112 771 1 1 100 1 AV = oorers, 7 Z ZA de ester ITS IVY ZZ ne 70 A 70, 2 Pp HIS III 1220000000. ridin, . ISL? WINS "Nosooy 4sxep mE ro pray / YL III LIA p pf POO ILI #00 ee + zd TI IIIIIL IIASA 9000. 21 7 dtm, A NR Ne) NAR Na S119 00000 17771 1TTTVI1 4 4 dddddbbadddddddddiin ad TTD eo IPO O III beer p sf SSI Pp 0s, &Z rh i PITTVS Sd £0 7 #2 4 hiked Tsay A SIs 0 7, LINN 1/1000), I corresponding demand for increased levels of muni- * cipal services of all kinds, including those supplied by Durham Region. While Scugog has had a substantial increase in the overall rate of assessment growth in recent years, it is fair to say that the chickens have now come home to roost. Based on the market value of real estate of all kinds, Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock have not been paying their share of the costs of Durham Region. Whether the value of farm and residential property was inflated artificially in the past decade (as some believe) does not really enter into this problem over who pays how much to operate Durham Region. It's all well enough for our Regional councillors to wave their arms and shout about the higher taxes, but the painful writing has been on the wall for some years. Slashing $1 million from the 1980 budget or receiving a grant from the provincial government this year to ease the pain are only band-aids. The same problems will have to be faced again next year, and the year after. Is there any relief in sight for the property tax- payer? Probably not in the short term. But it might rela | municipalities were given the power to actively entice new industry, and taxpayers could tell their cca politicians that they are prepared to live with reduced levels of municipal services of all ¥ kinds. bill SM THE CANADIAN DREAM My heart goes out to all the young people who have been saving to buy a home. At today's interest rates, they have about as much chance to achieve their ambition as I have of being chosen Best Dressed Man of the Year. Let's take a typical example, and reflect on the grim picture a couple with young children face when they want a home of their own, with a bit of lawn, a little garden, some room for their kids to explore and set some roots. By dint of cutting every corner, pinch- ing every portion, Dick and Jane, who have two kids called Jick and Dane, have amassed a total of $5,000 over their five years of wedded bliss. They've been able to do this only by eating cheap food, eschewing all luxuries, such as drinks, steaks, movies. They have taken moonlight jobs on their holidays to make a few extra bucks. And of course they have both been working, sending the kids to daycare, for which they have to pay. Their ley only concession to entertainment has been a black and white TV, an old car in which they occasionally venture forth for a picnic, and extremely careful sex. Mind you, they're not suffering. They are getting enough to eat, unlike those 'poor little starving children in China' of whom my mother reminded me every time I clariped my lips tight and refused to eat lumpy oatmeal. (I wonder what happened to those poor little starving kids in China, anyway. Every time I see some little Chinese kids on TV, they look remarkably well-nourished. I think they've all moved to Biafra or. Dangla- besh or South America.) At any rate, this is no horror story about a young Canadian couple who can afford a twenty-four of beer only on Saturday nights. Their kids are healthy, and reasonably well dressed, thanks to Zellers, and Woolworths and other philantropical Canadian com- panies who buy cheap but sturdy rags in Hong Kong and Taiwan. But I still feel sorry for Dick and Jane. They had a dream, the old Canadian dream of owning your own house and a bit of land, and it's turning into a nightmare. They don't want to be up there with the Vanderbilts. They'd settle for a very modest home, around $40,000, if there is still a detached house in the country for this price. Dick would work on improvements and Jane would make it warm and lively with her unerring sense of taste. - So they decide to take the plunge. With their hardsaved cheque for $5,000 clutched in one of their hopeful hands, they go to the bank or a trust company to borrow the rest. No problem, as the ads said a few years ago. Then comes the crunch. The bank manager, or the realtor, or the trust com- pany bird, welcomes then with the warmth of an undertaker, and fiddles with his pencil, and mutters about the Canadian dollar and interest rates, and finally gives them a figure. For the $35,000 they still need, at 15 per cent a year, their - uh - interest would be $5,250.00, just $250.00 more than they walked in with. To say that Dick 'and Jane are stunned would be like saying that Pierre Trudeau is humble. With both their jobs, they gross $22,000. After the Revenue Department is through with them, they'll be lucky to have $18,000. More like $16,000. But that's still quite a bit, isn't it? Take off another $4,000 just to eat and keep clean and maintain the old rusty car. . Take off a few hundred for telephone and hydro and medicare, and all the other deductions from their pay cheques, and it's another $1,000 they haven't laid hands on. We're down to $11,000. Of course, if they have a house, they won't have to pay rent. That will save about $3,600 a year, if they happen to live in a slum. ) But that $3,600 will be gobbled up by taxes, fuel and all the other things that houses gobble. Then there's that $5250.00 a year interest on the mortgage. They are left with around $5,000 a year to pay for clothes, toothpaste, repairs to everything, dental bills, and all the other flack of modern living. And they still haven't bought a washer and dryer, a stove and refrigerator, and color TV, or a second car, all the absolute necessities for a proud house- owner. Poor devils. They might just make it, if they were prepared to eat porridge and spaghetti for the next twenty years, never take a holiday, stayed healthy and each got an extra job. They could always send Jick out babysitting. and Dane out shining shoes, but they won't be ready for another ten years. By that time Dick and Jane will have paid about $50,000 interest on a $40,000 house, and nothing on the principal. - Forget it, Dick and Jane. Take your five thousand, blow it on a good holiday, and go on welfare. You'd be better off, and without the stress, would live an extra ten years. So much for the Canadian dream. And I don't want some accountant writing and refuting my figures. They're close enough. J