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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Councillor replies THE HERALD Wednesday February Pa I I lie a IIS audited treasury To the editor of The Herald In view of some of the statements and comments nude recently In the Halton Hills Herald I feel obligated to repeat for your readers the opening statement I mode at a Chamber of Commerce meeting held at Robert Little School In Acton In October 1B77 and to clarify for them the method used to finance regional projects This fsjl our local newspapers carried a letter I wrote to the Provincial In which I stated among other things that wo used money from the sale of townowned land to present an acceptable budget in 1973 Briefly I would like to give you a few facts to Justify my statement that Acton was experiencing financial problems prior to Regional Government In 1974 1 From 1B69 to the Board of Education reduced its levy to Acton by almost 11 mills This reductin In education costs certainly helped Acton councillors offset their rising costs In 73 we our major road projects reconstruction of Bower Ave storm sewers In downtown area and entrance to Elizabeth Drive which cost With high interest rates town debentures like mortgages double the cost of a project to the taxpayers In 1973 to finance council control the null rate we used Ml from the sale of land and in lot levies Lot levies is money collected from new homes constructed in town How did we spend this money The 162 in Lot Levies was spent a Donation to the proposed swimming pool Donation to the proposed tennis courts Resurfacing town streets Road work on Acton Blvd The from the sale of townowned land as follows Donation to proposed swimming pool Arena roof fund Built industrial road Debentures on industrial land Road maintenance General Operating budget The figures that I am quoting appear in statements and were given to me by department Acton deficit of for 1973 was not charged back to Ward 1 as laid out in BUI 1S1 but paid from a surplus from the Georgetown area If the Town of Hills had not been created for budget purposes in the Acton council would have been faced with these facts a a deficit or J b rising costs in general administrative due to inflation increase in education costs d needed to complete financing the local swimming pool el an arena that needed a new roof f additional recreation costs operate swimming pool rebudding Church Street which was engineered In 1973 Mr Editor it was information that I have quoted above that made me say that Acton was experiencing serious financial difficulties In How have we progressed since the town of Hills was formed Since 1974 the town council has carried out several projects in Acton which have listed below and not one nickel has been debentured The figures quoted do not include M C subsidy or money held In reserve funds g Churchill Road North Rebuilding Church Street Rebuilding Churchill Road North Storm Sewers In block Ourshare of rebuilding Main St Hwy estimated OurshareofrebuildingMalnSt Complete financing of swimming pool Arena roof compressor washrooms Addition to local firehall woo uu Good projects have been carried out In all wards of Halton Hills since and wc have been able keep the tax increase for Area and Regional purposes to 7 per cent per year The present In Ward raises onefifth mill ta Halton Hills A TYPICAL HOME IN ACTON Town and Total Region cost PS 1IS Taxes pre I Percentage Increase w Average for 42 19 period It should be noted that the cost of living has increased from Jan 1 1973 to August by per cent Besides the Improvements listed above there have been made in water and sewers Water is a public utility like hydro and tax dollars are not used to finance expenditures Hence we had a 60 per cent increase in water rates in Acton in July Services hove been replaced and updated on Mill Street Main Street North considerable looping has beet done to improve pleasure and for fire protection and the in Prospect Is ready for testing These have cost ihe water users Likewise sewers have been replaced and enlarged where construction has taken place equipment to remove phosphorus Installed and general maintenance updated The total cost has been 344 An addition to the sewage treatment plant to Increase its capacity to one million gallons per day la progressing as scheduled It will be In operation in the summer or 1978 payments will start in 1979 budget It should be noted here that in 1973 the Acton Council commissioned R V Anderson Company to a complete study of all our underground services and recommend a 5year programme to update or replace Ibem This firm is still engaged by the Region when work is done in Acton ond all the improvements made to date were recommended by Mr Ken Hyde in his 1973 report Regional Financing Except for water and sewer costs which are charged back to the local urban areas the Regional budget Is assessed to the Area Councils as follows City of Burlington TowDOfOakville TownofMilton Town of Hills These are percentages and will change for 1878 when the new assessments are reported Since the rural areas in and of Hills do not pay for water sewers or garbage it explains why our uses four mill rates in Hospital Financing About ten years ago County Council agreed to handmade gifts books collectables h yarns and fibres weavers house Separate school system expands faces challenges in 1978 chairman 90 125 00 the onethird of any In mi be raised locally over the entire county Regional Council has continued this policy so all taxpayers pay their share for any additions approved lo Ihe four hospitals In Unless this policy is changed all taxpayers In will contribute lo any addition approved for the hospital in Georgetown In the future When the special committee was formed to review Regional Government In Acton I supported It because I wanted the true financial picture lo be made known to the people A subcommittee of citizens made this sludyand reported with their recommendations Although I have a copy of their findings I feel it must be considered confidential until it is released by the committee Acton is my home and my community loo I am equally proud of Its past and know that It will be a viable part of Hills in the future There are many communities in Hills that will continue to be as our new town progresses Positive thinking community involvement ond cooperation will play leading roles in their success Local newspapers by their editorials reports and comment encourage each com munlty to be positive or negative on this major change In loco government which was adopted to update the old county system and help control growth in this area I would hope that your paper continue lis positive approach in the future John St Hwy 7 lights progress in reverse To the editor of The Herald Through your newspaper I would like to convey my thoughts about the traffic lights on No highway through Georgetown this ami Georgetown when one of the first traffic lights was installed at John St and No highway and I thought at the time It was not properly timed and to this day now that I m back in this area I find if you break the hill on No highway going cast bound You never can make this light on a green signal because west bound traffic has used up about eight seconds on a flashing green If you hit this on a red you hit all the rest of the signals on red A mile an hour speed limit for miles of unnecessary slow speeds would tend one to try some other route to avoid this beautiful town The reason I wrote this letter is because 1 travel train to Toronto and find have a unnecessary minute wait at shop in this town would be a good business be In I see progress In reverse Whatever happened to To of The Herald I have read In The Herald thi problems of the students the roads instead of the i the I have often wondered what happened to the machines thai were purchased by the town some ago for for just that purpose To my know they were only used for one winter season Surely call their purchase Thiro are J who was re elected for a second term as chairman of the Roman Catholic Separate School Board said in his inaugural address that looking forward to working with the board in the year ahead The year just past has been challenging and rewarding one he said In glancing through some of the Board minutes for one Is struck by the Increase of public inter est in the matters considered by our Board To name but a few Catholic High School Ed Family Life Program French Language Programs Open Concept Education and He said community aware ness speaks well for our and provides an on going dialogue between the parents of our students and who arc changed with the blllty of providing for their formal education Three events during the past year bear special lion the chairman said The first Catholic High School In District was opened in Burlington in September with Grade students In at ten dance This was the of seven years of diligent effort on the part of the parents NDP DELEGATE Among the delegates to the New Democratic Party convention In Toronto Feb was riding delegate Buz Hargrove right from Georgetown Seated beside him ore two Windsor delegates from left Dave Mailloux Ken Skinner All three were listening to the debate among the three leadership hopefuls where they answered questions from delegates Proclamations made Nutrition contest winners Winners have been in McDonald s Nutrition Fun Contests for schools In Acton and Georgetown The contest was part of Nutrition Week which ran from Jan The judges were Jean McDonald of the Georgetown Hospital Auxiliary Randy die titian at Georgetown Hospital and Fran public health nurse In the category of best mob ile the winners of class award were grade one and two students of I Public School The winners of the individual awards were Gregory Grade i Li m chouse public school Utile Grade Glen Williams public school In the category of best coll age the winners of the class award were the Grade pupils at Howard Wriggles pub lic school with honorable men lion going to the Grade students at school The individual award was won by Kenny Hilts of LI chouse public school In the category of best model class award went to the pupils of St Asa is separate school with honorable mention going to the Grade S pupils at Howard Wriggles worth School The Individual awards were by Karen Pepper Eddie Hunt and Laura Smith all Grade pupil from Harrison public school trustees of the of The temporary tion Is in the school formerly known as St Joseph here In Lane and while it pro vides adequate accomodation at his time the site is too small for future expansion For reason a larger site has been approved by the Ministry purchased by the Board ha said A firm of architects has been chosen and we hope to commence con struct Ion later this year or early In 1979 A real tribute to those dedicated to the cause or Education In our In September of 1B77 the new St Joseph School in Acton was opened with 115 students In attendance he said Presently housed in the Old Stone School which was vacated by the Board of this new school the provision of Separate School Education throughout the entire District Our French language ins true will see further ex In 1978 he said The Board estab lished a French language school in This school with a projected enrollment of 130 students will open In Sept ember on the site of the pre sent St Mary school which Is closing because of declining enrollment Other French schools are located in George and It is interesting to note that In all instances existing space was utilized to launch these new projects and that should provide some consols to ratepayers who have a great awareness of the restraints under which alt of us labor at this time he said Long overdue expansion of facilities In the Milton area have commenced with the con now In progress of St Peters School on Wood ward Avenue Mr said This will relieve severe overcrowding conditions at Holy Rosary and provide a school where those students attending will be within walk Ing distance Our Family Life Program come under close scrutiny in 1977 and it was gratifying to learn that the program which wis Initiated some seven or eight years ago has stood the test of time and provides a strong Christian base on which we may continue build in the years ahead Incidentally recent day long session of the Trustees to consider System priorities placed Christian at the head of a lengthy list of MUST items in our system He said a high priority mat for the Board will be that of Special Education at both ends of he spectrum in the new year we will be programs that will benefit those struggling with the basic skills as well as programs that will benefit the gifted child Great emphasis will be placed on Identifying those students with needs that our system Intends to satisfy Another concern that came to the fore during the recent examination of system priori les he said was the matter of educating students These children have spec needs that might well only be met in the atmosphere of school Unless the school system is able to reach these students with sound rcisonlng which favors a stable we might well find students with problems that perpetuate themselves generation after generation Surely then one of the prime concerns of a Catholic School Board must be a places great emp hasis not only on academic excellence but on the value of a strong family unit which will In turn provide an atmosphere where the Catholic student will find peace fulfillment and stability Wc have glanced bock brief al the year just past but the year ahead will continue lo be aware of financial restraints but the problem of declining enrollment which has plagued Boards serosa the Province appears to be some years In the future for our Board Enrollment projections In dicate that we will be in a holding or minimal growth pattern for at least five years he said This Is not to say that student populations will not shift but If that situation curs the Board may well find It more economical lo make use oNrxisling facilities by means of busing Salary negotiations have been in progress for some time and while there are firm posit Ions on both sides the board looks forward to a mutually beneficial conclusion in the too distant future he said I anticipate that the trust might examine our exist committee structure Need for additional meetings has increased greatly In recent months and a detailed exam Ination of the existing struct might suggest alternate methods of dealing with this phase of the Board a business Our board has established as a high priority the ion of teachers and schools The coming year will see our superintendents spending more time in the schools en trusted to their care with the prune or ensuring that Ihe students are getting the best possible education for the dollars expended Pro gram separate ays tem for some years is now being sponsored by the Ministry of Education he said This permits an en largement of the program which will provide for Instruct Ion In Creation Italian gese and German The program affords stud of ethnic background an opportunity to better under stand their mother tongue In so doing they enjoy better communications with their parents and preserve their cultural heritage while enjoy the benefits of their par adoptive country In looking to the future one must look beyond the site acquisitions the bricks and mortar the shovelling of snow In winter and the cutting of grass in the summer to the end product of all our efforts he said With the breakdown of fnm Hies materialism running rampant our values being attacked on all sides we see more and more clearly the role which our schools must play They must provide an at mosphere where the values given to us by Jesus Christ can be imparted In such a way thai they will for all time motivate our students to do their part In providing a world in which all can find the way to their Creator and perhaps enlighten the path for others to do likewise THE BOMS HMO MINI SUPERMARKET DELICATESSEN MAIN ST SOUTH IN OLD DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN 877 THIS WEEKS SPECIAL MINCED CHUCK 99 lb or lb bulk Send Our Bouquet For Vour Precious ValentineFebruary 14th