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

Budget process slowed down Due to a slowdown in grants from the Ministry of Education the Halton Board of Education will have to wait an extra two weeks to approve a 2 million operating budget for 1989 The board was scheduled to meet March to vote on the budget which was to go before municipal governments by a March 31 deadline But grant regulations which make up 32 per cent the total board budget will not be available until March 31 Municipal governments in eluding the Town of Halton Hills kick in about per cent of the boards annual operating budget But now the town will not review the budget until after April 13 when the board votes on an 8 2 per cent increase over last year In prior years increases have lept over the lOpercent mark says Acton and area trustee Arlene Bruce The original figure submitted by the boards finance committee for approval was an crease to a total of 223 million But that figure was pared down during the five weeks of tion by the finance committee The boards budget has been described as labor intensive Over 77 per cent of the budget pays for staff salaries Other costs that use a large chunk of the budget involve supplies services and fee expenses which jumped million over last year to a total of million for New initiatives launched in the present school year ac count for million of the new budget Although government grants pay almost one third of school board costs trustees are afraid that grants are shrinking in size every year Mrs Bruce said there has been a continued decline in the percentage of funding allocated by the Ministry This belief has led trustees to lobby the provincial government for funding and has caused trustees to vote in support of a lot levy proposed by the provincial government to pay for the building of new schools Committee is waiting for salary reviews Halton Hills General Committee needs further discussion before choosing a fiveperson committee to review Town government salaries Although the motion to form a review committee was approved at a February 1968 council meeting Mayor Miller said Monday that a committee was not formed and that more discussion with Town Administrator Dan Costea would be needed In a report to the Towns General Committee Monday night Mr said the municipality can choose tp form the public group called an Independent Review Panel or to use review and com with other municipalities to determine Town salaries But Councillor Norm Elliott chairman of the General Commit tee said the salary review com mittee was already approved and that Monday nights discussion was a reaffirmation of councils decision last year OPEN 10 10 DAILY tu if Florists REMEMBER EASTER THIS WEEKEND Celebrate with Flowers from Florists ill GuelphSL Georgetown com NORTHVIEW CENTRE Rural Dignity group goes to Queens Park SATURDAY MARCHES 24 PAGES Despite the snowfall the first day of marked by clear signs new life in rural Canada Rural Dignity of Canada the grassroots citizens group try to save rural post offices from closure and privatization by Canada Post took Seeds of Hope and several gardening tools to Queens Park Monday to remind city media and provincial cians that then help is needed to bring pressure to bear on the policy makers in the postal cor poration and the federal govern to change a highly discriminatory unwanted rural post policy said Rural Dignity of Canada member for Ontario Liz Armstrong Ms Armstrong said nearly post offices across Canada have been closed or privatized by Canada Post and 226 are now be ing reviewed She says review is the first phase of closure or pnvatization Ms Armstrong told media assembled at Queens Park that the first day of spring this year had been declared Rural Day Similar events were be ing held in Ottawa and other pro vincial capitals she said The doortodoor delivery pro mised by Canada Post ost million per year said Ms Arm strong All rural post offices across Canada cant possibly lose more than million per year and in fact probably much less than million total she said She added that even the few pro fitable rural post offices could be closed down or privatized Ms Armstrong said that Canada Posts decision to close postal ser vice during lunch hour in some areas was completely insen sitive Its the busiest time of day said Ms Armstrong Locally Canada Post left Limehouse with no post office said Ms Armstrong The previous postmaster was paid per year for her services while the retail postal operators who succeeded her made less than per month for the same work No wonder they dropped the postal contract in October she said Ms Armstrong said Rural ty could understand Canada Posts budget cuts if profits werent being made within the company but Canada Post is now profitable she said Theyre projecting a million profit this fiscal year so why con a policy that is clearly rendering rural communities se cond class when it comes to mail service r wastes sen i i ansae fewf J V A Air j Kj I A ySSrtfg Local church collection taken Halton Regional Police say an unknown person climbed into the window of a local church Sunday night and took from the col lection box The suspect entered Holy Cross Church in Georgetown through a rear basement window sometime between 7pm Sunday night and Sam Monday morning say police The investigation continues Citizen of the Year A capacity crowd turned out at the variations on the use of the English Georgetown Lions Club Hall Monday night language Lion Stan Callaghan left to honor former high school teacher Tom Chairman of the Selection Committee is as the Georgetown seen here presenting Mr Citizen of the Year Mr Ramautarsingh with the Citizen of the Year Plaque spoke fondly of his teachuig days and Herald photo delighted the audience with several CORNER OF ST HWY MOUNT S GEORGETOWN 8772418 BANQUET HALL AVAILABLE TOO WtUCS SHOAL STEAK AND LOBSTER 1495 J Realty of Distinction Inc Realtor MEMBER BROKER 112 Main St S Georgetown Comer Church Main 8731881