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

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 1997 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI Budget changes keep mill rate at As Councillors struggled to come up with an operating budget that was acceptable and defensible they rejected a number of deletions put forward by staff in order to bring the mill rate increase down to no more than a 2 per cent increase. Here are some of the changes. Additions * +$20,000 for Transpor- tation Study: At the sugges- tion of Ward 2 Councillor Kathy Gastle, councillors left $20,000 in the Engineering and Public Works budget to help pay for a transportation study. Staff had recom- mended that $35,000 initially included in the budget by the department head be deleted totally. "We have a long list of transportation concerns that over and over and over again constituents from every ward have brought to Council. I can't speak strongly enough that we need to move for- ward and get some informa- tion so we can deal with the Norval by-pass, Tenth Line, 15 Sideroad and the 401- Steeles Avenue corridor," Gastle successfully argued. * +$6,000 for Fairly Lake weed harvesting: Staff rec- ommended that money to cut the weeds in Fairly Lake be eliminated from the budget but Acton Councillor Rick Bonnette was successful in convincing them to restore it. "The lake is in a deplor- able condition because of the weeds and I think that from an esthetic and safety point of view $6,000 is a small price to pay," Bonnette said. ¢ + $2,000 for sidewalk snow clearing: Faced with a number of requests to clear more Town sidewalks of snow, councillors agreed to increase the proposed $18,684 budget by $2,000 to include clearing Guelph Street on both sides from Main Street to Delrex Boul- evard, Mountainview Road from Guelph Street to Delrex on the west side and Delrex to Argyle Road on the east side. Deletions Preliminary budget esti- mates submitted by all de- partments totaled a $1.2 mil- lion increase over last year, which would have meant a 12.34 mill rate increase. Heading into budget talks staff recommended $1 mil- lion in cuts which would have reduced the mill rate increase to 2 per cent. Staff also suggested cuts which could bring the in- crease down to 0 per cent, requiring further cuts of $198,797. As of' Monday night -councillors had made cuts totalling $112,091. They include: ¢ - $6,500: Not hire a Recitiaticn Director this year. -$31,425: Reduce over- time and part-time wage costs in the Building, Zoning and Enforcement Services area by transferring responsibility for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning plans examina- tions to the building permit applicant. ¢ - $3,655: Not hire a stu- dent to fill in during vaca- tions and to work on special projects in the Finance De- partment. ¢ - $34,425: Transfer a parks employee to the arenas for the winter, thereby elimi- nating the need to hire a part- time facility operator. Two full-time arena employees Zero tax increase goal in From Front Page Bonnette, opened Monday's meeting by asking each coun- cillor whether they were happy with a small mill rate increase or wished to con- tinue cutting to get to zero. Seven of those present --a majority -- elected to con- tinue cutting. Pushing fora zero percent tax increase, Ward 2 Coun- cillor Kathy Gastle said that in challenging times council- lors had the responsibility to be more efficient. Councillor John Day, who submitted proposed cuts totaling $131,737 that night, argued that aiming for a zero tax increase was not a psy- chological tactic, but a real- istic goal. Councillors Anne Currie, Al Cook, Ron Chatten, Rob Heaton and Mayor Marilyn Serjeantson also want to make additional cuts to come in with no tax,increase. Acton Councillors Norm Elliott and Gerald Rennie along with Georgetown Councillors Keith Bottomley and Kevin Kuiack were con- tent with the cuts already made which could have re- sulted in a 1.12 per cent tax increase. Rennie said he'd spoken to. several seniors who 2 per cent willbe transferred to the Parks and Cemeteries section for the summer, eliminating the need to hire two seasonal employees. * - $22,394: Postpone a study of the Town's Recrea- tion facilities. * - $15,000: Reduce the budget for legal fees. budget talks weren't concerned with a small tax increase and didn't want to spend hours in politi- cal posturing looking for cuts that would add less than 2 cents a day to the average tax bill. Noting that the Town had not had a tax increase in five years Councillor Norm Elliott said that Town councillors would be fooling themselves by cutting the budget any more. Lawsuit dropped against trustee From Front Page Gardiner said. - TCB membersalleged that Gardiner, along with trustees Flo Belford, Joe Pavelka, Penny Siebert and Board Chair Linda Glover, violated the Municipal Conflict of In- terest Act because they voted on the Board of Education Good People Good Value budget while having family members employed by the Halton board. TBC spokesman Frank Gue, who was in the Milton courtroom on Monday when the application against the trustees was dismissed. He said a provincial law clears up any concerns TCB had. EuupawSeee®. Ray Johnson Agent Chery] Brooker Sales & Service Associate Charmaine Hills Sales & Service Associate 211 Guelph Street (Northview Centre) Georgetown 877-0131 Toronto direct line: (905) 456-0093 Good Value From People You Can Trust® f3 the co-operators Insurance/Financial Services For your convenience, we are now open Saturdays from Christina Cater Sales & Service Associate Notice! 9:00 am - 1:00 pm We are also open 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday to Friday and Thursday 9:00 am - 7:00 pm HOME ¢ AUTO ° LIFE © RRSPs * FARM * BUSINESS * GROUP More Ways to SAVE xt HALTON HILLS IGA Sy A eae eC Coie From Our FRESH PICKED BROCCOLI MEAL TIME FAVOURITE MIX OR MATCH CARROTS on ONIONS Fs ceterystaxs 998 cantaLoures --_f O. wusHRoows =... ee ee ee 4 on purchase of t SA VE PEI POTATOES ; I 10 Ib. Bag I ¢ g y with coupon { I $4.49 without coupon | Lo ree enced estimate artery Corel ol ie SAVE oe et compre Hemmctauas - PEI POTATOES I 10 Ib. Bag 1 I I 99° with coupon $4.49 without coupon | eins prng (nt mage pts Dei a Ho i Si, Meh cmp SM EL CS ce | on purchase of SA VE DEMPSTER'S MULTI-GRAIN BREADS - Ass't. Varieties 675 gr. loaf oy Gg with coupon $4.49 without coupon | cecintenpr ge (nl meg prin pbs Dep da Mok Si, hc a Mea SL Ca jj Slot lll le ee == - 4 on purchase of SA VE DEMPSTER'S MULTI-GRAIN ! BREADS - Ass't. Varieties 675 gr. loaf I 99° with coupon I $4.49 without coupon | ip Ht BC nS, Mach 2 ey Stel ah Ma 3 Geog al -- a I I Ee r I ! I I I I L ANY OUR COMPLIMENTS ITEM I I 1 1 WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS I COMPLIMENTS OF . . . naLTon HiLLs "SGP 'Proudl : on purchase of SUPER SPECIAL COUPON SAVE 7 DARE COOKIES - Ass't. Varieties I I I I 300 - 350 gr. Bag 99° I with coupon I L = Lae cage pcan puch hs ep ie it, hog et 187 1a fame al] A Fa =: 158 Guelph St. . faa Georgetown wiiie 2 aR ERIC nwy.w7| IGA ¢ |2 STORE HOURS : @® e Mon, - Fri. 8 am- 9 pm Sat, 8 am-7 pm 4 > Sun.9am-6pm € $ Thank You For Shopping IGA * é