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2 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005 Integrity commissioner? Calling Mayor Rick Bon- nette "Tricky Ricky" and accusing him and Council of giving "taxpayer's money away to friendly campaign contributors" earned Acton resident Al Kirouac a rebuke from the mayor at Council on Monday night. Kirouac is the Web master and an editor of an on-line news service that has raised the hackles of many locally with its contributors' al- legations about the sexual orientation of one council- lor, inaccurate reporting and spiteful personal at- tacks on other councillors Daily 6:45PM Sat-Sun 2:00PM Starts Friday [Racine Stripes Geel Sat-Sun 2:00PM Ze In Goop Company Daily 6:45 PM Starts Friday me WEDDING DATE Daily 9:00 PM Sis Friday Sf Poon's HEFFALUMP| Daily 7:00PM Sat-Sun 2:00PM Starts Friday Tues, $4.25 Abutr $8.00 'Campren/Senrors $4.25 Aut Mariners $4.25 mS OS) OD) SS Monday 'Lown and local individuals. Kirouac was before Coun- cil to ask them to appoint an integrity commissioner when he referred to the mayor as "Tricky Ricky" several times. "I'm going to ask you to respect the office and respect the Council, here -- when you start using 'Tricky Ricky', I'm going to dismiss you," Bonnette warned Kirouac to stick to the issue. Among his many un- founded allegations, Kirouac accused Council of "inappropriately approv- ing" water for subdivisions and possibly compromising public trust after a small oil spill at Halton Hills Hydro's Acton headquar- Digest ters, reminiscent he said, of the Walkerton water scan- dal that centered around a cover-up. Kirouac's challenge to councillors to "do the right thing" and create a position of Halton Hills integrity commissioner was met with stony silence. Regional Wards 1/2 Coun- cillor Clark Somerville left the council chambers before Kirouac began to speak saying that he had an "out- standing legal issue" with the delegate and on the advice of his solicitor he would not be present while Kirouac spoke to Council. Porn protection At the suggestion of May- or Rick Bonnette, Halton oh N Education Fridays ~10am to 10 : Energy & at Saseuivia DeSilva E.C_E., R.N., BA.,SC Rockwood On. 519 856 2801 Member of the College of Nurses of Ontario & Complementary Therapies Nurses Interest Group Research Viaaers ~ GO"4 in Ie ealing For occasions of physical & emotional injuries, trauma, post surgery, delayed healing, repeated accidents, energy loss, learning & attention difficulties. Community Health Hills Council is on record supporting tougher laws to fight offensive Internet materials. The original motion from the Corporation of the Town of Minto said illegal and offensive content on-line is increasingly available and asks the Federal govern- ment to revive Bill C15A- strand- ed in the Senate at the June 2004 election call -- which would help search out of- fensive Internet material and bring those responsible for it to justice. At Town Council on Mon- day, Bonnette noted that Internet pornography has been tied to violent crimes against children and that laws applied to cyberspace are not easily enforced as he said they need "new laws to protect people in a "new age." Teachers strike vote Ninety-five per cent of Halton's 1,800 elementary school teachers will take strike action, if necessary, to back contract demands for more preparation time. Teachers want prep time, used to assess students, meet with administrators and prepare lessons, in- creased to 200 minutes per week from the current 150 minutes. Negotiators for the Halton District School Board re- jected the teachers' demand during the current round of bargaining. The board meets with a conciliator on February 21. oi sSsSTuUDIO & Taxes rise 4.6 per cent for Halton Hills By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner Town property taxes will increase $37 to $835 with Council's formal approval of an $18.7-million operating budget on Monday. Education taxes are unchanged at $740, and Halton's 3.2 per cent tax increase results in a Re- gional tax bill of $1,162 so the bottom line is a blended tax increase of 2.7 per cent - $2,737 -- on a property as- sessed at $250,000. Two percent of the Town tax increase -- $340,000 -- is solely to help pay to resurface roads in the Town's pavement management plan, a multiyear Council com- mitment to set aside money annually for five years to whittle down the $57-mil- lion list of now needed road repairs. Council offset $160,000 in additions to the operating budget by raising revenue expectations in a number of accounts, including building permits. Mayor Rick Bonnette called it one of the best bud- gets the Town had ever had because of the leadership of staff -- especially CAO Bob Aus- tin -- who had a "corporate mindset" and avoided depart- ments arguing for available dollars. Bonnette said new initia- tives include "major dollars' for a long overdue compre- hensive review of the zoning bylaws, ($110,00 for phase one) and annual core funding of $12,000 for the Town's two youth centres. He also noted that Haltor Hills does not get -- contrary to what some taxpayers think -- the entire $2,737 tax bill. "The Town of Halton Hills only gets 30 per cent of that pie," Bonnette said, adding education taxes make up 28 per cent and the Region's share is 42 per cent, almost half for policing. Acton Councillor Clark Somerville said it was one of the most "open" bud- get processes that included workshops and meetings be- tween ward councillors and the CAO and treasurer. At the final budget com- mittee meeting on February 4, CAO Bob Austin, who said it was no big secret that this may have been his last budget, said the process was an "interesting ride." "Tt has not been easy, but it's been a learning process for many of us and I'm glad that you have appreciated department heads' and staff input -- there's been a lot of it -- and it worked well this year," Austin said. On Monday, Council also confirmed its $9.5-million capital budget, and the non- binding $60-million 2006 to 2014 capital forecasts. (519) 853 1333 130 Mill Street East, Suite #102, Acton AESTHETICS Only! Tanning Special Valentine's ay n, Saturdays ~10am to 5pm, Sunday ~12pm to 5pm