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33017440 Approve 20 per cent hike in region budget Regional Council approved a operating budget Wednesday but only after long and often heated debates that some times featured bitter per sonal attacks The approved budget represents an increase of per cent over last years bud get Several councillors went to the meeting armed with resolutions and amendments aimed at reducing the estimates but after almost six hours of debate on the budget council had pumped in more than they had managed to take out The impact Is greatest in Burlington ranging from in the rural areas to In the urban area Tor the average homeowner In the increases are estimated at for the average home and In the urban areas of Hal ton Hills the increases are ex pected to be minimal while rural areas could pay on extra to according to estimates For a house assessed at 5000 In Milton the regional levy will increase by about in the old and portions of the town Increases in the parts of Milton that were formerly north Burlington and will be minimal and therell be a slight decrease in urban Mil ton Council approved the In clusion of two public works staff members the inclusion of to be left in the reserve for working funds and the inclusion of 211000 in planning studies for the of ficial plan All but of the money for the studies is expected to come from the federal government All of those items were re commended for deletion by the Administration Com Study Bower part oneway The town engineer will study the possibility of mak Bower Avenue a west bound one way street between Mill and Wilbur Streets Monday Hal ton Hills works committee asked for the study after hearing a request from Nikola Koklc owner of the Station Hotel to allow him to have an exit onto Bower Avenue Mr told the Mill Street Is too busy and congested and pointed out his parking lot is only 200 feet from the railway tracks He said there have been numerous accidents on Mill Street and visibility is poor He admitted visibility is poor on Bower Avenue too but the turn is so bad people cant drive faster than miles an hour anyway which is con siderably slower than on Mill Street Mr Kekic said he would pay for any signs which are required Rejected before Councillor Lea noted the same request has been rejected in the past but thought it should be con sidered again agreeing Mill Street is dangerous In that area because of heavy con gestion Councillor Peter Marks said some problems might be solved if there were exits from the hotel parking lot onto Bower and Mill so the traffic would be split Engineer Robert Austin said Bower was used as an exit during construction and Crossing guard Monday Hills works committee decided a crossing guard should be posted at the intersection of Highway 7 and Acton Boulevard replacing the existing student safety patrol The committee received a letter from Bennett principal Doug Magwood expressing concern about heavy traffic flows and the danger to children crossing the highway as evidenced by a recent accident Councillor George urged the committee to hire a crossing guard as soon as possible and said the Inter section had long been one of his concerns Councillor Les Duby said It has long been a problem spot and sometimes there have been guards sometimes town employees and sometimes police at the intersection He sold he has always viewed the safety patrol as better than nothing but has always thought a full time guard was the best answer I cant imagine a student patrol being used on a high way Councillor Marilyn said Precedent Deputy engineer Ted Ballinger cautioned the com mittee against hiring a guard without getting a comment from the police safety officer Raj He said it would be a dangerous prece dent some people still use it but he would have to advise against since Bower is just too dangerous Councillor George Mai I by said Bower is dangerous be tween Mill and Wilbur regardless of a hotel exit and suggested the best solution would be to make it a one way street Elimination of two way traffic on the corner would make the street much safer declared Mr Austin said the idea has been examined in the past but still has a lot of merit mlttce during a budget re view last week A motion to draw money from interest on the building fund to offset the mill rate in crease was defeated That would have provided and more important would have given encouragement to councillors who have tried to cancel plans for a new head quarters Many motions were pre sented and disposed of during the course of the meeting but the only motion that would have had a real impact on Un tax bills was one presented by Councillor Carl urged council to send the whole budget back to staff and tell them to come back with estimates that don exceed 12 per cent We face a per cent in crease and I dont think that in all conscience we con ap prove It Weve token on no new responsibility and the increase far exceeds our rate of growth The increase should reflect the rate of In Ration and the growth ratesmore closely he said Councillor Eriksen later tabled that motion in favor of trying to cut the budget at the council table Instead of leaving it to staff After councillors had haggled Tor hours without cutting the budget Mr introduced his resolution again Mayor Harry Barrett supported motion I was against it before because I though we would cut it but we took all day to put in what the Administration Committee had spent all day to take out Burlington Councillor Ben said the maximum of 12 per cent should have been a directive and the first thing staff is told Hills Councillor Roy Booth said the council should forget attempts at further cuts and approve the budget This is utter nonsense How many times do we go around the mulberry bush If we send this back well be doing the same thing weeks from now Councillor Mac Anderson said that at times during the five hour session he felt his colleagues thought they had been playing with Monopoly money but he claimed a reduction to 12 per cent Just wasnt possible No it isnt possible Hills Mayor Tom Hill said echoing Anderson s comments On the final vote to approve the budget all of the northern councillors at the meeting supported the budget Milton Councillor Jim Watson was absent from the meeting Tho Acton Free Press Wednesday May 1 3 Police transfer of the O P effective May 19 until Sept There Cpl Cpl Bob Arbour of Milton notice that he will be temper Arbour will be policing the formerly in charge of the transferred from Milton sort with two Acton has received to Crystal Beach detachment sandl2constabIes YOUNGEST PERSON at the town hail council meeting was nine months held by mother License service On Monday Ed Watson was M Julian Reed reports no longer the issuer of vehicle he was assured by licenses for Acton resigned the position and it has not yet been filled Although all his materials were packed up and taken to Georgetown it is expected another office will be opened here soon Applications have been received 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