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Acton Free Press Wednesday March 22 86 million budget Education costs up Acton average taxpayers will fork over IS more for education this year than they did In Thursday Halton Board of Education approved its 1 million budget and also released mill rate hike In formation for all areas of Halton Actons average education tax Increase Is based on a mill rate bike of 3 39 mills and an average assessment of WO In the average taxpayer will pay 7B7 more this year for education because of a 3 mills in crease Average assessment in is These average tax hikes are for education only To get the total picture for rising taxes town and region In creases must be added In Acton homeowners will pay for education based on mills and education taxes will amount to mills A residents total con tributlon for education in 1978 can be worked out by multiplying the mill rate for his area by bis assessment Education taxes up quite as much as first ex When the board first unveiled its budget on March 2 education taxes were ex pected to be up four mills Acton residents will pay nearly for education in 1978 and close to million Budget debate During debate on the budget finance committee chairman Fred urged the million be passed promptly so the board could make Its apportionment to the municipalities based on actual costs rather than estimates and save in bank interest payment He said restraint efforts had been made in the preparation of the budget noting this Is difficult when 7729 per cent of the board costs go to wages Another 12 per cent of the budget Is spent on supplies and services which bore the brunt of restraint practices while nine per cent is eaten up by capital costs and debt charges Recalling trustees com and concerns voiced when the budget was unveiled March said his committee reviewed a number of items It was decided the per pupil allotment for library books at high schools would remain unchanged When the budget was first examined trustees expressed concerns regarding sur prisingly high costs for enrichment programs said this was examined and It was discovered the board planned a special program for bright children so they could spend some time with their peers despite the fact segregated enrichment was cancelled This policy dates back to 1973 observed but In May of trustees failed to approve funding of the He said bis committee decided to leave the money for the enrichment the budget to see fi I the Duby worried about hall Councillor Duby said he was very concerned about the old town hall in Acton and especially about the Ministry of Labor moving Into inspect and close It up Clerk French out the request for the came from Halton council said the occupants have no other place to go since the building to be rented by Regional Police not ready for them to move in There a poster on the door Baying occupancy prohibited Councillor Russ Miller said ho t know what the next ting to hear from the town hall committee He sold the recreation director is trying to find accommodation for the senior citizens and the police are moving Into the building when renovations are completed claimed the awkward transition period la putting undue pressure on the Town Hall Restoration Committee to do something Miller said noone knows how much money it would take to make the building useable said he wanted to know as much as possible so he can answer questions board will approve funding this year If funding approved the money won be spent The enrichment program for bright children will cost WWII in Over OOOof this total will go to wages and fringe benefits for two teachers but dropping enrich ment won t save this money since the two teachers are of the board a staff and the pupilteacher ratio Another wilt be spent on supplies and services for the enrichment program and on transportation so killing enrichment will only save ob served The recently announced per cent increase premium coot will prove expensive for the He said the board has already budgeted for and if the Increase was applied to a total year It would cost Halton taxpayers another Fortunately the increase t come Into effect until May l and contracts with board employees expire August 31 so the board must spend only more for Armltage said the board currently pays per cent of employees OHIP premiums Since the board provided in the budget for a increase in that ex between September and December of this year this implies the board won t absorb the cost of the per cent Increase He urged the board negotiate a lower level of OHIP contributions with Its employees this year so the board urn paying per cen any longer observed many such an approach would be viewed favorably by ratepayers Trustee Bill Priestner asked what had happened to Halton a provincial grant money He observed the province had said grants would go up 8 per cent but In Halton grants went up a mere 10 000 or one onehundredth of a per cent said this was the price Halton pays for its affluence Another factor in low grant Increases was the decline fn enrolment Since the increase In costs is being bome almost com by local taxpayers observed last year of million and greatly Increased in Halton were all that prevented a huge local tax hike He claimed the board was using all Its financial resources to keep taxes down this year but things could be much worse in 1979 Armitage acknowledged this years budget is cer tainly a button down budget He said costs are kept down by the resourcefulness of the business department A bid by Trustee Crosier to have the enrich ment program dropped and budget funds spent on class or library books was rejected for the time being All trustees except Bert supported the budget Hinton blasts budget Acton Trustee had done this the chairman weren even enough people shared by municipalities Bert received no said to make a quorum Tmsstat This very concern of Hinton support from his colleagues said he was is wrong according to is being examined now by the at Halton Board of Education delighted with Mortons trustees on the committee board business department Thursday when he tried to comments He said many and other people who at line investigation having been have five per cent trimmed items In Hinton present tended budget meetings approved on March from the board million atlon were totally wrong He said because of lack of asked why the board budget and suggested he would need Halton Hills representation tooksolongtoBtartreviewing During the only full board until midnight to correct all of on the committee he attended the validity debate on the 197B budget Hinton s errors most budget meetings but courses A special committee proposed an amend- Hinton began his comments allowed to contribute BERT HINTON Budget thorn proposed an amend- Hinton began his comments wean t allowed to contribute was set up lust last month to ment which would have sent on the budget by saying Hinton said he went to budget review all programs offered the finance committee back provincial grants have not meetings so North In Halton schools to see which been cut as the board claims would have an idea of how its tax dollars are the drawing board to slice five per cent off the budget which Is up 3 per cent over Atoms in finals Acton major atoms will face Milton Saturday at in the arena the OMHA zone championship Is Second gome of the series goes Sun day In Milton Milton atoms were undefeated In county play while Acton went Light costs in hamlets Residents of hamlets around Halton Hills pay an extra charge for street lighting According to the budget set this week costs are down in Glen Williams and fad and up in and Stewarttown will pay or almost half a mill more and Ballinafad will pay or a third of a mill more Glen Williams will pay mills more and Stewarttown mills more second In a long prepared speech harshly criticized this year budget and the way it was prepared Following his address he found himself criticized by colleagues notably board Chairman Garry Morton and finance committee chairman Fred Armltage I Morton said if had expected to bo taken seriously he would surely have submitted something to the finance committee during the over two months It held meetings on the budget He noted trustees arc ex to speak from notes but not prepared speeches Morton said many com mitt members and trustees bad submitted Ideas and thoughts to finance com regarding this year budget and could see these concerns reflected in the final budget Ho added had been specifically Invited to make his thoughts known the committee Your concerns might be taken in better light if you Increase Is simply less than In other years said this He questioned spending of was because the province is education dollars on com practising fiscal restraints use of schools claim something Queens Park ing costs being fairly hoped school boards and municipalities would follow He suggested savings could be made if mileage rates were reduced for board members and staff says the highest rate around is paid by the Board of Education He complained about no representation on the finance committee from Halton Hills since former Georgetown Trustee Don Long attend meetings because of business also ob jected to lack of separate school representation on the committee and domination by Burlington trustees whom he later claimed vote in a block for anything the admfnlst ration proposes on the committee There were five trustees from Burlington on the committee he said along with two from and one from Milton claimed attendance at budget meetings was poor and stated sometimes there ones are too costly and benefit too few people to continue operating them Hinton wondered why adult education selfsupport Ing Trustees including Ivan Continued on Page THE ACTON FREE PRESS AuthoriMd si Second Clsis Mall Poll si Number 0S1S Shoes for spring teats Now that the boots have come off it s time for us to fit your children active feet into new shoes from Savage They re quality construe ted for longer 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