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THE HERALD Wednesday Much IS Editorial Realistic decision Halton Regional Councils decision last Wednesday to put a twoyear freeze on developers nonresidential con struction fees and increase by only an insignificant amount developers residential construction fees will no doubt bring howls of protests from individuals and groups who feel that development throughout the region is out of control and that developers and not elected representatives are running local and regional govern ments Such is not the case Halton Regional Council simply viewed the issue through the harsh light of economic reality and proceed ed with the decision knowing full well it would be an un popular one in some corners It was the right decision at the right time and not an easy one to make As noted by Herald reporter Ben Dummett in his story in last weekends Herald Outlook Regional staff first proposed the development charge for non residential construction increase from the current cents per square foot rate to per square foot The increase was based on projects that covered per cent of a piece of property Area developers balked at this sizeable increase and similarly complained that a second Regional staff pro posal for an increase in fees to 238 per square foot was still out of line Developers are charged fees to help cover costs of roads and sewage lines etc that need to accompany new development projects Regional staff then recommended and received ap proval from Regional Council to put a freeze on non residential development charges for two years As Mr reported At that time after two years the council of the day would reconsider if an in crease would be necessary Not all councillors were pleased- about the situation including Kevin Flynn of Burlington who felt the issue hadnt been publicized enough to allow the public more input into the final decision A public meeting has been scheduled for April 930 am at the Regional Administration building in Oakville at which time developers and members of the public will be asked to comment on whether development charges should be increased and by how much in future years The fact still remains communities need develop ment to survive albeit at a controlled rate Developers provide money for a communitys treasury in a number of related ways Through construction fees through employment op portunities with money filtering through the communi ty through companies relocating because of industrial sites and finally but perhaps of most importance development attracts people to the community widen ing the tax base In 1990 the Town of Halton Hills saw revenue from building permits drop from a budgetedexpectation of 800000 to approximately 335000 Much the same is occurring across Canada as the recession digs in deeper According to Statistics Canada the value of building permits covering everything from home renovations to supermarke construction dropped drastically in December Even seasonally adjusted the value of building per mits dropped per cent in December to 187 billion from 221 billion realized in November This was tile consecutive month building permit values dropped according to Statistics Canada Figures from municipalities across Canada showed a 154 per cent drop in the value of residential permits to million in December from billion in November while nonresidential building permit values fell 158 per cent to 975 million from billion in November Obviously adjustments have to be made and to a cer tain extent because of loss of revenue developers con cerns must be addressed Different economic times require operating under a different set of rules and Halton Regional Council ad justed accordingly Reality dictated the decision concerning developers fees and the decision although controversial should be viewed as such Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opi nion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your ad dress and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limitations The Halton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1 866 A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited 45 Street Georgetown Ontario 326 K ROBERT Publisher and General Manager 8772201 EDITORIAL COUN HOB RISK Manage UK Editor Stall Ban CLASSIFIED Joan CIRCULATION Maria fanniaHapkhi Accountant subscription rates Copy In Store IS tin month ih month Canada iiirjr rtanld on n original and advarflalng malarial bv Ha and In nawaoattor National W Toronto Ontario or 0 heart St Quabac Tha lhal hall not ba lor out of amount paM tor ma apaoa actual by thai portion of adwlftamanl Ir arret la dua to ol Hi or and thara no or non Inaartlon any HAP IT Vmt YOU CANADA YINlfWUNP WSlOHlftDONtiWflfllNes YOU NEVER THAT POOR AND ID STOP HE JVEBEEN SHACKLED TO YOU TOWtWBETO v akrijitnijfwKST Peoples Forum Civil servants belligerent Dear Editor In the aftermath of the federal budget I was most upset with the belligerent attitude of the civil service In a country heading for depression with thousands unemployed the list of bankrupt cies and plant closings swelling daily we have a group of people who have the best of working con ditions pay and side benefits complaining about a three per cent ceiling on wages The managerial civil service staff more than the politicians is responsible for the featherbed- ding and unreasonable costs and delays encountered dealing with the government If our politicians do not have the intestinal fortitude to straighten out our civil servants Perky says thanks Dear Sir For the many years I spent in minor hockey and in baseball I was specially honored by the peo ple in Georgetown and Hockey Heritage I would like to thank all who honored me minor hockey government midget hockey team Walter Bianci Town of Georgetown Softball Ontario Tricounty Minor Hockey Na tional Hockey League and Bryan Lewis This was the greatest thing in my hockey life Many thanks Gerald Perky Perkins Georgetown Referees Assoc at all levels of government then straight economics will even tually With Ontario taxes roughly six ty per cent higher than those in the United States there is little hope of industry creating more jobs If Quebec wishes to from Canada financially it would be the best thing that could happen We could almost eliminate the federal civil service About of Ontarios budget directly or indirectly is spent promoting French That could be eliminated also Nobody needs more than a year to live com fortably Especially people who do not have to provide for their retirement Why not start addressing our economic problems now For all civil servants earning over 60000 a year lets cut their ex cess by For those earning between and a year have a cut For those earning between and have a 10 cut If anyone doesnt like it they could always resign and find out what it is like to make a living in the real world Georgetown Governments squander peoples money Dear Editor Your front page article on the March 1st issue called The Joke is on us does not surprise me The handling of money by all levels of government leaves a lot to be desired Probably the worst crime one can commit worse than murder is nonpayment of tax On the other hand governments feel that they can spend money for the purpose of increasing their own comfort and power with no idea what the taxes do to a lot of the population How can they they have so many goodies for themselves When I was a young man my parents used to say Look after the pennies cents and the pounds dollars will look after themselves This still holds true Makes cents to me Pitty our politicians do not understand this simple fact Hell Mr Wilson can not even deposit into the bank to reduce debt so there really is not much hope I suppose that 1200 is such a small amount of money that it really does not matter it would not pay for one days expenses wages etc of most MPs Libertarians believe that the attitude to money in government has to change Libertarian Party Acton Ont