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

ORONO WEEKLY TIMES, THUVRSDAY, APRIL 24th, 1969 Report front Quenn 's. Park Alex Carruthers, M.P.P, Durhami by actual sales in the municipal- Education 'Costs ity. The budget brought down by the Northumberland and Durham Biuard of Education a few days ago, although maintaining the av- erail cost of education at a reas- onable level, has resulted in what appears to be serious inequities in the distribution of the tax' burden. The educational' costs range from a maximum increase of 55 percent to a decrease of 22 per- cent. The range of inequality in D>urham County 'is particularly apparent, when eduicational costs of the urban areas are compared with those of the rural municipal- Mtes. Increases: M anvers ------------- 55 791 Clarke -------------- 34.059 Darlington ----------- 23.921 Cavan --------------- 19.237 CartWright ----------- 17.460 H ope ---------------- 15.847 Newcastle ----------- 9.808 Bowmanville ----- ---9.278 Decreases: Mllbrook ------------ 21.063 Port Hope ----------- 6.910 The situation in Northumber- landi and Durham is typical of similar situations in several areas of the Province in many of which the increase in overail costs and the unequal distribution of those costs, have combined to place an ahnost intolerable tax burden on a number of municipalities. The Minister of, Education, the Honourable Williami Davis, in or- deir to ascertain the facts and de- termine the course of apffion to be taken, to alleviate the situa- tion, has contacted lhe Boards of Education concerned and review- ed with them their respective budgets. A statement 'will be' forthcoming wthin a few days, 1 understand, and 1 would -suggest that we reserve judgement uintîl that statement has been reieased. Certainly an answer must be found and will be found to what is truly a matter of serlous con- cern to ail of us. The situation in the United Counties as in other areas, may be due to a number of reasons, which may include:- (a) The inbalance of assess- ment which has existed over the years in the varlous municipal- Mtes of the counties. (b) The use by the former dis- trict hîgh school board of the county equalizing factor establish- ed by spot-ohecking and based on 1940 costs., (c) The requirement by the Government that the new county boards use the provîiciaI equal- izing factor, based on present day values and established primarily Clark. P'rublic LIBRïl%,ARYl HOURS OPEN: Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30 Thursday 6:30 - 8:30 Friday 2:30 - 5; 6:30 - 8:30 Saturday 10 - 12 Callyour licensed Plumblâg & Mechanical Contractor Who selis, instaliz ap dc7gu-crantees PLUMBING AN-D, HEATING Phone 983-5207 Orono (d) The attempt by the Ontar- io Government to hold the line in taxation by limiting grants to a minimum of 104 percent and a maximum of 110 percent of last year's grant programme. The use of the provincial equal- izing factor would appear to be the chief culprit in the local sit- uation and ýthis becomes quite obvious when values are examin- ed in the varlous municipalities.' In ;the rural municipalities of Durham County, over the past few years, salesof property have been skyirocketing. This is partie- ularly true in the northern town- ships of Cartwright and Manvers where subdivision control was not established until recently. The 55.791 percent increase in educational costs in Manvers Township illustrates very clearly the effect inflated propertyý val- ues have had on the equalizing factor. When subdivision contfrol was established -in the township, the speculators moved into Cavan Township where no subdivision control was in force and where [and values again skyrocketed. Cavan will experielwe the effects of these infiated values when the equalization factor is re-establish- ed, unless some ýaction is taken to control the situation. Millbrook, on the other hand, where the property values have remained constant, the decrease of 22 percent in educational costs is the highest in the United Coun- ties. There is a tendenicy to bMamne the new county board system for the situation in wvhich we find ourselves. Perhaps we might be justified in lassuming that in the transition from' the littie red sehool house to, the modemn edu- cational facility, we have de- manded too much, we have mov-. ed too'quickly and we have spent too freely. .The present financial crisis in education may provide a lesson for ail responsible citizens. Each year the taxpayers of Ontario are investing some $10 billions of dol- lars in education. A sound invest- ment we feel, in the future citizens of' Ontario, but we must remember that there is only one source for that money and in the final analysis, it is the taxpayer's pocket. Using good judgement and sound business practices, let us, spend our educational dollar wisely. N-D Board Within Scope For Grant Chairiman of the Board of the Northumnberland - Durham Cbun- ty Board of Education has issued the' following press release: "With reference to the, an- nouncemnent of the Minister me- garding adjusted grants to ass'ist the municipalities adversely af- fected by application of the De- partment's proposed plan of dist- ribution of levy among municipal- ities on Provincial Equalized As- sessment, the Grants office of the Department was. telephoned Satur(jaymorning. It is undemstood that forms and detailed information will be mail- ed to ail school Boards withîn a few days. Our interpretation of the Min- ister's statement as received by telephone is, that increases on levies on any municipality over the higher of 1967 or 1968 Prov- incial equalized mill rate will be limited to 1 mill for elemnentary purposes and one mill for second- ary purposes provided that the Boards expenditure for 1969 does not exceed 115% of its per pupil dxpenditurm for 1968. ham Board has remained well.be- low this figure. The, Provincial Equalized Asses- Continued page 7- The Home 0f Sports EN.JOY THE GAME 0FBILAD AT MATT'S Where all the sports meet Also available: Cigarettes Tobaceos, Cigars, Pipes, etc Lighters and Watches Soft Drinks - Candies MATIS BILLIARDS und Burbershop, Here they are! The cars that def y you to find theirequaIs! Foreground: 2+12 Convertible. Background, left tn right. Grand Prix Hardtop Coupe, Firebird Hardtop Coupe, GTO Hardtop Coupe. Grande Parisienne Sport Coupe. Yo-u won't find any cars anywhere that will1 out-feature or out-value Wide-Track Pontiac, Grand Prix, Firebird or GTO. Nor wilI you find a deal that wilI beat the deal you'Il get-right now. The Challengers are Iaying it on the line! Pontac. XCELLENCE Seyour local authorized Pontiac dealer P-1669D 166 King Street East Bowmanville, Ont. Poe A339 qui Phone: MA 3-3396