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6 - Orono WeeklyT'mes, Wednesday, April 8, 1998 Staying In Touch John O'Toole Durham East MPP This week, two significant items are in the news. First, Durham Regional Chairman, Roger Anderson issued a press release on the provin- cial downloading to the Region and local levels on government. This is part of the "Who Does What" (WDW) exercise; the swap of educa- tional funding moving to the province and services such as public health, ambulance ser- vice, farm tax rebate, and other services to the munici- pal level. The province promised that the WDW would be revenue neutral. The second topic of discus- sion is the Greater Toronto Area Services Board (GTSB). This proposal of a co-ordinat- ing body to integrate services between Toronto and the sur- rounding regions of Durham, Halton, York and Peel is con- troversial. Go Transit, eco- nomic development and pro- motion, as well as some infrastructure services would be cost shared and co-ordi- nated by a single GTA Board. The main problem is the pro- posed composition of the GTA Services Board with only three members from Durham. I would like to hear from you if you believe that we belong in the GTA. I have spoken to the Minister on this issue and arranged meetings with local council members. Al reports are due on April 9th. The David Crombie (WDW) Who Does What Report, the Fair Tax Commission, the Royal Commission on Learning and the Disentanglement Report are some of the studies that have recommended over the years that the province should fund education. In exchange for the province funding a greater share of education, the province has exchanged or swapped or as some say downloaded to the munici- palities an equal amount of other service costs. Up to now, many services were funded on a shared cost basis by local, regional and provin- cial taxes. For instance, social assistance is now funded 80% by the province and 20% by the region. It will continue this way. Public health var- ied in a shared responsibility as did ambulance service. Now the regions will fund 100%.of these costs. Other more complicated changes are for instance, the old farm rebate program. In the past, farm operations paid full assessment property tax on all their land and buildings to the municipality. The farm tax operation would apply for a rebate from the province to offset their taxes on the farm portion of their assessment. Now the new assessment sys- tem will ensure that farm operations will pay 100% of the assessment/taxes on their home and one acre plus 25% of the assessed value on the balance on the farm buildings and land. This will mean a loss in revenue for the municipality. This loss in municipal revenue is included as part of the exchange of responsibilities between the province and the municipali- ties. The Premier has promised that the Who Does What (WDW) exercise will be revenue neutral. It is my job to ensure we keep this promise. Please keep in mind that back in 1995, the province advised that all municipali- ties would have to phase out the Municipal Support Grants (MSG) over the next three years. 1998 iS the last year of these grant reductions. This municipal savings is no sur- prise and was always sepa- rate from the (WDW) Who Does What swap. Most coun- cils insist on linking these two changes, which was never the plan. Regional Chair, Roger Anderson has stated that Durham region is short approximately $11 million in the Who Does What (WDW) provincial swap exercise. In fact, this $11 million is the final (third year) of the Municipal Support Grants (WSG) being eliminated. For the entire Region of Durham including ail the local municipalities, the dif- ference between the Who Does What swap with the province and education is a gain of $4.89 million dollars. In total, the tax room left with the province paying more for education is $103.7 million, while the new downloaded service costs are $103.1 mil- lion. To smooth the transi- tion, the province is granting to the municipalities, $4.2 million dollars from the Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF). This results in an overall gain of $4.89 mil- lion dollars to the municipal- ities. Remember that the Municipal Support Grants (MSG) are eliminated so that each municipality will still have to find savings. Each municipality's savings amount varies as follows: Durham Region ($10.9 mil- lion), Clarington ($1.19 mil- lion), Scugog ($440,000), Oshawa ($2.28 million), Whitby ($911,000) etc. with a total regional savings of $13.9 million expected. I am sure this sounds a lit- tle complicated which leads me to believe that there is fur- ther analysis to be done. To further complicate things, recent legislation will require local municipalities to share their tax revenue (PILs), from their provincial government properties like Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Plants with the region. Another cal- culation that must be done is the reduction in the (OMERS) Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Savings Plan. Municipalities will reduce their payroll cost by 2% as a result of recent plan changes. All councils must examine their operations and analyze their police and other depart- ment budgets to be sure that we are not pointing fingers at someone else for decisions that these councils have made. One final point to explain the differences between the Region of Durham and the other Regions of York, Peel and Halton is their educational taxes. Durham School Boards have traditionally been low spending boards. This means that other regions with high- er education tax will have more tax room with the changes outlined above. With all this overlap and meshing of who pays for what MEMORIAL HOSPITAL JOINS "Healthy Babies, Healthy Children' initiative New parents in Clarington now have a new service avail- able to them to help give their newborns a healthy start in life. Memorial Hospital Bowmanville has joined the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children initiative, recently launched jointly by the provincial ministries of Community and Social Services, and Health. The Hospital joined the ini- tiative in February. Other hospitals in Durham are also participating in this new ven- ture. The progran is coordinat- ed through the Durham Region Health Department. It is voluntary and available to all new parents. Its focus is on prevention and early inter- vention to ensure families services, I am sure you believe, like me that it is about time that things were .disentangled. As your elected representative at Queen's Park I will be working with our locally elected mayors to ensure that we are treated fairly in Durham. There is only one taxpayer and I am one just like you. F TRC AUT REAI LTD RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE RATES Owner Occupied 6 mo. 6.00% 1 year 6.10% 2 years 6.25% 3 years 6.30% 4 years 6.40% 5 years 6.50% RATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Call us for other deposit rates and services including FREE PERSONAL CHEQUING. Rates subject to change without notice. PAUL MULLER, Branch Manager 15 Charles St., Oshawa 728-4658 Office Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9:30 - 5:00 Thursday 9:30 - 7:00'- Friday 9:30 - 6:00 have access to the supports and services they need and want to give their babies the best start in life. One of the goals of the pro- gram is to help families iden- tify early any concerns with getting that best start, then links them with appropriate community supports and ser- vices. Hospital staff are an inte- gral part in the screening pro- cess of new families. A special screening tool is the first step in identifying families who may need further services. These families are referred to a public health nurse for fur- ther assessment and linkages to whatever services are need- ed. A public health nurse fol- lows up with a phone call and sometimes a home visit. New parents may have concerns about low birth weight, stress on new moms with breast- feeding, or general questions about parenting skills. For more information, con- tact: Susan Scott, Director, Public Relations, Memorial Hospital Bowmanville: (905) 623-3331, ext. 1881. MM M( • Complete Car & Truck Repairs • Diesel Engines • Cummins, Detroit & Cat • • Radio Dispatched Tow Trucks • a Mobile Mechanical Service Truck • R 1, Orono 4 Miles North LOB 1MO (905) 983-91 of Hwy 401 or LOB 1MO (95) 51 Hwy 35/115 m m ýr 1 n