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NEWCASTLE EDITION Vol. 75 · # 4 Wednesday, February 1, 2012 GST Included $1.25 Tax increase set at 3.75% Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 After a full day of deliberation on Friday, Clarington councillors agreed on the 2012 municipal budget and a property tax increase of 4.54 percent. At the end of Monday's council meeting, they reduced it by a further .79 percent, for a final tax increase for 2012 of 3.75 percent. A great deal of Friday's discussion centered on recommendations for ten new staff positions which represented an increase to the budget of $623,000. Councillor Joe Neal recommended the dollar amount for new staffing be set at $315,000 and to let staff decide which positions to fill. "To have $623,000 for new staffing on top of $870,000 additional cost for existing staff is too much to swallow," Neal stated. His motion failed. The budget impact for salary and wage increases this year amounted to $595,662. Contributions to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System for 2012 were $283,000 which, according to Neal, is an increase of over 13.5 and up to 20 percent in some departments over last year. After dealing with each recommended new staff posi- Surfer girl: Sonya Jaafar from Markham was riding the waves at Bond Head with her friends on Saturday afternoon. She said the lake at Newcastle is the group's favourite winter surfing spot. It was a cold and windy day at the lake, but Jaafar said she was "warm enough" in her wetsuit. tion individually, council eliminated three from the list and approved the expenditure of $50,000 this year for the position of Manager of Corporate Initiatives, a full time assistant for Chief Administrative Officer, Frank Wu. In defending his request, Wu explained that position was on the organization chart for four years. "Every year staffing requests come in I make a sacrifice, I forego this position," he stated. The total BUDGET see page 3 What's Inside! Thieves make off with precious mementoes Sharon Ennis is sending out a plea to the thieves who broke into her home on Saturday night: return her computer and do not destroy or erase its contents. When her daughter Gabby was born with a birth defect four years ago, Ennis began a journal, and documented each step of Gabby's progress. Ennis kept all her pictures, videos, and the journal ­ which she had published into a book this summer titled, Gabby's Gift, Hope in the Heart of a Child ­ on her computer. The book tells the story of Gabby's physical disabilities and needs, and Ennis' own battles and triumphs as a mother experienced in dealing with the situation. On Saturday night, Ennis came home after a book signing and speaking engagement in Toronto to find her Newcastle home had been robbed. "At the same time I was speaking, encouraging others to have hope in their circumstances, my house was being robbed," Ennis told the Orono Times on Monday. While a number of items were taken from the home, it is the loss of her computer that, Ennis says, "makes my heart ache." Besides containing the original journals ­ the manuscript for her book ­ the computer had on it all the videos and photographs documenting the births of her four kids, and included Gabby's progress through therapy and her first steps. It also contained all of Ennis' speaking notes for her book tour and the contacts she had made over four years of organizing the annual walk-a-thons to raise awareness about spina bifida, a condition in which the bones of the spinal column PLEA FOR HELP see page 4 See Page 8