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i -V I 8 f ; V Wheels/Insert Spectra drives KIA sales / - / Sports/11 Newcastle novice Stars take Ontario durham, eglon.com «■ Press, un 24,15. ♦ Founded 1854 ♦ MftRCH 16, 2005 « 54 Page, ♦ Option,. 3 Week Dsl.very HW New.s.and Veridian reports record earnings in 2004 Clarington among shareholder municipalities to see greater dividends Board to Province: Show us money Declining enrolment causes funding woes ri* BY JENNIFER STONE Staff writer ^CLARINGTON -- Local public public school board trustees are asking asking the Province to have a look àt how declining enrolment is affecting next year's budget. 'The Kawartha Pine Ridge District-School District-School Board is in the midst of preparing next year's budget, but trustees say they are facing a financial crunch, due to the effect of declining enrolment on the amount of money being channelled channelled to the board from the Province. Province. The board receives most of its funding on a per-student basis, 'despite the fact that it faces a number of fixed costs, said KPR bûdget chairwoman Erin Brown. ; "If you lose 20 (students) out of a school,, you still need a principal and a building," she said. ■ The board plans to send a brief' to local MPPs, as well as the age per-pupil credit loads. "We're hoping that by sending sending this brief in, we will let the Ministry and the MPPs know the issues we're dealing with," said Ms. Brown. The cash crunch has been exacerbated exacerbated by a Ministry moratorium on school closures, which left the board • unable to close underpopulated underpopulated schools, a cost- | cutting measure the board has used in the past, New rules on and renewals Erin Brown said Ms. Brown school closures were released by the government last month, but it's too soon to say how that will impact KPR, she added The board hopes to see action, iu luuai lvll ,.... including more, money, from the EdUcatiomNlihls^, .asking ■rth l at'^r:5'.^v1in i stryrthis'.biidget:year r -,.or.it^i^ boards receive additional funding to offset declining enrolments, as has happened the last couple of years. As well, they are asking that the Province do a full review of how dropping numbers impact board budgets. Stable funding for special education is another of the board's requests. The brief also deals with board concerns on transportation, cost pressures, information communication technology, technology, school renewal, and aver- will have to look at making some significant budget cuts, said Ms. Brown. What impacts those cuts could have are not.yet known, she added. "It really depends on where the board decides to make the- cuts," she said. "Programming for students is always our biggest priority, so we would do everything in our power to have as little impact as possible on students." Ron Pietroniro/The Canadian Statesman Clarington kids get in on the action DURHAM - Kyle Heizner, a member of the Senior Paperweight Division, charges the net during Sunday's^all-day clinic hosted by the Clarington Minor Lacrosse Association at Soccer City in Whitby. HR issues transit 'Experienced' employee hired to bring unions on board BY CARLY FOSTER Staff writer 'DURHAM -- The Region is) facing a daunting human resources task as it moves toward amalgamating transit.. Around 350 staff members will have to be incorporated into the payroll and benefit systems, said a recent report to the regional transit implementation committee. committee. On top of that, the Region will have to negotiate with three different unions and four individual individual contracts that all expire at different times. The Canadian Auto Workers Workers (CAW) represents Oshawa transit employees, whose contract contract expires February 2006. Handi-Transit employees are represented by Teamsters, and their contract expires ' April 2007. Whitby transit employees, also represented by the CAW under a different contract, has an agreement that will be good until November 2007. And the Ajax-Pickering employees under the Canadian Union of . Public Employees (CUPE) are in the midst of negotiating a new contract. contract. A-'V "All changes to collective agreements must be negotiated and even the most simple, basic changes cannot be imposed upon the unions," the report said. "Also, virtually every provision of the respective collective agreements differs, in some cases, dramati- cally." 1 - ; Key issues include wage and benefit disparity among the con tracts, termination provisions and whether to recognize past years of service, the report said. Union leaders have said the amalgamation of transit is considered considered a bill of sale, and therefore therefore a union would have to be created. But Oshawa's contract has successor rights, meaning that the Region would have to keep CAW as the union. See TRANSITION page 5 BY JENNIFER STONE Staff writer CLARINGTON -- Clarington, Clarington, Pickering, Ajax and Belleville Belleville will receive a bigger than expected dividend cheque from Veridian Corporation, after the electricity utility reported record earnings for 2004. The company saw a 38-per cent improvement over 2003, resulting in net earnings of $4.5 million. The. earnings' increase is ' a : result of many factors, including including a $1 million reduction in . distribution operating costs, customer growth of 3 per cent, and a 2.3-per cent per-customer decrease in consumption, attributable attributable to conservation and a cooler-than-expected summer, said a media release from the company. There was a 0.3-per cent average decrease in residential. residential. customer distribution rates. The savings are also passed on to the consumer indirectly, as the four shareholder municipalities, municipalities, including Clarington, which will receive $244,800, said Dave Clark, executive vice- president of corporate affairs for Veridian. Pickering will get $738,000, Ajax will receive $577,800, and Belleville's share is $239,400. Dividends are based on shareholder's holdings in the company. "The earnings of the company also increase the value of the company to the shareholders," said Mr. Clark. The dividends help Clarington Clarington taxpayers, said Mayor John Mutton, a member of the Veridian Veridian board. "One of the many reasons Clarington Clarington has been able to have one of the lowest tax burdens in the province, and one of the reasons why we only have to tax for 48 per cent of our budget is that we have an excellent investment strategy, of which Veridian is a key component," he said. 1MË to; • SERVICE • PARTS MON., WED., FRI. 7:30 am - 6:00 pm TUES. & THURS. 7:30 am-8 pm SAT. 9 am - 4 pm ACCREDITED TEST A REPAIR FACILITY WHITBY OSHAWA Honda 300 THICKSON RD. 8. WHITBY 666-1772 HONDA. www.hende1.eom takes on Ron Pietroniro/The Canadian Statesman Jennifer Stone recently toured downtown Bowmanville in a wheelchair as part of the Great Accessibility Challenge. accessi People with disabilities face ■ hurdles everyday BY JENNIFER STONE Staff writer V CLARINGTON -- Downtown Bowmanville looks a lot different from a seated position. I found that out one recent Friday Friday afitèmoon, as I and six other community members took part in the Great Accessibility Challenge kick-off. ! . ;i . . : 'b:. ' .f ; - I'.' 1 We were asked to choose our challenge -- a wheelchair, a walker, walker, or goggles blacked out to allow users to get an idea of what it's like to be sight-impaired -- and head out into downtown Bowmanville. We weren't to return to Claring- ton's Municipal Administrative Centre until we had visited three banks, picked up ABM deposit envelopes as proof of our visit, then purchased a snack from a downtown store.- I chose a wheelchair and, along with Municipal clerk Patti Barrie, my attendant for the challenge, ! took to the streets of downtown Bowmanville. In 2001, the Province passed the Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Under the Act, the council of every municipality with a population of more than 10,000 was required to establish an accessibility advisory committee. The committee, the majority of which was to be made up of individuals with disabilities, disabilities, was to advise council annually annually about the preparation, implementation implementation and effectiveness of its accessibility plan, and to provide See 'THERE'S page 5 CHEVROLET CHANGING LANES. OEWEUET BODY 1PAIN1 SHOP MOTOR.S . LTD JlOOMvJd» *<W ' 'X * Chev & Chev Trucks HWV. «2 3 > NICHOLS 401 2TS8 COURIKE RD., HWV. 12, COURnCE 905-436-2222 TOMMTO une «0W2MM4 roynlolioleMtan@gmMrad..eom 2U05 CHEVROLET UPLANOFII 213 TGoodwranch Sente J MjMOnttM. See dealer for details. iV V