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Cold hard cash Despite the wicked weather conditions last Tuesday, these two hardy souls braved the cold, wet winds to have their picture taken. That's Dave Dowson on the left, presenting a $100 cheque to Cen- tral Seven president Butch Latta on behalf of the Ridge Runner Truck Club. POCKET SIZE SOLAR CARD CALCULATOR was... $16.95 ~450 reg. ... 1/2 PRICE: HOME STEREO SYSTEM CLARINETTE-102 reg. $449.95 $349.95 AM/FM HEADPHONE HIGH POWER - TAKE TO THE ROAD RADI (0) WITH OUR BEST IN-DASH reg. $34.90 AM/FM Digital Stereo CLEARANCE CASSETTE PLAYER $19.95 | =. $239.95 CHRONOMATIC-233 Our Most Popular CLOCK RADIO was $59.95 PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 6, 1984 -- 3 Low Region tax increase (From page 1) formula used by the pro- vincial government- for apportionment pur- In presenting the bud- get to council last week, finance committee chairman Jim Witty noted that this is the second year in a row Durham will not issue any debentures. He also outlined several reasons why the Region was able to hold the average tax hike in " Durham to 2.8 per cent. One reason is the 1983 budget surplus of $1,680,000. Another is the expected lower de- mand for welfare in Durham this year, which will result in a social services budget increase of 2.0 per cent, compared with a 32 per cent jump last year. He also said the overall assessment in Durham will grow by about 3.6 per cent, compared with 2.9 per cent last year. And finally, he said all Regional departments were able to submit bud- gets which showed re- straint as the key factor without any dramatic reductions in the levels of service provided to ratepayers. The preparation of the 1984 Regional budget has been on-going for the past several months and it was at the comm- ittee stage where the decisions were made to cut spending items. By the time the budget came to council last week, it was given final approval with no further cuts or amendments. The budget calls for gross spending of just over $92 million this year, with a net expend- iture requirement of $44.4 million. Of that net amount, $29 million will be raised through pro- perty taxes, $11 million will come from the pro- vincial government in unconditional taxes, $11 million will come from the provincial govern- ment in unconditional grants; $1.6 million comes from the 1983 sur- plus and the remainder from such things as supplementary taxes and development charge levies. Also getting approval was a $13 million budget for operating the Region's water works systems; and a $22 million budget for sewer systems. Virtually all of this money is raised through user revenues and recoveries. Although the net average impact on taxes is 2.8 per cent, in actual terms of spend- ing, the dollar figure for the Region increased by 6.4 per cent this year, slightly above the in- flation rate. But the 3.6 per cent increase in the assess- ment growth in Durham will reduce the impact on taxpayers to the 2.8 average level. Some of the individual department budgets approved last week include social services at $37.5 million (net cost to Durham at $6.6 million) ; a $21.7 million police budget (net cost of about $16 million to the Region); a $16.9 million budget for public works with a net impact on taxes of $7.2 million. While members of Regional council were pleased with the final budget last week (especially the net impact on tax payers) there were a few con- cerns being expressed that the budget might be too tight. When asked what could happen if the economy in Durham suddenly went sour in 1984 with high un- employment and the resulting demand for welfare, social servics chairman Diane Hamre said there could be pro- blems. And if things got really bad, the social services department could find itself facing a deficit before the end of the this year. . She admitted the low projection for welfare costs this year "is a bit of a gamble," but added "there is just no way to predict what is going to ha » While the budget approved last week con- tains good news for the average property owner, just what the final tax hike will be in 1984 for Scugog resid- ents won't be known for several weeks as the local Township council and the Durham School Board have not set their 1984 budgets. Scugog council is aim- ing to keep the tax hike locally at less than five per cent, and the School Board increase will like- ly be higher than that. For the average home owner, Durham Region - taxes account for about 25 per cent of the total taxes paid; the local municipality takes about 22 per cent; and the school board takes the remainder. Auto break-ins more frequent The days seem to be long gone when Scugog Township residents didn't worry too much about the contents of their automobiles. But there seems to have been a rash of auto break-ins. recently with Regional Police report- ing two more incidents over the weekend. A car parked behind stores on Water Street was hit Saturday with thieves making off with AM-FM cassette stereo system. And the same day, a Robinglade resident re- ported that his car park- ed in a driveway on Concession 12 was burg- larized with thieves getting away with booster cables, safety lights, gloves and a complete set of hockey equipment. Ladies Dresses CHARLES CARROLL - RUBY LOU TOUCH OF CLASS Blouses STYLE-RITE - AL NADLER NEW ARRIVALS Ladies Shoes CELEBRITY - CLARKS TENDER TOOTSIES "AW. BROCK DEPARTMENT STORE QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY (Merchandise Not Exactly as lllustrated.) al sors