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A II I II I HI I IIIT r=". 16 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 0, 907 Brook every Pturad by Port Perry Star Company Lvsted PO Box 567. Beookdin. Ort LOB 100 Brood ng and Area since 1983 in Profile ROXANNE REVELER News & Fasten Fd Phone 655 3637 or 985 7383 | Whitby keeps taxes Calling it "the most difficult | have ever been in charge of,' Coun- cillor Gerry Emm: expressed his happiness on behalf of Whitby coun- cil last Thursday night, as they ap- proved a 1987 budget that will keep tax increases to 8.1 percent. The final approved budget for this year will mean an additional $36 45 added to a present tax bill of about $1,500 for a home assessed for $5,500. The approval came last Thursday night following the second marathon budget meeting in as rhany days for Whitby counc illors-dnd senior staff members The 8.1 percent increase for local homeowners, is of course, only the municipal part of resident's tax bills. The Durham Board of Educa- tion and Durham Region have yet to bring in their budget, and these figures will be tabulated with the local section to get a final tax figure. Whitby managed to hold their cur- rent budget to some $14.9 million this year, and an 8.1 percent in- crease over 1986. And although this was double the four percent tax in- crease last year, Emm echoed his fellow councillors by stating it was a far cry from the original figures initially presented at the beginning of the budget talks. The primary cause for the in- crease this year was said to have been the $160,000 which is to be spent to help alleviate the storm sewer problems and flooded basements that plagued many residents during three torrential rainstorms last summer, combined with an overex- penditure of about $300,000 during 1986. The three-year storm sewer pro- gram will cost just over $1 million and will be shared equally in cost by the provincial government. down to 8.1 percent Several organizations within the town also received large grants this year. Of the $928,000 allotted in grants, the Downtown Whitby Board - of Management received a one-time grant of $17,000 to assist in hiring ex- tra staff needed for their Main Street program. The Whitby Public Library, which annually is the recipient of the most amount of fynds under the grant program, received $843,000 for operating costs and-almost $15,000 for capital expenditures. And there might be another $20,000 tacked on to the grant alloca- tions. A $20,000 request from the Whitby Historical Society has been sent back to the operations commit- tee for further consideration after an audit is completed on the socie- ty's books. The Historical Society received $5, 500 in 1986. - St. Leo's Catholic School in Brooklin capped "off a winter of skating with their annual winter carnival at Luther Vipond Memorial Arena last Friday. Part of the festivities always includes the fancy hat contest. All head gear is made by the students themselves and judged by a panel of teachers. This year's winners for their imagiria- tion and expertise were: Marcia Pope, first in grade 3, shown at far left in the front row: Alisha Liebregts, second in grade 3, beside her: Andrea Niepel, first in grade 2; and Jason Kasepchuk, second in grade 2. In the back row, from the left are: Scott Boehmer, grade 6 winner: Karen Kolenc, grade 5; Paul Greco, grade 8; and An- nita Siciliano, grade 7. Residents of four Brooklin streets are out of luck as council voted to approve a revamping of the Ontario Neighbourhood Improvement Pro gram which will cut the reconstruc- tion of their roads Under the ammendment, approv- ~ed by council members Monday evening, the following candidate roadworks and their estimated costs will not be financed under the se cond ONIP grant: Duke Street ($120,000); Princess Street ($145,000); Durham Street $108,000), and, Pearl Street ($35,000) It was, suggested, howev er, that these streets might possibly be ad- dressed through the town's regular ministry of transportation subsidy programs at a later, unspecified date The original budget for roadwork contained in both ONIP applications were based gn construction of a shallow storm sewer system which would not have eliminated sump pumps for the foundation drainage of dwellings. But last year, council authorized a deeper storm sewer system with gravity connections for road improvements originally scheduled under the first ONIP grant, for Simcoe, Albert 'and Church Streets. This increased the cost of these roadworks from $142,000 to $179,000. At this point, the consultant recalculated the cost 'Construction cut for four streets estimates, based on a deeper storm sewer solution. for the remaining roadworks under the first ONIP grant, namely James, Bagot and Charles Streets, and found the original estimate of $203,000 had escalated to $320,000 These road- works by themselves have caused the program total for the first ONIP grant to exceed the original $520.000 requiring funds to be used from the second ONIP grant to complete the work . The town found the only alter- native to the solution was to transfer the Charles Street and half of the James Street expenditure from (Turn to page 18) | Scouts are authorized to make their own decision It's a case of some good news... some bad news, at least as far as the boy scouts are concerned. The bad news came from a recommendation from public works director Dick Kuwahara that the original arrangements between the Town of Whitby and the Whitby Boy Scouts Association be discontinued and that the scouts make their own arrangements with Durham Recycl- ing Centre Incorporated for the sale of the newspapers they traditional- - ly collect each month. The good news came as a result of a motion by Councillor Gerry Emm, that the scouts should be: allowed to 'make a deal" with any organization that will give them the most money for the newspapers that they collect. The matter arose when the town recently stopped their involvement in the collection of recyclable materials in a pilot area of Whitby, which was slated to encompass the entire municipality, including the " Brooklin area, this spring. But a re- cent move by regional council will see all municipalities within Durham entering into an agreement with Durham Recycling Centre, who will in turn be in charge of col- lecting all recyclable materials, in- cluding newspapers. When Whitby's pilot program was initiated, the town reached an agreement with the scouts whereby the association was re-imbursed for newspapers that normally would have been collected by them through newspaper drives each month. The municipality requested this in order to receive accurate in- formation from the pilot program in regard to participation rates and tonnage from the recyclables . collected. Kuwahara stated that since the program had stopped, for all intents and purposes, the town was paying ° the scouts for nothing. But Emm, who at the committee level left his chair at the Ad- ministration committee to speak on the subject, said options should be left open to the scouts. "We (the town) shouldn't limit the scouts to Durham Recycling," said Emm. "They should be able to goto Puckrin, or anyone else who can give them the best price." "He expanded to say that although there was the opportunity to work with Durham Recycling, they should also have the opportunity to negotiate with anyone else. "The scouts should be able to negotiate their own deal," he stated. Administrator Bill Wallace sug- gested that if the scouts did not go through Durham Recycling, it could cause a "ripple" effect which could cause financial hardships that would reflect municipality. back to the Kawahara explained that his department had been in touch with the scouting association and that they had agreed in principal to the recommendation made by his department' He stated all options were open to the scouts; that they were not being forced to go through Durham Recycling, but agreed a change in the wording of his depart- ment's recommendation would clarify things in future dealings. In the final outcome, it was agreed that homeowners who wish to support the Scouts Association newspaper drives continue to do so and that the scouts make their own arrangements for the sale of the newspapers. Special week proclaimed ~ Whitby council has approved a recommendation to initiate a pro- gram developed by the Pickering, Ajax, Whitby Joint Animal Control Committee, (PAW) to promote responsible pet care. Starting this year, and continuing each year thereafter, the mayors of the three municipalities will pro- claim the second week in May ak "Animal Control Awareness Week" with advertisements placed in local papers emphasizing the importance of responsible pet care. Residents will be urged to neuter and spay their pets and have them vaccinated for rabies. The benefits of dog licen- sing and pet identification will also be omiptasized. | During Animal . Control Awareness W 'eek, staff will conduct tours of the Animal Control Centre facilities located on Thickson Road in Brooklin. Animal control pro- blems and responsibilities will be discussed and literature will be handed out emphasizing the impor- tance of responsible pet care. Local schools will be invitegito participate. The highlight of the week this year will be the selection of an Animal Control logo design. During this month, area residents will be invited to participate in a contest to design an Animal Control logo. It will be open to residents of the three municipalities and the design will be required to meet cer- tain specifications. It must have a maximum area of eight by eight in- ches, be only one colour or black, and be printed on either white. or light-coloured paper. The words Pickering Ajax Whitby Animal Con- trol Centre, or its acronym PAW, ~ will be required in the incorporation of the design. The design may be let- tering only or a combination of let- tering and illustration. . Entries will be judged by the PAW ------ = Animal Control Awareness committee and the winner of the competition will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $100. The winn- ing design will be used as a basis for signs at the Animal Control Centre, on animal control vehicles, uniform crests and will also be used on pro- motional literature. Second and third prizes of $50 and $25 respec- tively, will also be awarded. The logo design entries will be displayed at the Animal Control Centre during Animal Control Awareness Week and at the conclu- sion of the week, the PAW commit- tee will announce the winning designs and present the prizes to the winning participants. Explosion kills Brooklin man A Brooklin resident was kill- ed last week in a propane gas explosion at his home. David William Devonald, age 27, was attempting to thaw out a cement lid on a cistern at his home at 3255 Coronation Road when the incident occurred. According to Durham Regional Police, the accident happened at 10:45 a.m. last Wednesday while Devonald was using a propane torch and tank. He apparently lowered the hose and tank into the cistern when the torch went out. As he attempted to relight the flame, the propane fumes ignited, causing an explosion Devonald was pronounced dead on arrival at Whitby General Hospital. PIR, Tm