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Durham Region council has finally put its stamp of approval on the 1988 budget, despite loud objections from Oshawa Mayor Allan Pilkey and members of his council. "This budget is a disaster," said the Oshawa Mayor in the Re- gional council chambers May 4. "It digs so deep into the pockets of tax-payers, you can feel their shoes." Although the average tax in- crease has been held to 7.3 per cent, Pilkey had strong words of criticism for the fact that the bud- get increases overall Regional spending by a hefty 20 per cent. "That's too large, too much. We are just stacking it onto the tax-payers," he said. And he noted that in 1989, the Regiona is already predicting a spending increase of just over 15 per cent. Though overall spending is up about 20 per cent in 1988, the actual tax hike for Regional pur- poses has been kept to 7.3 aver- age across Durham, thanks to large increases in non tax sources such as subsidies and revenues, plus a projected assessment growth rate of 8.6 per cent. name petition from: PP der new legislation, the Regional councls in Onto ike Regional budget termed disaster Pilkey said that with an as- sessment growth of 8.6 per cent, the Region should have been in a position to bring in what he termed a "more responsible bud- get." For rate-payers in Scugog Township, the budget will mean an additional 6.9 per cent in Re- (Turn to page 2) Vol. 122 No. 24 Tuesday, May 10, 1988 Copy 50¢ 52 Pages Impasse over contract talks Negotiations between Scugog Township and its office employ- ees have reached an impasse with the two sides far apart over the is- sue of wages. A meeting last Friday be- tween the two sides and concilia- tor Barry Landon failed to make any headway on the issue of wag- es. Details of what the employees are seeking and what the munici- pality has offered are not being made public at this time. ; Durham Region council. of Sunday retail shopping y extension carried by a co-sponsored 4 om 8 extending the Sunday Township administrator Earl - Cuddie said Monday the two sides are still "significantly apart" over the wage issue. The ten office employees are seeking a first contract with the Township after being certified as a bargaining unit with CUPE earli- er this year. Union negotiators have rec- ommended that a no-board report be filed, and that is expected with- in the next three to four weeks. Once that report has been filed, the employees could be in a legal strike position after 16 days. Once the office employees have reached a first contract, they will become part of the bargain- ing unit (Local 1785) with the Township employees who work for the roads department. Mr. Cuddie said Monday that mediation at this time is not be considered by either of the two sides in this dispute. Trash report in June A full report on both short and long term options on how to get rid of Durham's garbage is ex- pected from the Regional Works Department in mid-June. The Works Committee last week withdrew a six-part recom- . mendation to the Regional coun- cil which out-lined the short-term options the Region might pursue once the Metro Toronto dump in Pickering is filled in 1990. Most of the garbage from the southern municipalities in Durham is dis- (Turn to page 6) ur uy STs Lo 1! - 4 4 ; : b s id rf. N #1 ¥ il 4 a ANS A qf. Pt Hy oat ACR A To, Students pitching in to help Sixteen year old Wayne McDowell foregoes the faster "Litter Hog" (see story elsewhere in the Star) and sticks to the old-fashioned method of litter pick- up--stooping and putting the trash in a bag. A whole class of Environmental Science students from Port Perry High School took part in National Pitch In Week last Tuesday May 3 by gathering trash along Queen St., from the high school down to Palmer Park. ines