Town taxes to go up 8 per cent Fnture projeets include marina By MIKE JOHNSTON. A $1.2-million land acquisition and building at Port Whitby Marina a new $550,000 computer system for the town, and $500,000 for land for a new recreation complex are three of the highlights of the 1987 capital budget for Whitby. The total capital budget of $11.5 million has no effect on the 8.1-per cent tax increase approved last week. Before each item is under- taken, a report must come before council. "This paves the way for staff to get tenders and shows developers where their money is going," said Gerry Emm, who chaired this year's budget committee. Most of the capital budget money comes from reserve funds, said Emm. Also contained in the capital budget are proposals for the years 1988 and 1989. The budget for 1988, $8.5 million, and for 1989, $13.9 million, are only a working guide for future councils and are not binding. Emm would not give details about the land acquisition and building at Port Whitby. The new computer system is to replace one the Town purchased nine years ago. (Council has also pegged $382,900 in 1987 for expan- sion to the municipal building on Rossland Rd. E.) While work continues on the Iroquois Park expansion, money has been set aside in 1987, 1988 and 1989 for the new recreational com- plex to be built north of Rossland Rd. In 1987, land acquisition for the new site is expected to cost around $500,000. Another $500,000 is pegged for the design of the complex in 1988. Chairman of parks and recreation. councillor Ross Batten, said the Town is currently negotiating for the land. Batten would not identify the exact location but said it is in the confines of the area council approved last year. That area would be north of Rossland Rd. south of Taunton and east of Brock St. N. In 1989, the first phase of the complex is expected to cost $6 million. Council was asked to approve $20,000 for the design of a .litchen, dormitory and locker facilities at the fire hall on Thickson Rd. N. in 1987. It was then expected that the construction at the hall would cost $125,000 in 1988. SEEPAGE9 By MIKE JOHNSTON After .two nights of marathon discussion and debate last week, Whitby . council approved an operating budget for the Town at just over $15 million. For taxpayers, the budget represents a 7.8-per cent increase in the urban area and an 8.1 per cent increase in the rural area. In dollars, the average householder can expect to pay $31.50 more in the Town portion of their tax bills. The Region of Durham and the Durham Board of Education have yet to determine their final figures. Mayor Bob Attersley points to a three-year program to repair storm water sewers in Town and a $300,000 increase in the parks and recreation budget as the two main features of this years budget. "If it wasn't forthe storm water repair we would be looking at only a 5.8 per cent increase in the rural area," said Attersley. Whitby council was informed three weeks ago that it would cost approximately $1 million to repair storm sewers in town to prevent flooding of the magnitude that oc- curred last July and August. Council has agreed to carry out repairs over three years. This year, the Town hopes to spend $350,000 on the first phase of the repairs. The Town's share of that bill will be $160,000 with the hope that the province will pickup the rest of the tab. However, administrator Bill Wallace informed council during budget discussions that there has been no commitment from the province that they will approve the money. "But they have said it is a priority," said.Wallace. SEEPAGE9 Town's longest store owner looks back By JANET BROWNE Many of the customers who frequent this quaint little variety store on the west side of Brock St. N. may be unaware that this business has been serving Whitby residents since the 1920's. Nor are they aware that the smiling lady who is often found behind the counter is the original owner of what is Whitby's oldest remaifling store. Katherine Turansky, who just celebrated her 90th birthday Saturday, still finds time to work twice a week in the nameless white clapboard variety store she founded 63 years ago. ' "Ever since I was young, I always wanted a store," recalls Turansky, who, in her youth, worked at the Hatch Buckle factory in Whitby. "I used to watch people waiting on me, and I wished I could do that someday." With that ambitious dream in mind, she bought the building back in February, 1924, despite the scepticism of family and friends, and she opened her store in the bottom of the building. "The town was dead, smal," she says, reflecting back to the years when her store first opened. "There were just a few stores, you could count them on your fingers. But they're all gone now, ours is the only one lef t." Her store was around when Cedrick's restaurant was a five-cent picture show, and when merchants used to sell coal down on the' corner of Dundas and Brock. For a large portion of the store's, younger years, patrons would drive up in horse-drawn carriages, or ride over on horseback. "Business was kind of slow at first," explains Turansky. "But it really improved when the war started." In recent years, competition has sprung up all over. But her store has stubbornly managed to hold its place in the downtown business district. "Any new store that comes in takes some of our business," she says. "I'm surprised we're still running. "When you walk into the big stores, nobody says anything, they just take your money. We talk to our customers and give them the time of day. 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