Whitb taxes up $74 The final tax bill is in and according to Whitby Treasurer AI Claringbold, residential taxpayers will have to pay an additional $74 in property taxes this year. At the last meeting of Whitby Town Council, Claringbold submitted a detailed report on the 1980 mill rate impact on tax- payers in the town. While residential tax- payers will pay an ad- ditional $74 for every $5,000 of assessment, commercial and industrial taxpayers will have to pay between $111 and $112.50 for the same assessment. The biggest slice of the property tax dollar will again go to education. This year, the Durham Roman Catholic. Separate School Board has raised its levy from $316,524 to $413,010, an increase of 30.5 per cent. However, Claringbold pointed out that the tax- payer will only be asked for 13.3 per cent more. He said that this is "due to the fact that the assessment base for separate school purposes increased substan- tially during 1979. "Secondly, the differential between commercial and industrial and residential mill rates for school pur- poses has increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent." What this means is that the businessman in the town pays approximately 14 per cent more in property taxes than does the residential taxpayer. "Therefore," Claringbold said, "a larger portion of the tax dollar is now being assumed by commerce and industry. This is general throughout the province." Those businesses suþpor- ting the separate school system will pay an ad- ditional 20 per cent for the priviledge. The Durham Board of Education taxes are also up substantially this year. Claringbold told council for elementary school pur- poses there was a levy in- crease of 24.2 per cent from $2.61 million to $3.25 million. In this area, the residen- tial taxpayer will pay 14.4 per cent more while the commercial/industrial tax- payer will pay 21 per cent more. "Once again we are faced with the increase in the dif- ferential between the town mill rates which in itself, for elementary school purposes represents approximately a two mill increase to the commercial and industrial taxpayer," Claringbold said. The treasurer also said that the Board experienced sizable assessment growth within the town last year. For secondary school pur- poses, the levy has in- creased by 19.8 per cent from $2.5 million to $2.99 million. Once again, the commer- cial/industrial taxpayer is hit the hardest. "Once again," Claringbold told council, "the residential taxpayer has not been detrimentally affected by these increases due to the fact that the dif- ferential between the two mill rates has been in- creased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent." It could have been worse, the Board could have im- posed an additional $1.7 million in levies, he said, adding that the provincial government came across with more grant funds to of- fset this. For Durham Board of Education purposes, accor- ding to their figures, the in- dividual residential tax- payer will only throw 12.45 per cent more because of these and other grants that the board receives from the province. The town will pay the Region of Durham 8.6 per cent more in levies this year, Claringbold said. For the homeowner assessed at $5,000, this will mean an extra $12 more this year. However, the 1980 equalization factors caused such a stir at the regional level, the province again came across with additional grants to offset their effect. This means, according to regional sources, that the Whitby homeowner will, in fact, pay oniy $1.51 more to the region this year. Despite the different methods of calculating taxes by each level of government, one fact does stand out plain and clear, property taxes are again, however predic- tably, going up. Taxpayers should take heart, however, as most predictions say it will be worse next year. - Free Press Staff Photo. They were tired of waiting Residents built bridge Margaret Mann and her three children are standing on the bridge that they and their neighbours built to regain access to their East- bourne Marsh homes. After nearly five weeks without a bridge, the residents took matters into their own hands and built one. The original bridge was washed away in the severe storm that struck most of Southern On- tario early last month. Since then, the homeowners, who live south of the Lynde Shores Conservation Area, have been seeking assistance from the Central Lake Ontario Con- servation Authority (CLOCA). CLOCA, to date, has not offered any assistance to the residents while legal questions of liability are ironed out. Mrs. Mann and her neighbours are still hoping that CLOCA will come across with some assistance in the near future. She aiso told the Free Press that the bridge, constructed of culverts, is the private property of the residents and is not open for use by the public or by CLOCA. "These culverts are the private property of the Eastbourne Marsh community. They are not to be used in any way by the public or by CLOCA," Is what the sign to their left says. Mrs. Mann says, "I'm happy to have access-to my home, even if it turns out to be tenporary." As of press time, there was no officiai reac- tion to the bridgeby CLOCA. The-atte Exclusive interview Davils speaks out page 5