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vol 1q5 no 9 ametroland community newspaper wednesday march 3 1993 20 pages 50 cents region to spend 100k on consultant lisa queen metroland staff york region is set to spend 100000 on a consultant to see if it should take the plunge into economic development the regions economic devel opment steering committee approved the expense last week although council still must ratify that decision committee members explained it makes more sense to sink money into a consultant now rather than realize years people howard mills has great outlook bruce stapley correspondent howard mills is 80 years young the longtime stouffville opti cian who operates out of the shoe box sized kiosk on main st just east of ninth line cel ebrated the milestone friday with a steady stream of well- wishers people have been so good to me said mills pointing to a sign in front of his shop pro claiming his new octogenarian status its surprising i dont even know who did up that sign people have brought in cards coming in for visits and the girl who delivers my paper wrote happy 80th birthday on the front of my paper today mills spent much of the day laughing joking and reminisc ing with visitors who included old friends and please see page 3 down the road that the region has wasted hundreds of thou sands of dollars on an unneces sary economic development department the consultant will investi gate whether a regional depart ment is needed and how much money it would need to operate properly if the consultant decided a regional department makes sense he will then determine its role given the flurry of other economic development initiatives now emerging for example mayors in the greater toronto are are trying to establish a gta economic development office and the provincial government this month created a superministry to handle economic concerns markham councillor fred cox suggested it may be time york region municipalities gave up their economic development departments and focused on a regional effort but he admitted that may be unrealistic given the parochial attitude that has gripped politi cians over the past two decades i think this is one area if there is one area we can agree on as a region it should be eco nomic development cox said but id call a spade a spade markham is competing with richmond hill and richmond hill is competing with vaughan for new business and indus tries cox is also worried that a regional economic department will amount to nothing more than another level of bureau cracy he added the only way to lure business to york region is to get the provincial government to drop its antibusiness men tality and to encourage the regions school boards to drop their unpopular lot levies right now this region is not competing as competitively as other regions in ontario agreed chief administrative officer bob forhan he noted mississauga recent ly dropped its industrial lot levies to attract new business minimum 4 tax hike for residents tracy kibble staff reporter are whitchurchstouffville homeowners looking at a minimum four per cent tax hike this year interviews with local and york region officials indicate this could be the case whitchurchstouffvilles mayor has confirmed in several inter views with the tribune that residents can expect a slight munic ipal tax hike this year how slight is slight fran sainsbury has stated the towns 5600 homeowners should brace themselves for a marginal hike an inevitability following 1992s zero budget increase realistically there will probably be a slight increase sains bury told the tribune in an interview last december it takes a one per cent tax hike to raise 45000 revenue in the town of whitchurchstouffville the tribune was told during an interview with assistant treasurer holly kirby last month for example the alreadyapproved pay hikes for town staff total a 133000 portion for 1993 council of 1991 approved salary increases totalling 266000 for please see page 3 tftflv 4 4 4 4 4 4 a 4 4- i a 444444 it 7 f f i- pms leaving no surprise for local tories prime minister brian mul- rones decision to step down as progressive conservative party is being accepted as a timely departure like many others marjorie nielsen the outgoing president of the local progressive conser vative riding association was not surprised by the prime min isters decision i think probably it was the best thing to do at this time she remarked mulroney has said he does not want to hurt the party she continued markham whitchurchstouf fville mp bill attewell is sure the decision was a difficult one for the prime minister but the position does take a mental and physical toll imi i j in i i iii r he has done a great deal to solidify our party and make it truly a national party attewell noted mulroney will certainly have his place in history but given the period in which he has led and the tough fiscal man agement decisions he has made constituents were not happy with mulroney attewell con cluded roger belgrave i i i r i 1 i i4 i i 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