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Thea honours for Courthouse Page 12 Down to 'Earth' Page 10, Angels are ice champions v ictim'famil wants safety Page ZU mneaure £WTfT~ Hydro0 challenges. accusatiofls By Mihe Kowalsti ý. Allegations of fiscal- mis- m anageent at Whitby Hlydro have Ln denied by its elected, officiais. Whýitby Hydro Electric com-' miss3ioners s,àtand firmly -behind the utilitys managers and reject accusations of wasteful spén g levied by the union represetig hydro workers. A newsletter to be included ini futu~re electrical bis responide to charpes made by the Power Wor- ,kers"' Union (PWU)- during ,con- tract negotiations. earlier this Whitby Hydro'chair DonMac- Master said the ' commission'. response speaka for itself, and hoe preferred not te eèlaborate.,. But PWU president John-Mur- phy branded it a «piece of gar- bage3 -which fails te aàdeqately address the union 's concerne. Murphy- promised the union will notlret the matter rest. and said several >options will be explored incld g newspa ads, simifar te the one that foce the commission te, defend its practices. Headlined 'How Whitby H dro Management Wastes YOur Money,' the advertisement appeared ini area newspapers i mid-February. .Examples of ailegd wasteful spenduxg mentioned in the full- pa geadranged from the serious to the frivolous. lA $500,000 aerial ladder truck that lassupposedly too impracti- cal.for most 'jobs wa9,cited bythe union, as well as "perkse ffyed* bygaerl ange ,Tom, Mg eue s prvatewashrooxýn an electronically-opeatd desk whichca be raisedor lowered te the user's preference. Atthe time,' the commission promptly ,disniissed the union'. êlaims as bargaining tacti ce, but opted not to formally respond until negotiations had ben com-, pleted. In late February,* Whitby Hydro workers ratified a three-' yeararemt which will give the comsins 21 lineworkers and meter readers a two per cent wvage hike in 1996., SER PAGE 14 Sligt icrease, pn pro.perty tax By Mike Kowalski Property taxes for -the averar Whitby resident will increase by lees than $3 this year. With both Durham Region, and the Durham Board of, Education approvingi their budgets ,lsat wekWhtby .ratepayers now know how much ,municipal ¶oenent will, cost them mn On Monday, ublic sehooltrus- tees struck a $66-million budget which- will raie, the, education portion of the property tax bill by 0,63 per cent across the region lIn Whitbys the 'figue 1'wihl.be sightly bass at 0.09 per -cent, whiich translates fite an increase of les. than $1. Two days later, Durham Region council .unanùncoualy aprvda $307-million budget t Will ramseregional taxes by 0.8 per cent acros Durham..' Locafll, the increase *M1 be 0.4 per cent or $2 per average household. Comb ined with Town council'. adoption in March of a $26.7- million operating budget which froze the municiality's taxes, for' the, third straightC year, Whitby residents will pay just under $3 moe in properLy taxes ini 1995. Separate school supporters will probably, learn this wveek what their education taxes wiIl be in 1995. However t he Catholic, board.traditionahIy falîs into lin. with whatever is, done by its public school 'counterparte. (Education taxes account for about 5 r etof th9froperty tax bil followe *by oal eru- ment at 25 per cent and rgoa governmentat 20 per cent.) "'A very decent budget which !0.roitivides fotr ivlti increase, iraythngBalVAWhycouncil- lor Marcel Brunelle of the Region'. *307-million document., 1 'Weve maintained ail servies in a reasonable way,» ho said. SU PAGE 9 Page 3 âmoh- Àdolk 1 .- - m