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t > Page 13 The Clarington/Courtice Independent, Bowmanvillc, Saturday, October 31, 1998 An Explanation of Tax Help for Businesses '■ Taxes arc on everyone's ! minds and small business \ operators certainly made this • very clear over the past cou- i pie of weeks. ; As I have said in my arti- - des over the past two weeks, ' your inquiries have prompted ' me, as well as other MPPs, to r question our Premier and ■ Minister of Finance to J address this serious problem . for small business. ; Small business accounts for • 80% of all jobs and certainly i these family operated busi- ; nesses have their entire lives • invested. They have their '. homes mortgaged, they work ; often six or seven days a week I and they don't have any gov- ■ ernment-supported gold plat- ! ed pension plan. I admire ■ these entrepreneurs who arc ; making their own futures, as • well as often supporting local \ sports teams and other com- •; munity activities. I would agree that our : government has wrestled with ; the difficult reforms to the - assessment system. In fact, ; we have had six pieces of leg- ; islation to try and get it right while still allowing municipalities municipalities the flexibility to address local decisions. I also recognize that the previous Liberal and NDP governments governments attempted to reform the system but backed away. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) has pressured successive successive Ontario governments over the years to address the old outdated unfair system of assessment. It is never easy to make changes and we are a government who said "a promise made is a promise kept". Arguably, those who are seeing an increase were not paying their fair share and those who arc getting a decrease have been paying too much for too long. In my view, the time has passed when we can sit back and point fingers at each other and blame some other level of government. People I talk to are sick of each level of government government blaming the other for the problems. They say, "fix it and get on with it". 1 agree that good government has to have the courage to make changes and still go back and make further changes until we get it right. Bowmanville Toastmasters Bowmanvillc Toastmasters had the privilege of hosting the ' Eastern Division Table Topics and Humorous speech contests on October 20, 1998. From points as distant as Kingston, Pickering, Peterborough and Lindsay, 72 Toastmasters congregated at The ■ Darlington Hydro Information Centre, to celebrate the achievement achievement of the cream of the crop. Toastmaster Jeanne Theriault • from the Oshawa Club won the humorous event with • Toastmaster Jean Kapusta of the Belleville Club hot on her heels. Toastmaster Karen Martin narrowly defeated Toastmaster Jennifer Holder of the Peterborough Club, to garner the impromptu trophy. The winner will compete at the District Conference in early November in Hamilton, Ontario. ■; Come and join Bowmanville Toastmasters for their 11th !• Charter Anniversary Celebration on November 10, 1998, fea- \ luring guest speaker Ross MacKay D.T.M. Three-time winner of District 60's International Speech Contest, Ross has held high executive positions in Toastmasters and also is the Past i; President of The Canadian Association of the Public Speakers. ■; To see Toastmasters in operation join us Tuesdays at the y Darlington Nuclear Station's Information Centre. : Food Bank Helps 29 Families ■' The Board of Directors, of tne Clarington East Food Bank, " met for their October meeting on October 21, 1998. Our co-ordinator reports that the food bank is in good shape .• this month. She expressed a need for a strong person, to pick- 1 up and deliver food, to the food bank. Anyone interested in vol- unteering is asked to please call Liz at the food bank during its \ hours of operation - Tuesdays 1 - 4 p.m„ Thursdays 10 a.m. - !; 1 p.m. The Benders will be doing a Gospel Sing on Sunday, November 15th, at 2 p.m. at the Newcastle United Church. Thanks to all who generously gave during the Thanksgiving > Food Drive. , The food bank, in September, served 29 families, which represented 70 individuals and 143 bags of groceries. Trophy-Sized Spud Weighs Over Three Pounds While bringing' in the harvest this year, Rod Simpson, of Enniskillen, found this unusual spud. His wife, Pal, said it grew up from last year's patch. It tipped the scales at more than three pounds and would probably be large enough to make a meal for five or six people. The vegetable will be used in potato pic. Here, Pat Simpson displays the Yukon Gold potato. " THE CORPORATION OF THE V. MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON 40 TEMPERANCE STREET ; BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO f L1C3A6 1998 FINAL TAX NOTICE FIRST INSTALMENT of the 1998 FINAL ;; PROPERTY TAX NOTICE is due for !; REALTY TAX FIRST INSTALMENT PAYABLE OCTOBER 30,1998 > If you have not received your Final Tax Notice, ■; please telephone the Municipal Office at (905) 623-6520. ,1- 1998 Realty Taxes are PAYABLE at the locations detailed on the front of the Tax Notice. :• Failure to receive a Tax Notice does not eliminate V the responsibility for the payment of taxes and penalty. NOTE: FOR THE OCTOBER 30,1998 INSTALMENT ONLY: The Municipal Offices located at 40 Temperance Street in Bowmanville will bo open 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on October 28,29 and 30,1998. ST\ê mumcii-am i y or (jlaïiiu/ton CS-lml. 737» R.L. Swan Tax Collector (DJP Report from Queen's Park by John O'Toole On Friday. October 23rd, Finance Minister Ernie Eves made the announcement that lie was introducing legislation that if passed would require municipalities to limit the impact of our changes on increase and business improvement area charges for 1998 by December 15, 1998. The changes in the commercial commercial tax area involve the elimination of the Business Occupancy Tax (BOT) and will have no impact on the residential property tax payer as was mentioned in one of the local newspapers. One final note that has repeatedly been brought to my attention. Residential taxpayers taxpayers question some of the local expenditures and in particular particular the proposed skateboard skateboard park at the cost of just under $200,000.00. People tell me that they don't question question that we need more things but now is not the time. The health care challenges arc not going to fade. The most recent news about the emergency room backlogs is term care beds and the intention intention is to move these patients to more appropriate facilities. This will free up over 700 hospital beds and relieve the hospital emergency room congestion. We have committed committed over $102 million to Community Care Access Centres, supportive housing and other community service agencies. Emergency room funding is a $225 million plan. • $75 million applied to additional hospital funding, • $55 million is allocated to 1700 long term beds, • $94 million to home care home care is what people need to remain in the comfort of their own home for as long as possible, All sectors and providers of health care are 1 believe, working together to improve our health care system. system. On the educational front, some boards and their associations associations have reached tentative agreements while some have been unable to reach agreement. agreement. Non-teaching educational educational workers arc now beginning beginning to negotiate for a new contract and 1 hope this does not cause more loss of educational educational time for our students. is fhll) surround yourself 'in color with a cascade of classic and contemporary shades in your choice offinish with Benjamin Moore Regal paint...on sale now. g Wopm's'A Muresco'. h up to 40% OFF Wallpaper Book Orders ♦Fabric not included Regal - AquaVelvet . • Versatile paint for walls and trim • Decorative, washable, low sheen $2Q87* Muresco Celling White • Ideal for piaster, ' drywall, acoustic ; material, arid most . , other surfaces • Beautiful matte .. ypmb finish - eliminates . celling glare ,V1oorct> v 'V IQS* Jl " m ' dtim i/ /YO - ^ .... 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