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the tribune 4000 copies vol 6 no 12 a metroland community newspaper friday march 23 199q sfrphget 25 cents stouffville bia rapped by council tracy kibble staff reporter stouffvilles business improve ment area lacks focus and takes on too many projects town council charged tuesday the downtown merchants group was slammed by local politicians and town staff in a number of different areas during debate over an annual grant for the group but bia spokesmen after hear ing the comments said its priori ties are right on target and the group is doing the best it can with what it has bia chairman san dra stronach approached council for a 7000 main street flower grant in january it was then decided the groups budget should be submitted in february to town director of finance ed blackburn who would recommend the amount the bia would be allotted for the flowers this never happened i only received the bia budget yester day mr blackburn said but paul roney a bia director and mrs stronach said information was sent to the town last month both parties must have under stood what was needed she said the bia originally requested the 7000 for the annual beau tify main street flower project but mr blackburn said he doesnt believe they need the whole 7000 and mayor fran sainsbury said the merchants group doesnt have its priorities straight and added they are tak ing on too many projects at once however mrs stronach said the bia has stretched its budget to the limit we dont spend our money unnecessarily the mayor told council the group took on the pride grant and are now doing the harvest show the strawberry festival the festival of bells and the flower project i might as well be honest they should get their act in gear trim their budget and get their priorities straight mayor sains bury maintained now theyre doing abc and d and want the taxpayers to help cover too many costs the mayor added i agree we have to have a bet ter focus to get the whole bia group interested but were doing the best we can mrs stronach countered in a subsequent inter view we dont get extra money from anyone we get no extra money from the town except for the flowers mrs stronach insisted but its the bias own fault said ward 3 councillor nick tatone council representative on the bia they need to do some budget stretching and some vital think ing he added but mr roney said the bia has already stretched its 43000 budget to the limit to the benefit of the town and the enjoyment of the people council sitting in committee voted to allot the group 5300 last years allotment plus six per cent and will approve the amount at an upcoming council meeting im pleased with the money we are getting but i am displeased with the towns comments she said the uxbridge chamber choir was busy show to local residents next month here this week rehearsing for its upcoming per- chamber choir master thomas baker formance in uxbridge members are fine- leads the group at the rehearsal held at tuning their talents before bringing the joseph gould public school in uxbridge i wmmmmmimmmmmimmmbmmmmm i 1 iihiiii mttmmmtmm i i mi separate board prepares for cuts julie caspersen staff reporter separate school trustees are reluctantly sharpening their scissors in preparation to cut staff and programs during this years budget process york region roman catholic separate school board supporters face a 36 per cent tax increase if the board is to break even with out slicing programs trustees were told at a presentation of the second draft of the bud get unwilling to force such a tax hike on ratepayers trustees looked at 10 possible areas of cutbacks at wednes- wherever we can squeeze were squfeziin this witlisut hurting days special budget meeting the french immersion and industrial artsfamily studies programs french immersion with an enrolment of 746 costs the board 757212 and iafs costs 11 million and serves 5000 students director of education frank bobesich reviewed services that could be axed including adult and continuing educa tion laterun buses for high schools and educational assis tants markham trustee terry ryan opposed cuts to laterun transportation sliced to three nights from four this year already pass the pain around first he said mr bobesich also recom mended reducing the number of discretionary supply days days teachers are away from class on boardinitiated semi nars by 25 per cent he also suggested putting a hold on general school bud gets by foregoing the expect ed five per cent increase and cutting 1 million from the 3million computer budget wherever we can squeeze were squeezing mr bobesich said were not going to come out of this process without hurting the board is in the dark about general legislative grants expected to be released by the end of the month a third preliminary budget meeting is scheduled for april 5 when the provincial revenue can be included in the equation markham politicians chal lenged both york school boards to trim the fat from their budgets the audacity of people to make such glib remarks sep arate board chairperson joe virgilio said wednesday as trustees struggled with their budget when the public board cuts back it still has programs we dont even dream of having finance committee chairper son fran hill said water supply safe durham region works department assured whitchurchstouffville council in writing last week that a proposed new industrial park water system in uxbridge would not affect local water suppljes council stressed concern to uxbridge officials in december that the 1 17- acre uxvill estates industrial park to be developed along the eastern boundaries of the two communities could affect some stouffville homes but durham region has assured local politicians that a safe yield flow of water was established resulting from a hydrogeological assessment and test drilling in 1989 and that multilevel water depths were monitored at numerous observation points surrounding the test well location there was minimal interference recorded in the surrounding observa tion wells for the 72hour duration of the pumping test the letter contin ued durham region responsible for operation of the development also assured stouffville council that if any local wells are adversely affected by the neighboring industrial park well supply the responsible party would be required to provide a potable water supply to the stouffville homeowners