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a3 economist suntribune politics saturday jan 15 2000 yorks most powerful mayors waht the region carved up into two to four cities kill regions mayors say by usa queen staff writer the greater toronto areas most influential suburban mayors plan to send a report to premier mike harris tomorrow demanding the province wipe out regional govern ments and establish eight to 12 powerful cities the mayors who didnt run the proposal by their local councils havent drawn a map because they cant agree on exact boundaries but york region would be carved up into two to four cities if there is any unanimity its that we dont want regioncities said vaughan mayor lorna jackson who along with markham mayor don cousens and newmarket mayor tom taylor formed the coalition which began meeting pri vately last month the mayors claim the new struc ture would save taxpayers 100 mil lion a year the estimate is based on studies conducted in other regions which have concluded amalgama tion can save between 25 and 100 per capita under the proposal presented friday at markhams embassy suites hotel the greater toronto services board would become a body responsible for setting service standards but it wouldnt have any taxing authority and the cities would deliver services ranging from recreation and planning to transit and fire protection however existing police services boards would stay intact which means forces like york regional police would be preserved meanwhile other towns can decide for themselves whether they want to be swallowed up by the new cities or break off and set up their own regions or join existing coun ties like simcoe the mayors say the new struc ture would protect the environ ment because development would be concentrated in the cities rather than leapfrogging into rural areas theyre asking the province to appoint a special adviser to help with the restructuring the adviser would submit a report by april so changes would be in place for the november municipal elections if that timetable is too ambi tious the mayors suggest the province delay the elections for a year cousens defended the mayors proposal even though queens park has indicated it wont act on munic ipal restructuring in the 905 regions until the gtsb completes a review of services and governance models by december but after the province forced amalgamations in four ontario regions last month the mayors argue a momentum has been create ed that they intend to capitalize on we saw an opportunity for our selves to give leadership for what needs to be done its not something we take lightly cousens said we will be agents of change for good for the whole of the commu nity we want to be partners with the province and everybody else according to mississauga mayor hazel mccallion municipalities- must structure themselves into appropriately sized cities to be able to afford downloaded provincial services and pooling the controver sial program where taxpayers in the 905 regions contribute to social ser vices in toronto the eight mayors agree cities must have more man 100000 resi dents to deliver services effectively after witnessing five years of futile amalgamation talks jackson argued bigcity mayors cant allow the prospect of restructuring to simmer on the backburner forever there is a great deal of uncer tainty we are working in a void everybody is looking over their shoulder wondering what is going to happen its time they- the province put us out of our misery jackson defended the fact the mayors have hashed out their plan behind closed doors arguing rural mayors and regional chairpersons meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest including their visions for municipal restructuring were being accused of secret meetings were just mayors of a like mind mat have come together to see if we can create a plan she said region aiming for tax freeze no thanks to toronto which takes 80 million a year from yorks coffers by patrick casey staff writer york region councillors are aim ing to spend more than 250 mil lion on capital programs this year without raising taxes chief aclministrative officer alan wells and treasurer sandra cartwright recommended a tax freeze after providing an overview of the proposed 2000 operating budget at a regional council meet ing thursday morning it would mark the second con secutive tax freeze made possible by 44percent growth that increased the total collected in taxes to 3566 million however regional politicians continue to be stung by the fact they must contribute 801 million or 10 per cent of their 8142 mil lion total budget to torontos social service costs vaughan councillor joyce frustaglio said the provincial scheme does not work pointing out the plight of a vaughan single moth er of five who pays 1200 in rent each month but receives less than that in social support we have to really and truly con tinue to fight against this said frustaglio i appreciate why the province put this in place but we should fight it because it should not come against our residents we have to pursue the govern ment at least for a time frame we can do it for a number of years but then it stops it has to stop some time if our growth slows down the problem will still be there and then what will happen richmond hill mayor bill bell alan wells recommending tax freeze said the idea of sending regional money to toronto disgusts people because local politicians have no say how the money is spent and since the 801 million pooling figure could still fluctuate he warned against using the regions capital reserve fund to help finance torontos social programs i just want to be assured that if we get into trouble with pooling we wont dip into the reserves and send them south of steeles avenue said bell we better bring this back to the finance committee york durham peel and halton regions all pay into the costs of torontos subsidized housing and social programs included in the 2501millioh capital programs for this year are plans for 125 million in water and wastewater projects including new sewers in richmond hill markham maple and woodbridge construction of a water supply infrastructure in georgina and the extension of torontos water supply to york region 108 million in the transporta tion services budget including 82 million in new projects and more than 25 million in tendered work deferred from 1999 major projects will include the first stage of the markham bypass from hwy 407 to hwy 7 27 million and the widening of a dangerous stretch of hwy 9 between hwy- 400 and bathurst street in newmarket 73 million 78 million in capital financing as part of the 908million york regional police budget will support an additional 21 new officers enhancements to existing services and departments plus new pro grams that include a yearround ride unit 750000 to construct an inte grated solid waste processing and transfer facility to handle the regions solid waste as a result of the impending closure of the keele valley dump we have a continued growth of population said wells noting the region will grow this year by 30000 residents the item that is not an easy one to solve is the management of the solid waste system the clock is ticking and we have some decisions that have to be made in order to move on with the solutions the regions finance committee will review various departmental budget recommendations at a spe cial meeting feb 3 before the bud get is expected to be passed by council on feb 10 regional news digest whats happening event snow smash date saturday jan 22 3 to 430 pm location newmarket youth centre address 244 main st s newmarket jamie dunlop 15 practises on a forma tion of snow in preparation for the newmarket youth centres snowsrriash event on jan 22 featuring sculpting and other winter fun york men part of drug rin three york region men could face lengthy prison terms in the united states after being linked to a multimilliondollar drug smuggling and money launder ing ring daniel carlo cappa 38 of maple arthur alajajian 38 of newmarket and maurice catenacci 35 of newmarket were all indicted by an alexandria va grand jury on charges related to smuggling cocaine into canada and returning drugrelated assets back to the united states the men were charged along with nestor fonseca 32 of brampton who investigators consider the ringleader cappa who lives ontarrell close in maple is a manager at pearson international airports terminal 3 he was arrested while he was on the job wednesday morning although cappa works at the airport he is not considered to be the head of the organization catenacci a car salesman was arrested at his binns avenue home in newmarket wednesday alajajian also a newmarket resident was arrested at home rcmp insp ron allen said about 15 million of cocaine was purchased in south florida and was smuggled into canada in 1998 to be sold in the gta and toronto the fbi became involved in the summer of 1998 when about 10 kilograms of cocaine were seized from a train passing through washington dc the train was on its way to toronto from south florida rsw- thobretbanncr istouirvlllelribune thbuberal offers sxamm discounts ay mtbonalds home hardware grandtoy sears whole home itsunoco global pet foods bason rqbbins hawm optical dairyqueen london cieaners compucentre subscribers club members are automatically entered into draws for over 20000 in prizes including deluxe home theatre system from 5000 cash courtesy of and weekly draws for free movie passesto congratulations to the winners of our draw for deluxe leather rediners from sem9 jkotyojolmcaham trrembnofnewmortot whole clfllj komc eboasaewoodwds and touro piddo from morldsom who won a 7 night caribbean cruise from economist sun 2942200