The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

l i- ii r fv rfc rt- v v i 3 utiseckdnablyldrig winter mows 67 million budget and that doesnt include december i by patrick casey staff writer winter has taken a 67milli6n bite out of york regions operating budget while the region continues to firie its 2001 budget finance officials must now unearth an additional 532000 after an unsea sonably long winter quickly pol ished off its sriow removal budget tm hoping we have seen the last of the major snowstorms now that we areinto spring explained sandra cartwright the regions financecommissiorier- our winter maintenance bud- get has been really pressed by unprecedented snowstorms after spending 57 milli9n last year the region had originally bud- geted nearly 62 million to take care of is snowcovered roads in 001 c i j c even wttfthe extra halfmil lion dollars the 67 million mere- ly covers the winter maintenance budget for the first three months of the year and does not take into account october november- and december when the coldair marks itsreturn this money just brings us up to wherewe are cartwright con- firmed c vqur midyear report in june will look at other ways of mitigat- ingejbudgetratherthansetting- an increase now meanwhile cartwright unveiled moretnanl8 million worth of additions to the total bud get projected at 9607 million however even with the changes the regions tax hike will remain at 45 per cent or an extra 60 in taxes this year for the aver age homeowner the modifications include 137000 to help implement new priority transit services 104000 to add 500 new day care spaces 82000 for an additional pros ecutor for court administration 101000 for the economic development departments new industrial research assistance pro- gram 94000 to the greater toronto services board budget whitchufchstouffville mayor wayne emmerson said more funds for the fledging gtsb is simply a sign of the times if you thiiik the gtsb budgetv big money now- it will be bigger money later on he said that money will come from the 905 area because there is ho money in toronto meanwhile the region will shift 20 million from its capital reserve budget and transfer the money into three separate reserve funds 10 million to social assistance arid 5 million into both social housing and working capital reserves the working capital is used during the year to help with short- fallswithour cash flows added cartwright it canreduce pressures on our budgets and gives us an opportu- passed until next month nity to reallocate funds although council members had the regions budget which originally expected to ratify the includes 338 million in capital budget on thursday they will wait programs and a net tax levy of an extra two weeks in hopes the 3972 million will not be officially province will tell the region how just helpin out much they owe toronto in annual pooling costs the estimated figure is 858 million 18 million more than last year j staff photosjoerd witteveen the onset of spring means plenty of natural hazards here fouryearold harrison roy helps marlene dunsmoor 2 rescue her baby carriage from a vyet ditch on harold avenue in stouffville much of the snow in markham and wwtchurastbufrville has disappeared pizza project could return when threat ends i syfrom page 1 iiiigbutiit is ftenghtthuig to do saidvproiect s volunteer r and xtffivpwjrli i- schoolboard explained jthatthev notice ofthe projects cariceila provided the students with a vi ihtx rip pj committeetiqn hasbeen forwarded to schools greater understanding of a food 0goimqtl deteimihedthat the event wu-bv- in- markhani unionville they love the technologies they i rtheecisi6ntopmeplugon due to concernsabout whitchurch richmond use in its production and a positive ge of the people who produce explained kyri barker of the i district school board vuv agricultural projects- is-sjst- kntxuuzii j j v u trw nt i- i n- are being- all over the rxwhitchurchrstounville councillor without the animals hopefully it willbe back in the t2a axh i v kbsf- wmit mc onfia mt g v word food and mouth has the i phavingmepizprojectwith5 wouldnt work- i kits a wonderful project very w h rdutttne i animals wouldntwork v nopularwith the- students said here in- ontario the disease ovacivitxi awsjsini stressed project chairman r of oconnor ill return does not affect humans and the pizzaproject involves adult- brdy affects hoofed animals has f volunteers leadingthe students forced the cancellation of the pizza through a variety- of handohv project in nptivitips rrplated to vegetables v meanwhileprbject officials in and grains- h victoria coiihtyafe meeting today a irelated experiences to determinethe fate of its pizza classroom- activities projecly harry bowes cancelling event is the right thing to jpfsays for mer board of educationtfustee ipa mmimmm