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stouffville suntribune thursday jan 8 2004 3 stouffville says by hannelore volpe do you think 2004 will be better or worse than last year why asked in stouffville stephanie oldham there is a lot of change in the air a lot of it good with more people coming into town maybe they will shop and dine in stouffville edy zemp with sars war and mad cow we got every thing in 2003 with the stock market and mutual funds going up there are good signs eileen belgue we are looking forward to local politicians having infrastructure in place to maintain new subdivisions before building in 2004 i think 2004 will be better because my broth er is saying my name and my moms name hes starting to talk almost show time staff photobill roberts adam paulikot left braedon quarks geordie hill and kimiko carter of the york durham academy for the performing arts rehearse at christ church anglican in stouffville the academy presents youre a good man charlie brown and a chorus line at the vaughan city playhouse jan 16 to 18 for tickets call 9058827469 new park road work in budget by joan ransberry staff writer the average homeowner in wwtchurchstouffville will see the municipal portion of their tax bill shoot up by 30 in 2004 if the new mayors predictions come true mayor sue sherbans desk is covered in preliminary budget work elected in november the mayor and six councillors are busy preparing to strike their first budget talks to cover the capital budget will be held tuesday while the operating budget is expected to be deliv ered feb 24 the hike will not exceed three per cent the mayor said the 2003 budget totaled 142 million and reflected a 29 per cent tax hike well try to keep it down as much as possible but it will come in about the same as it did last year the increase will be somewhere between 25 and 3 per cent she said the average house in whitchurchstouffville valued at 250000 received a tax bill totaling just over 3000 last year that included 768 for the municipal portion 1390 for york region and 932 for edu cation if the mayors prediction proves true the municipal por tion for 2004 will be approxi mately 800 while trying to keep a lid on taxes and maintain levels of service whitchurchstouffville council is facing some new challenges as was expected items slat ed to show up on the capital budget include a theatre com plex its been valued at about 15 million we are definitely looking at the theatre mrs sherban said id like to see it somewhere on the fiveyear forecast we are definitely looking at the theatre id like to see it somewhere on the fiveyear forecast hoover park drive residents will be pleased to see 500000 earmarked to build byers pond park about 500000 is expected to be set aside for reconstruc tion of main street mean while another 500000 will be needed to reconstruct west lawn crescent the mayor said the operating budget will definitely take some extra work about 200000 must be carved out to pay for contributions to the towns employee pension fund the towns 84 fulltime employees will also contribute 200000 to the fund this is a huge increase to our operating cost mrs sherban said taxpayers can expect to hand over an additional 30000 in rent for the municipal offices on sandiford drive a four percent increase means the rent will be 142000 a year or 15000 a month as well 1 million is expected to be spent on roads again this year since fire calls were up in 2003 the cost of delivering fire services is on the increase she said since theres been a decrease in revenues linked to waste disposal garbage contin ues to be a highcost item to save 10000 last year council ended such services as street vacuuming and leaf blow ing theres been no move to reinstate either service we had a few comments at the beginning she said but i havent heard any hue and cry there have been no petitions or letterwriting tied to either service the towns reserve fund sits at about 85 million yes our reserves are in good shape mrs sherban said i havent heard that theres any big item to touch the reserve money briefly oh christmas tree what lovely mulch you make christmas tree today mulch tomorrow that is the fate of about 2000 dis carded christmas trees left at the curb for pick up in whitchurch- stouffville this week the trees which should have all decorations and tin sel removed are being picked up on regular collection days they will be transported to a com posting facility on bloomington road near leslie street run by miller waste systems where they will be chipped to be sold as mulch and bedding for summer gardens and parks in january 2002 around 2000 christmas trees were collected from the municipalitys curbs paul whitehouse director of public works said the collection is part of the towns yard waste program throughout york region 200 tons of yard waste mostly christmas trees were collected in january 2002 that figure jumped to 300 tons for january 2003 yearround yard waste collection for 2003 was up substantially over the previous year with just under 15000 tons collected in 2002 and about 19500 tons in 2003 andy campbell director of waste management for york region said york region used less than 50 per cent of the bloomington road com posting facilitys capacity he added the growth in yard waste volume is partly due to the regions four per cent annual growth rate about 40000 new people come to york region each year mr campbell said the destination of next years christmas trees is uncertain with the threemonth extension to miller waste systems contract expiring at the end of march york region coun cil will decide in the spring who will handle the regions waste programs which may include household waste composting hannelorevolpe quoteworthy the acoustics are perfect there david duggan men of note chorus on recording new cd see story on page 7 contacting us have a news tip please phone us at 9056402612 email us at jmasonyrng com visit us at 34 civic ave stouffville v fe kwss 0bh- 3j n f fep yy ilnews