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a ain ih, itn Ji Je Gh » Tk ot fm a it cet hts ah v be ' J ' £ i THE DAILY TIMES-GAZETTE, Sslarday, Mey 1, 1955 The Times - Gazette Saturday Page' Of Featur: HARVEY ABRAHAM OPERATES ADDRESSOGRAPH MACHINE THE CITIZENS' BUSINESS \ 5 Your Taxes Based On Values Of Assessment Department (Seventh in a series of weekly features on the city's eivic departments) By TOM HICKMAN Times-Gazette City Hall Reporter A question every taxpayer city frequently asks himself is: | "How much will I have to pay in taxes next year?" Perhaps he is thinking of buying a new car, or putting a down payment on house, and even a small change in his taxes may well bg the deciding factor, How much he wjll pay . dependent on two things -- the| millrate as set by city council (to be dealt with in a future article' and his assessment, Setting the assessment, on which | his taxes will be based, is the work of the City Assessment Commis- signet and his staff. Their work gobs on the year round, as field men go out collecting the informa- tion which will be recorded on the © in the de-|§ 23,000 metal "cards" partments records. Every piece of Jroperty in the city, buildings and land, is tabu- lated onsthe cards which give de- tails of the property (its descrip- tion and location) show its owner- ship and its assessed value, From these, the assessment commission. er makes up his rolls, which are then submitted to the tax-collec- tor's ent where tax on th A record is also kept by the as- sessment department of every busi- ness operat in the city, and in the same way this information goes to the tax department from which the business tax notices are sent out, Have you built an addition to your house this year? Have you made a sun porch or veranda? Or maybe you just had a tiled bath- room put in, or had a new forced air heating system installed? If you did, your assessment will be higher. That means, unless the millrate goes down -- a remote pogsibility -- you will be paying more taxes next year. Your assessment is dependent on several things, some of which are changing constantly. For this reason it is necessary for the as- sessment department to visit property at least lly to see more valuab) in the| all ELDON KERR On the other side of the ledger you may be geiting an allowance for the age condition of your | the) Jose, or or & location, Reconul- oning your ho ®| the aowance. Vi to i position of the land makes It far le than any buildings on it. In Oshawa, the most valued location is in the vicinity of the Four Corners. Working outwards, the value goes down, LOCATION ALLOWANCES You may be living in an area classified as commerchal or indus. trial. This may make you eligible for location allowance because it lowers the value of your property. An industrial enterprise in the vi. cinity of your home, or an eyesore which detracts from the beauty of the surroundings, may mean a lo- cation allowance on your assess ment, Accordingly two identical properties at opposite ends of a street may be assessed differently. A tax is " Seanad d and is based on a per- if its value has increased -- or gone down, There are six wards in the city and these are divided into a total of 86 divisions. Four field men in the assessment department here spend the year collecting vital statistical information and valuing property, beginning at Division I. SQUARE-FOOT AREA Initially, the assessment js based on the "square foot floor area" of a building. For this, the outside measurements of the buil are t of the on the land and buildings occupied. Basie- ally, it is on 30 per cent. Then a percentage of the 30 I= cent is taken to arrive at the final figure. For example, a doctor's property assessment may be $5,000; Thirty per cent of this would be $1,500, His business assessment would be 50 per cent of this final figure, or $750. This system is applied to all businesses conducted from a resi- dence, Retail merchants, another taken. There are rates for this set for single-storey, 1Yi-storey, 1% storey, two-storey buildings, and so on. Other determining factors would be the type of construction --whether it is a frame house, or a brick one, or whether it has full plumbing. Pine floors and trim- ming are normal, for assessment purposes. If yours are oak, say, your assessment would be higher. A tiled bathroom would also raise the assessment, or a forced air heating system. All these extra comforts are as- sessed on the square footage rate. If your assessment is higher this year, before you blow your top ask yourself what improvements, if any, you Carried out, Did yo uadd another wing, or build a recrea- tion room? Dd you build a veranda for the summer weather? These may have been the reason MARGARET PEEL SETS le, are d at 30 per cent of the total assessment on land and buildings occupied. All assessment rolls are closed on September 30. A taxpayer be- lieving his assessment to be in- correct or unjust has 14 days in which to appeal to a court of revi- sion, usually held here in the city hall. If his appes) is not upheld, he has a further 14 days in which he can lodge an appeal with the County Judge. His final recourse would be to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, The receipt of an assessment notice does not necessarily mean a taxpayer is cleared until the fol- lowing year. Supplementary rolls are made up. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTICE Changes made to a building after assessment will result in a sup- plementary assessment notice -- j| seven if the assessment department finds 'out, For instance, when the investi gator calls on you he may assess your house as unfinished, This month he may find the house has been Pp e will be revised, effective from the first day of next month, So your {house will be assessed for. five | months as Jncomplete and for By J. WILLIAM MURRAY (Times-Gazette Police Reparieey He takes our troubles and makes them his career. He's all things to all people. That's the cop. It's. been known in the past to have people complain to police about the supper being late or the city bus not being on time. The requests are queer and numerous, Here are a few received by our local patient, SEEK CORRECT TIME The most common call the police | get is for the time. At all hours of the day and night citizens pester the station for the correct time, The calls always come thick and fast on Sundays. Yet the time calls are only one of many requests the police get, A recent case that Police Chief H. Flintoff was able to recall, came from a lady who lives near the General Motors plant, She wanted police to stop plant offi- clals from using the call bell be- cause it was disturbing her sleep, There was nothing the police could do for her, DOG COMPLAINTS This season of the year brings another avalanche of calls e complaint this time: dogs. A' wom- an phoned the station to ask if dogs were supposed to be tied dur- ing this month, "Yes," replied Sergeant Duncan Foreman, "Well, there is one on my lawn, who does it belong to?" "What is the tag number?" ask- ed the obliging officer, Everybody Calls The Cop, Even About The Weather "If you don't know, how do you us to find out who owns the ple even phone and ask that an officer be sent down to referee their family fueds. It is never a uestion of wanting to lay any charges; they just want an officer to scare the rambunctious relative who is causing the trouble, This type of demand is often made. A mother of a 14-year-old phoned police to report that er daughter had not returned home from the movies, Mother wanted the cops to haul daughter home from the movies and give her a good scare. The request was denied, 'We're not here to frighten people," de- clared the sergeant. An amazing question was once asked the desk sergeant. "What are you going to do about the fog in the hollow?" What could be done? One point which was brought out while we talked with police was that when they moved to the new "I don't know," replied the irate citizen, «| Since the beginning of 1955, the creased, The same thing happen. phone rang. "Busy?" the party on the phone "Yeh," replied the officer, "an- swering darn fool calls like yours," An interesting 'emergency' call came in last week when a mother phoned to report that her daughter was missing. § "What does she look like?" ask- ed the officer taking the call, "Never mind what she looks like," came the snap reply, "just get out and find her," A' common request that police et comes from transients who ask be locked up for the night, Oshawa station has housed over 444 "tourists," Even. service men have spent the night in the station, of their own free will, BICYCLES A PROBLEM Bicycles also prove a problem to police. A school principle once phoned the station to report a bike stolen from the school grounds. He The combination of sun, wind and (brrrrer!) water at Osh. awa's lakefront was too tempting for these young ladies to resist, 80 they became. two of the first-- and & on the lo- cdl beach, Racing hand-in-hand along the water's edge, they are PRETTY BATHERS COOL OFF FROM MAY HEAT ie fab did not know the 1 , but expected police to identify the bicycle. At noon the owner of the missing two - wheeler came to the station and examined the ones downstairs, It wasn't there. The boy was about to leave when the sergeant on duty noticed a bike in front of the library, It had been there all mrning, The boy check- station, frivolous phone calls jn- ed it, then rode home. CHILD SAFETY as p For two or three months of the year, when the department is at its busiest, it employs three part-time workers to help collect statistical | information. Altogether there are {nine full-time employees, the as- | sessment commissioner, his assist- | ant, five field men, a clerk stenog- | rapher and' the operator of the Graphotype and Addressograph machines, One of the field men, Harvey Abraham, assists on the machines which punch out the metal cards and then print the re- quired assessment notices or vot. ers lists, This last, is another job done by the assessment department, The information collected is used: to compile the voters' lists, Assessment Commissioner here is Eldon Kerr. His chief assistant is Ralph Found. Both have years of municipal experience behind It's May. The year is almoft half gone and to date Oshawa has had two traffic fatalities. Two fatalities too many, It could have been none if every car - driver, every pedestrian, every school child and every cycalist did his and her part in preventing acci- dents, This of course is a dream, but it's a goal to aim for, The particuiar difficulty is in child accidents. Last year in Osh. awa there were five road deaths, Of these the greater number were On a joe] iation of bes > he 8800] S5ess Site, nf of the is contemplating bu; or he, fy The department Ways re to help or give Information, If you don't know why your assessment has gone up they can explain in a few words. If your assessment has been reduced -- you would be wise to let sleeping dogs lle. . r according to the type of business During 1954, 180 children were killed in accidents. Of these 120 were pedestrians and 37 of these under the a "oy MUST PLAN EFFORT To stop such things on our cl streets we must plan a safety fort, first, through the police and teachers, to pro Police officers and teachers can do much to gain the respect of chil: FICTION To Achieve By J. WILLIAM MURRA The job had failel! I had faifed with it! Now as I lay dazed and cut within the wreckage, 1 begen to realize what an ugly blow fate had dealt me, Here I was stranded on a new and alien planet on the very edge of the universe, beyond belp from the nearest known civilization, Here I was and here 1 would die. About me lay the torn and twist. ed wreckage of my interstellar space ship. Friis ship was the end result of years of planning and work, The Second Foundation of the Nuclear Research Organization had and financed the lone solo flight to .the outer depths of the universe in order to further plptaty research -- the quest ad failed. The ship was ri as perfectly as possible but the human machine is not perfect and I had crashed on "Titan". This 'rock' was now my eternal prison. \ In the shock of crashing all had been forgotten, Now the many dangers and problems sprung into reality once more. What was the 'rock' like? How could I survive and what of the ship would still be usable? The problems demanded attention, I made preparations to find the answers 1 desired and quick sprectrograph and chemical znaly- sis found the atmosphere and gen- eral features of the moon to be ex- actly the same as that on Earth Eagerly I gathered a few neces- sary supplies and then stepped GRAPHOTYPE CARDS from the ship. My heart jumped! I, Adam Greyson, scientist and astronomer, was the first ter- restial to set foot on "Titan", sixth Human Touch Is Needed Perfection ARRAY OF BEAUTY Upon alighting I beheld before me an array of beauty never be- fore seen by man, It was truly a wonder. On my, left there stretch. ed a placid, mirror-smooth lake, the shore of which was delicately adorned with pastel colored flow- ers and plants, Little insects scur- ried about between the small plant life proving this new world had warm blooded life. Framing the flowery scene, along the right flank of the lake was a range of low mountains that revealed them- selves, in all their beauty, a mighty mauve in the distance. 1 became thrilled and strangely satisfied with my new home. In the days that followed I prepared myself a shelter and explored more gged |of this new environment. The land was a wondrous one. There were fields of rolling hills and rich green forests of tall stately trees. The world was serene and peaceful such as Earth has never known and would never know. PERFECTION ACHIEVED Time passed and my prison was no more. This new and pea life took hold of my very soul and although I was alone, my life seem- ed full, rich and good. This was near perfection. The days moved into months until time was lost and the past was no more. My new obsession lay before me. Then my task was clear, As I wandered through the green world of the planet 1 discovered the only r human being on the planet. This, I realized, was the missing piece to the puzzle. Here was my Fve. This world was our Garden meon of Saturn, of Eden. This was perfection, Children Must Be Taught Safety For Own Preservation dren,. and each, group can gain strength from the other. There 'are. at least 16 different precay that can be impressed upon children to help insure their safety. Here are just five ood pomts that everyone should eep in mind, and impress upon the children: 1, How to cross streets, highways, follow traffic signals, guards and police. 2. Care- ful observance and obedience to traffic regulations, 3. Behaviour on buses, Care In getting on and off and co-operation with school 'bus drivers, . traffic officers, school Ses and others, 4. elves, two often spend their pla; time doing dangerous things, eith. er deliberately or as a result of Protection them. | SUPERVISION thoughlessness, It is a challenge to the intelligence of a child to try facing the hazards of safety and avol g them, This part of a child's life is grown-up in a grown- up world, It shows courage, for them to accept this situation and overcome the problems of it. If the police were to explain their job of traffic supervision to the school children it might prove to be a fascinating story and the children would' then understand more, the rules of the road and their part in preventing accidents would seem more real to them, develop- 2 during to the school guard at the Yntersec- tion of Simcoe and. John streets, two very young boys were playing with death by scdmpering about the edge of Simcoe street. Their mothers appeared to be nowhere near and these two boys were just 'living on luck.' A second large feature of this accident prevention plan is the part played by the parents. They have the only direct personal con- tact with the children, The first step parents should take is to set a much better ex- ample for their sons and daughters to follow. Would you want your you take when walking or driving No, not if you care about their life and limb, The important first step is to develop an understanding of traf- fic dangers and an understanding of the vital roles they can play in child safety training. If given or- derly and useful direction in acci- dent prevention, parents and other adults in the family will assist in child safety training. There is no doubt that if each stantly to the rules of safety with- in the home and the school, and hey are given the chance to watch their parents do the pro while driving and wal ing. our children wi up safety AST BLT? vision at all times Is the only answer, Last week when we Interviewed go a way to ma a safety consclous city and in the future. IN THE SPOTLIGHT Nine Times Around World, 'Chuck' By J. WILLIAM MUR! In every show or movie that is sented, there is always the man ind the scenes. In the movie business one important man is the } theatre manager, Charles e, manager of Osh- awa's Regent Theatre, was born in Dundee, Scotland, 35 years ago last Wednesday. He attended school and 'then entered the navy at the age of 16, For the next 14 years he made the sea his home, Chuck, as he is better known, said he has been around the world nine times. He has been as far Rad. as om south as it is possible a ship, the an Chuck fought in three different wars, He was in Burma and North Africa' during "= second world war and was busy ® stting shot up by. the Japs «u_D-Day. TWICE UNDED While doing naval duty he was wounded twice, he A subm was serving on was depth-charged r V-E day. He was was serving. Show business was always a Now Oshawa Sh ar : CHARLES PER! hobby of Chuck's and while in the navy he worked with several shows. In Sydney, Australia, the men from his ship put on a show. BALSAM, MT. ZION Mrs. L. Wilson W.A. Hostess MRS. LORNE JONES . Correspondent BALSAM AND. Mt, ZION --Mrs. Lloyd Wilson . Hostess to W.A. The Monthly Woman's Association met at the home of Mrs. Lord Wilson with the president, in chair. ; The meeting. was opened by singing, 'The rch's One Foun- dation," followed by prayer. The Scripture was read by Mrs, Jask Empringham. The devotion- al was on "The Comforter." Roll Call 'was ' answered b; bringing Jout keep sake and is ug Wr ul t. ved. vi nteresting. MIS! rent Dhan (+ be' the guest s er for June at the home 8, - Losne ' Birthday in the birthday box by Mrs. Hoskins, ' Mry. ' Burnett' Jamieson, ne FOR 2 "To Mother I'l B "Tel other I" e There," was --. A reading was given by Mrs. Thomas Jordan, A on "Mother" was given by nies were dropped e paper ol | Mrs. Lorne Jones followed by aj "Mother's Apron, Mrs. Burnett Jamieson read 'Somebody's Mother," The meet- Lorne Jones. | Mi vine" and Mrs, Lewis Jones led in prayer. An auction sale of plants took place. All enjoyed a lovely tea, Sorry to hear Betty Risebrough has been confined to bed. Her friends wish her a speedy recov- ery. At the Mt. Zion Sunday School a record was broken, with the at- tendance of 92. There is room for more, come and bring your family, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Disney and family had Sunday dinner with Me, and Mrs. Les Smith of Pros- pect, extended the loss Charles Deepest sympathy is to Mrs. Winton White in of a loving aunt, Mrs, Barclay of Brougham. ; A baseball meeting was held at the Mt. Zion School on May 6, with president, Lorne Carson in the chair, The new officers for 1955 .88 follows: President, Grant arson; vice - president, Lorne Carson; Jeoretary, eoaoh, Ralph es; . manager, rs. F, Noon, (twin sister of Mrs.' Richard Day), returned to Gravenhurst, after spend the win- ter months with her sister, on Sa- turday. Birthday greetings to those hav: ing birthdays recently are Mrs. H. Moore, Mrs. Burnett Jamieson and Ronald Jones. Mrs. Morgan Pugh of Uxbridge spent Sunday with her daughter, Grant Jones; | P owman They wrote the show and the music themselves. In 1948 Chuck was one of a cast that won the Royal Naval Drama Festival for its pro- duction of Noel Coward's 'Brief Encounter", The festival was open to the whole of the Royal Navy. After retiring from the navy, Chuck worked for a year in his bonnie home country then came to r things | their FOLLOW ME AROUND children to take all the chances ed up on the busy streets of Oshawa? | yon and every child is exposed con- | Ty Po! Ino upon to do 80.. The request was nored: Finally, Bill Ruth Union Election May Answer Questions bid BH tent to accept clutched at a straw as le, cane up | /ieity "handouts, for the second time. | He learned this would never enter into a te, With this he challenged Canada, After working at numerous | the Jobs Chuck finally realized his main desire and took a with the 'Famous theatre chain, His first job was in April, 1054, when he was appointed assistant manager of a theatre in Guelph, A few months later he went to Sudbury. Finally, he came to O awa, as manager of the Regent. Although he has been in this business only a year, Chuck placed second in an advertising contest conducted by the theatre chain, The managers were awarded points for their ideas and advertise- ments, We asked Chuck what he thought of Oshawa after seeing so much of the world, "After the travelling and wars," he said, "Oshawa is peaceful." SIMCOE HALL MONDAY, MAY #23 CLOSED. TUESDAY, MAY 24 Nursery School, 9 to 11.30 a.m. Children 4 years of age. Cerebral Palsy Centre, 10 a.m. to 12 noon, 1.30 te 3.30 p.m. Boys' Gym Activities, 3.30 to 5.15 p.m. Boys 12 years and over. Boys' Craft Club, 3.30 to 5.15 p.m, Children's Branch Public Lib- rary, 3.30 to 5.30 p.m, oT no Lessons and Practice, 4 o 8,30 p.m. Weight Lifting Club, 7 p.m. Simcoe Hall Softball Practice, 6.15 p.m,, Cowan Park. WEDNESDAY, MAY Nursery School, 9 to 11.30 a.m, children 5 years of age. Boys' Gym Activities, 3.30 to 5.15 p.m. Boys under 12 years. Games Rooms Open, 3.30 to 5.15 m, Piano Practice, 4 to § p.h, Simcoe Hall Solar Floor Hockey League, 7.30 to 8 p.m, Weight Lifting Club, 7 p.m. Golden Age Club, euchre, 7 p.m. Judo Club, 8 p.m. 4 Players" BANANAS TAKE BEATING BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A hurricane lashed Magdalena de- partment on the Caribbean sea Thursday and tore down more than 1,000,000 banana trees, it was ing closed © with, 'Love -! Mrs. Elmer Wilson, reported here, the Os! "not go 0 swering this column. Since then -- [4 nothing, Are union members Jolt in gh BR Fh as WE where, when a ions are made and "Slung Between a ship's cat, roundshot' -- in this piece of iron around his heck--and of iron around his neck nd board, the crew were ti death marked the. beginning of a purge. Twenty cats were just too sition | This sed -- two weeks of e and. pregnant silence, Ruthe has OF Financial into any deta drawn and hotel on discuss? ? are union pd in a local '| failed to have any press could . not. be a executive, thei fons confirmed, took no further tion, in at i Section Raat | EERE 2 § £ 1 sg HEH iT the pace although ! ovens. not all of the extra went to the Ford just nai, 8 Somebody will start answering somebody! Navy Ears Are Red For Cat It "52 They're -worried becaus Bara has ombarresed th a, has a Havy +r than any cat, 'dead or alive, | th had ever done in alt ory. Butch was 'sl be the case a drop) overboard into Ports mouth harbor by an officer of 'the Cleopatra. He struggled, was rescued, but was so hurt he had to be destroyed later.| Preven ( ver-| went aboard the ship, - vo hady When Butch was over- that his The Roundsbot, op oval destro: inle: Bg ng RE Love many for the Cleopatra; FUE other ship's cats Were later ch, | NOT e Cleopatra sum ers, He admitted the cal ed over the side hyn, it wasn't " the harbor and rescue Bu : Thursday, after appeals Cleopatra's newly-founded "'Sa tion of Cruelty to. Navy brass are fretfully* ing his report. It isn't expec be flattering. ' ede