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

st weekender february 20 1993 p3 where all the money goes a guide to the municipal budget process in whitchurchstouffville its that time of year again the time when dollars are weighed against sense its an often fateful time for many homeowners who fear yet another hike on their municipal tax bill its the time when local politicians decide how much money it will take to run the town effectively and still offer a level of service residents expect the time of year when projects are scrutinized costs are analyzed and the daytoday services provided to ratepayers are examined through a financial microscope 125 per year for firefighting it costs 700 every time the trucks leave the f main st f station -f- mrs- white shuts the patio doors behind her and heads to the side of the house she unwinds the garden hose turns on the water and begins to nourish her backyard vegetable garden she doesnt take much notice when the shrilling fire alarm sounds in the distance nor does she pay much heed to the amount of water it takes to fight an aver age fire mrs white continues to water her car rots taxpayers pay out an alarming 700 each time the whitchurchstouffville vol unteer fire department leaves the sta tion last year it cost homeowners 689000 to effectively run the fire department from manpower house- cleaning to equipment repair costs add another 125 onto mrs whites yearly tax bill whether she requires the service or not her water bill is yet another story what should be cut which projects could be shelved for a more economically viable year which services are in great est demand priorities are pitted against tax dollars and services are pit ted against services local officials spend months in pri vate session just before the budget is announced making financial decisions that will affect each and every whitchurchstouf fville taxpayer for the next 12 months sometimes for the next five years the first steps in the budget process begin to show signs of life in the late summer or early fall when council approves a fiveyear capital forecast in principle said town assistant treasurer holly kirby kirby a certified management accoun tant has been with the town for more than three years and works alongside finance director ed blackburn kirby called the fiveyear forecast a planning docu ment which maps out the towns main priorities and expenditures and acts as an economic guideline for the next five yearsthe budget is comprised of two portions capital and operations capi tal items are the towns fixed assets such as infrastructure water sewers etc big ticket items such as a fire truck major construction and large repairs the operational portion consists of 122 per year for garbage stouffvillites send 17000 bags of trash to landfill each year mr jones hears the familiar brakes of the miller waste garbage truck as they grind to a halt in front of his house its a stop that costs him about 122 a year on his municipal tax bill the jones family throws two sometimes three green bags each week to the curb for pickup it doesnt seem like much but when you consider the average stouffville family of four con tributes more than 150 bags each year to landfill its easy to see how municipal costs can mount whitchurchstouffville with a population of just under 18000 with nearly 5600 households contributed nearly 6 000 tonnes of trash to the vaughanarea keele valley landfill site last year in fact stouffvillites send more than 17000 bags of trash to landfill each year in 1992 ratepayers spent 519000 for a curbside collection service and paid another 895000 to dump its trash in the landfill a 14 mil lion gross expenditure the town received a 730000 tipping fee rebate from metro toronto leav ing local taxpayers with a 684000 trash tab the upkeep mainte nance and things we have to spend to pro tect town assets sueh as snow plowing grass cutting repairs and salaries the treasury staff works with the other department heads to create a first draft forecast we have to weigh the capital costs with the operation costs the two go hand in hand kirby said kirby said treasury department plays the advocate chal lenging the viability of each item or project presented by depart ment heads we have to be sure that what staff is putting forward is reasonable and we let them know what the bottom line will be kirby said she said depart ment heads are well aware of the econom ic restrictions before they submit their budget needs and must justify any ser vice level change they want to initiate the towns 1992 capital budget was set at 23 million with the lions share coming from roads 345000 and recreation 480000 kirby said this 23 million gross budget is not all raised from taxation we receive revenue from grants park trust lot fees and from putting money away to provide for the fact that things need replacing kirby maintains she said the towns fire truck proposal is one of the big ticket items that has made its way through the process its worked its way closer and closer through the forecasts and is now recog nized as a current need she said kirby said municipal taxes are raised when there is no other alternative or way to initiate revenue if the number of dollars needed is more than the mill rate dollars generat ed we either have to increase the mill rate or reduce the number of dollars spent kirby said the town issued 6164 residential commercial and business tax bills this month she said 45000 is generated for each percentage the town increases taxes department heads submitted their first draft budgets monday and will rework the figures if necessary and come back with revisions she said everything we do is scrutinized and objectively examined treasury and the other departments play a very impor tant role in the budget process but council makes the final choice kirby said mr brown leaves work and begins his familiar drive home he takes the usual route but in his haste fails to notice improved culverts installation initiated by the stouffville works depart ment mr brown may not realize it but local road repairs alone will mean another 300 added to his tax bill for repairs maintenance and construction in fact whitchurchstouffville taxpay ers spent 16 million last year on roads including winter maintenance grading culvert installation ditching snowplowing and garbage cleanup stouffville taxes are spent to maintain and repair about 160 kilometres of local roadways each year 300 per year for roads stouffville taxes me used to maintain 160 km of local roads story by tracy kibble illustrations by andrew mair york region will need 75 million for service swap from page 1 and municipalities pay their he added the regions operat- less than what other regions civil servants ing costs have been kept in obituary reta assinck fondly remembered by many a wellknown jack lake resi dent has passed away reta ann assinck nee wagg passed away peacefully at her home on jack lake jan 27 mrs assinck had just had her 64th birthday sept 2 when she took a heart attack on sept 5 she was in intensive care for eight days in civic hospital in peterbor ough for five to six weeks before returning home she went steadily downhill after that owing to a problem with sugar diabetes and heart trouble which resulted in gangrene in may of 1989 the assincks moved to jack lake from peter st in markham to the dream home they had built never to really enjoy the home mrs assinck soon developed heart problems reta wagg married tony ass inck 41 years ago on nov 22 1951 the couple had four chil dren frank walter andy and pauline there are eight grand children four boys and four girls she leaves two sisters margaret hill and dorothy wagg two stepsisters eunice caulfield and husband harry and betty mor gan and husband mike one step brother fred woodland and wife eleanor and five nieces and two nephews she rested at oneills funeral home and the funeral was held at bloomington associ ated gospel church there will be spring burial in the bloomington cemetery across the road from the church the family thanks those who helped reta assinck for the last two years while she was in a wheelchair and walker and to those who visited at the funeral services check at one- 10th of one per cent yorks school board has not announced its finalized budget but the board is talk ing of a 12 per cent hike municipal budgets are expected to be as close to zero as possible but will not be finalized until next month forhan said if plans to swap welfare with roads service next year with the province gets approved ratepayers will see a 1994 tax hike of up to 20 per cent to offset an expected 16 million annual loss york politicians say they would need another 75 mil lion a year to keep the added roads service up to par if queens park approves the ser vices swap cliff has watched town grow from page 1 said the best move i ever made in my life was to get the hell out of toronto aiken always enjoyed his customers and prided himself in being able to look after even the most demanding individuals i always used to love my customers anyone can sell to any easy cus tomer but i used to love to sell to difficult customers aiken would insist that his customers call him at home after hours in the event of an emergency prescription and remembers some mid- dleofthenight calls aiken has witnessed much change in his 33 years in stouffville but feels the town has progressed for the better there were only 2900 people here when we came i think theyve done an excellent job in developing the town the aikens who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year have remained in stouffville since selling the business the couple has four children and six grandchildren wwrffww kids earn j extra money j become a carrier jf today 1 call j 6402100 1 stouffville attention flyer advertisers wc can deliver your flyers for as little as if a piece so far this i year we have delivered 3938201 flyers doortodoor in i markham unionville milliken stouffville uxbridge claremont dickson hill locust hill gormley goodwood victoria square brougham hagerman corners box grove cedar grove bultonville sandford goodwood leaskdale i grccnbank udora sunderland zephyr ashburn cannington and all adjacent rural route areas we can deliver your flyers on the day you want to the area you i want any quantity from 5000 to 46000 for advertising and distribution inquiries call retail advertising at 6402100 classified advertising at 6402100 distribution inquiries at 6402100 or fax your inquiries to 6405477 inserts for sat feb 20 1993 ultra mart loblaws iga rtj auto services selected ares onty