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10 economist sun stoufiville tribune tuesday sept 7 1999 honey tree nursery school and markham stouffville hospital pediatric development clinic are pleased to announce the successful completion of their first year of partnership in a new program integrating children with special needs into a well established community based preschool program the children entering the program with social language delays have the benefit of being with a group of other children from whom they can model language and social skills the community based children have the benefit of an enhanced language motor skills program the result for honey tree is the creation of a more defined curriculum of basic goals and skills for all children attending this innovative program as well honey tree is able to maintain a staff to student ratio of 1 to 4 much lower than other preschools due to the specialized eces therapy staff that markham stouffville hospital provides for the program all staff have had the opportunity to witness remarkable compassion acceptance and friendships between children functioning at varied levels of development even after the creation of a more enhanced and diverse program at honey tree the main philosophy is still learn through play staff believe that a childs first experience at school must be positive nuturing safe and above all fun honey tree nursery school 905 4723760 m how do you want to look and feel on new years eve payasyougo no risk no commitment no judgements no bull join get 60 days free offer ends sept 30th 99 service happiness and results guaranteed size most facilities and equipment 50 clubs and growing stability canadian owned for 20 years best in canada chamber of commerce winner goodlife fitness c l u 9054759288 3500 steeles ave e coed nominal administration fas may apply municipal affairs discussing the cost effectiveness of amalgamation politicians cant afford to ignore report markham mayor says v from page 1 she questioned whether the report is valid since it was commissioned by ottawacarletons regional government which supports creating one city you know with statistics you can do just about anything she said it the report has nothing to do with us ill be glad to read it but i dont think it will have anything to do with us i dont know one person in king who wants to amalgamate but markham mayor don cousens said politi cians cant afford to ignore the ottawa report because he believes the province will eventually force restructuring in york regardless of how municipalities are restruc tured cousens said the report shows amalgamation saves money youll save money with less government and less politi cians he said it really begs a discussion is there a way to become more efficient if we dont come up with a madeinyork solution were leaving our selves open to arbitrary change from someone else that we may not like when somebody else does it you dont get what you want the ottawa report identifies areas where costs could be cut including cutting the 103 politicians serving the region and municipalities reducing the number of chief administrative officers and clerks departments consolidating the operations of finance departments such as sending out just one proper ty tax bill eliminating 1 1 separate audit processes streamlining human resources and computer functions the report breaks down savings on a number of fronts for example the cost of paying councillors and support staff comes to 79 million a year by going to the onecity option those costs bill bell richmond hill mayor fears mayors wont take action could be cut by 3951 million according to the report the threecity model would reduce salaries and benefits by 2937 million while the urban city option would save 3345 million meanwhile amalgamating the nine fire depart ments would save as much as 125 million under the onecity model and as much as 35 million under the threecity option consolidated road maintenance could save as much as 49 million with three cities and as much as 97 million with one city while york mayors havent read the report sev eral said it would be a useful tool in predicting potential cost savings in york these are the sort of options that are out there for debate in york said richmond hill mayor bill bell but he fears the provinces current handsoff approach in the greater toronto area will encourage some politicians to ignore the report but the real issue in york is are people going to do any thing before the government says bang youre dead he said margaret black beu said the report shows u longterm savings through king mayor ama although he quesdons validity behe cqsts temp or report shoot up while any new gover nance model is being implemented but regional chairperson bill fisch said costs in halifaxdartmouth skyrocketed after amalgama tion thats why he advocates sharing services between municipalities rather than changing boundaries while newmarket mayor tom taylor opposes turning york into one city he says ottawas report proves savings are possible through restructuring they say the larger the area you encompass the greater the savings aurora mayor tim jones said the report is worth reviewing but believes york politicians shouldnt rely exclusively on studies from other regions the most important factor is determining cost savings service levels and quality of life issues in york he said our many school buses are back on the roads today motorists please watch out for our children thank you