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inside opinion 6 calendar 11 scoreboard 16 classified 17 z nationalist maude r barlow finds hope in students at a york region high school arts culture calendar event dragon ball 2000 auction preview when friday jan 21 where pacific mall call 3210777 ext 318 i ej iridologist hiedi hakonson takes a deep look into the eyes of spirit players serving whitchurchstouffville since 1888 touffviue 50 cents including gst 20 pages tuesday jan 18 2000 to reach us 905 6402100 low pay hiked for regional politicians councillors salaries jump to 34500 by lisa queen staff writer faced with a brain drain caused by low salaries york region politicians and managers are getting hefty raises this year consultant bruce martin of william mercer ltd said york is running the risk of losing top employees to other regions and the private sector because salaries havent kept pace and he argued councillors wages should follow however while staff pay hikes will be phased in april 1 and aug 1 council has delayed any politi cal increases until dec 1 when the new term of council begins because the province is killing the onethird taxfree portion of all municipal council salaries yorks politicians had already agreed to offset the higher taxes by boosting their paycheques to 31600 from 23613 and the regional chairpersons salary to 123350 from 92232 because the salaries will now be fully taxed their takehome pay remains the same or it would have until coun cillors agreed last week to increase the wages for the next term of council as of dec 1 regional council lors will earn 34500 and the chairperson n will receive 134550 all but the chairperson owib hearing amalgamation could jeopardize longawaited pool and library pool project in p by joan ransberry staff writer if construction of the indoor pool and library doesnt get under way by september the entire pro ject could be scrapped mayor wayne emmerson said during a press conference yesterday the approved 57million twin complex project has hit a serious snag its now in the hands of the ontario municipal board as well it could get lost in the shuffle if the much talked about amalgamation becomes a reality its too bad the people of this community have wanted an indoor pool for a very long time said emmerson its not been for lack of trying the search for a spot to build an indoor pool and library has spanned 15 years and covered a number of sites last summer council settled on memorial park south a 17acre parcel of land acquired at no cost from a developer not everyone is pleased with the choice three residents recently asked for omb intervention im not trying to build a dump or a nuclear power plant or a feder- mayor al prison im trying to build an indoor swimming pool and a new library he said im trying to pro vide much improved library service and a topnotch pool facility the town has just been notified that an omb hearing linked to the project will be held in the spring the fiveday hearing will not only see mayor page 3 -4vk- see salaries page 5 staff photomike barrett t sk i whitchurchstouffville public library chairperson owen graig centre accepts a copy of the chinese electronic library from distributors linxia li and tony deng the library contains more than 3000 books a financial services i insured deposit rates savings account 4300 1 year 5750 3 year 6500 jyear g700 rate subject to change gics rrsfs mutual funds us insurance rfufs ken prentice cfp ringwood dr stouffville 6429507 j 1 general electric reg a o ii colour 4 749 lo tv sale 4 cjtgflhmyffiwgyyjffjgy 452134 ji