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whitchurchstouffville public libra serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 36 pagessi including gst ospca big shot hospital 600 clients must find new pet doctors byroygreen staff writer alextandory cant say enough about the veterinarians and staff at the ontario spga animal hos pital who saved the life of his ail ing kitty cat but hes terribly dismayed the hospital on woodbine avenue in whitchurchstouffville will close to the public at the end of february i had a very sick cat and they really helped me said the newmarket man who has been disabled for the past 10 years some other vets turned me away because im on welfare and these people are really out there trying hard its such a good place and they charge maybe one third of what other vets would charge they told me they dont have enough money to operate the animal hospital anymore were going to lose a good thing brian pemberton director of communications for the ospca confirmed the veterinary clinic will closed to the general public on feb 27 but said it isnt simply a matter of lack of funds it hasnt proved possible to provide services to the provincial animal centre and to the public with the existing resources both human and financial resources available said mr see ospca page 9 staff photosjoerd witteveen alessandra addorisio 13 a grade 8 student at st brigid catholic school in stoufrville aims for the basket during the ninth annual whitchurchstouffville knights of columbus free throw competition at st mark catholic school wednesday alessandra won her division and advances to me area finals in markham see story on page 15 st diversionssampleouryorkregion l 13 p p tast letters 6 registration 14 sports 15 classified 19 looms 116 hike on 330000 home unless region makes cuts byroygreen staff writer york region politicians got a look at the first draft of the 2004 budget this week and it was a sobering experience unless council can find ways to make cuts in the next few months the 16 billion pro posal presented thursday to regional council by chief aclministrative officer michael garrett represents an 8percent tax hike meaning an extra 116 on a home assessed at 330000 and of course the regional budget is an addon to the budgets of the nine area munic ipalities it includes capital spending of 870 mil lion part of a 55billion 10year capital plan it also calls for increases of about two cents per cubic metre to regional water and waste water rates and it could have been worse mr garrett said explaining the preliminary numbers in front of staff last fall represented a tax hike of 14 to 15per cent we set a goal right then to ensure any increase would be kept to 2 to 3 per cent mr garrett told council the report also touched on another 95 million in services such as additional transit routes and roads that did not make the first draft and likely will not be included in 2004 councillors agreed they would not increase the bottom line in upcoming deliber ations in committee the net regional tax levy is 5217 million see transit page 4 r- 27hemtmer0 markham 18030 ffjbbeochcanber wmf not nil honda 8220 kennedy rd markham 90547 7 2451 wwwmarkhamhondacom genuine honda oil and filter change monthur parts and service open till midniqht includes nremium quality 5w20 or 5w30 genuine honda motor oil genuine honda oil filler and a new drain plug gasket quick lube service no appointment necessary available for mim honda models tae- noi included provincial emironmcnlal fee- il am excluded totvn and country really lid 6400888