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6 stouffville suntribune thursday feb 3 2005 0wuflvlue mam s suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouflville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci distribution director circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra wetter york region printing general manager bob dean editorial solutions needed to battle tax hikes you buy a home in york region check your annual tax bill and expect it to remain relatively static not so fast its getting harder and harder for municipalities to avoid signifi cant tax increases the reality is yorks relatively stable tax bills have been fueled by development charges the doubleedged sword of the budget process the onetime fees charged on all new homes pay for the new sewers roads recreation centres libraries and other services new residents require its often described as growth paying for growth york region had 425 million in devel opment charges banked a year ago fair enough but eventually roads and sewers need to be repaired recreation centres and libraries need to be staffed and those costs must come from the tax bill when growth slows down it leaves existing homeowners to pick up the tab there are signs the pendulum is reversing and taxpayers must pay the price for what has been built or imple mented to accommodate growth york region council wrestled a pro posed 89percent tax hike to 61 per cent last week thats still not enough for some councillors the regional budget committee is looking for more cuts at a meeting today its important to note last weeks cuts were made to proposed improvements to roads transit and police not existing services but there is still reason to be concerned according to the york regional police association police are already stretched to their limit associa tion president john miskiw said as whitchurchstouffville mayor sue sherban says residents are unlikely to accept a plan that appears to compro mise public safety but its increasingly difficult to find areas that can be cut and theres a limit to how much taxes can be increased york region residents already pay tlieir fair share taxes on a medianvalued home in 2003 were 2853 in toronto 3373 in mississauga and 4411 in markham whats the answer for starters drop the gta pooling of taxes that sees york residents subsidize social programs in toronto maybe development charges arent high enough despite the lobbying of die building industry york residents cant afford to continue tinkering with budgets to bring down massive tax increases year after year letters to the editor dont privatize lcbo like tories did with hwy 407 mcguinty re industry lauds lcbo review jan 20 elio radocchia owner of al casale ristorante in newmarket believes privatizing alcohol sales is the answer to what im not sure the suggestion infuriates me more every time i hear it the liquor control board of ontario generates billions in revenue year after year and will continue to do so the thought of selling this now to balance the budget for one or two years defies logic this could make the sale of hwy 407 look like a good deal mr harris received 2 billion to 3 bil lion a few years ago for the 407 and i suspect most of us cant even remember what year that enabled him to balance the budget all we know is that it didnt last long now for the next 90 years our children and grandchildren will be paying billions annually to a private corporation money that could have been government revenue to lower taxes how could it possibly be good for ontario to ter minate jobs that pay a decent wage and replace them with minimumwage jobs how could it possibly be good for ontario to give up control over liquor distribution particular ly to minors do we really want to become like buffalo or niagara falls n y with rather seedy package stores on every corner the sale of the lcbo makes no economic sense and would be a betrayal by dalton mcguinty of every taxpayer who voted for a liberal government blake tufford whitchurchstouffville the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 154 stouftville l4a 7z5 email jmasonyrngcom councillors let town down on parkview home fees re council wont back down on parkview jan 27 whitchurchstouffville council let down the community once again jan 25 it could have voted for a reduced development fee for the construction of the new parkview non profit nursing home in stouffville thus encourag ing york region to cancel its development fee of 267000 now however due to the shortsightedness of four council members the home must pay full local development fees of 324000 it has taken two years of hard work and dedica tion to raise the initial 2 million for this project now nearly 600000 of that must be paid for devel opment fees when it had been possible to cancel much of that amount i thank mayor sue sherban for her support of this project and hope the four councillors who objected will never need the excellent care this nursing home will provide mary martin stouffville editorial editor jim mason jninsoiiyrngcom administration office manager vivian oneil voncilyrngcom events management shows shotvsyrngcom production manager pam nichols pnicltolsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acamplxllyrngcom retail manager st acey allen sallenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrcivsyrngcom new business manager steve kane skancyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogcrsonyrngcom editorial 9056402612 fax 9o564o8778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353ln 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 carudun crcuutxm h33ij fst bwts member onurfo press council suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhill vaughan citizen the economist sun markham the era banner newmarketaurora stouftvihc suntribune georgina advocate york region business rimes north of the crty yorkrcgkncom and york region printing off the top with jim mason greetings from the new hockeyville for an afternoon stouffville was at the centre of the hockey universe if detroit is still hockey town we were hockeyville the crews from the toronto news papers leafs tv tsn and other media outlets packed the stouffville arena with 1300 fans and volunteers for a rare sight nhlers playing a game during the year of the lockout if that wasnt weird enough man agement toronto maple leafs gen eral manager john ferguson jr was on the same side as the union leafs tie domi gary roberts joe nieuwendyk and ed belfour and red wing steve thomas this day but as nieuwendyk he of three stanley cups from three different teams told the microphones and notepads this day wasnt about labour unrest it was all about woody keith woody acton assistant coach of the toronto maple leafs cancer survivor and local hero he invited his pals from almost 25 years in pro hockey and put on the game of our lives ii in his home town rink sunday fans scooped up more than 1000 tickets in 19 min utes the previous weekend they bought raffle tickets and gameworn jerseys pushing the purse to be divided by markham stouffville hospital and the ufcw leukemia fund to 30000 he invited son wills team the stouffville spirit jr a squad to pro vide the opposition just like the washington generals challenge the harlem globetrotters woody would says its all about community and family and there was plenty of both eddie belfours son dayn a junior a goalie himself with streetsville played with his dad on keiths team gary roberts played with his brother greg a stouffville minor hockey coach who claims he taught his brother all he knows as the arena emptied and green days time of your life wafted down from the speakers some of the nhlers signed paraphernalia hung over the glass a giddy young lad showed his dad the tie domi signature on his jersey as they left the rink all was right in hockeyville on this day jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune and was an organizer of the game of our lives 11