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6 stouffville suntribune thursday april 5 2007 stouffville mmm suntnbune 6290 main si stouffville on l4a7z5 wvwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief director interactive director advertising marketingpartnershif debora kelly media technology distribution director business manager john futhey barry black debra weller robert lazurko director circulation york region printing systems general manager lynn pashko bob dean editorial growth wont prevent tea hike so you thought the growth coming to whitchurchstouffville would mean a lower tax bill in your mailbox after all all those new homeowners could pick up the slack and eliminate a municipal tax hike wrong even with all those homes especially in stouffville as well as industrial and commercial development the municipal portion of your tax bill will go up 39 per cent this year not even one of the largest walmarts in canada can save us from a tax hike ratepayers that the liike is down from the origi nal projection of 79 per cent may make some councillors look good but the orig inal figure was just a starting point thaps it no civic letters of commendation should be presented on this one the 39percent increase means the owner of a house assessed at 330000 will pay 896 on the municipal portion of his tax bill last year the average homeowner paid 862 to the town 1562 to the region and 871 for schools we applaud council for giving the latcham gallery a onetime grant of 50000 to help sustain its operations this year the fine arts gallery has proven itself in this community ongoing support as requested by gallery officials during last years election is overdue the old town hall should be considered as the gallerys new home if the town proceeds with plans for a the atre elsewhere all projects in the area of the arts will be appreciated by a community that feels it has been ignored in the name of sports facilities for too long growth wont pay for the renovation of the old town hall but it will play for the construction of some new facilities exhibit a is the towns third hockey rink which should open in two years no site has been found but the tab will be picked up by development fees if you live in a neighbourhood of any age you should be seeing your tax dollars at work this year the budget allows road repairs to be done at a much faster rate with the town dedicating about 13 million which is almost twice the 2006 repair budget the town is seeking a substantial provincial grant to help with roads thats good news for the many roads in need of help and the vehicles that tra verse them manitoba street for exam ple is a municipal disgrace money to repair roads and provide fine arts programming is money well spent in vvnitchurchstouffville suduffvilix high school hockey teams make history both win provincial cjytpionships a first aw letters to the editor hightech incinerator not same as older organic recycling facility re one york site on incinerator short list march 29 in response to the comparisons of the pro posed thermal treatment facility in york region to the current halton recycling facility and the concerns over potential odours i would like to state that the halton facility in newmarket is a composting facility that processes organic material it is the organic material in our waste stream that creates the offensive odours not the dry garbage fraction add the fact the halton facility was not built properly in the first place as it was missing key components in its technology resulted in the offensive odours from the site hence the additional costs and renovations to the site over the past couple of years to try and eliminate its odour problems the region is also implementing the green bin program to source separate all of its organ ic waste and by the fall all york municipalities should be on board this will eliminate the smelly portion from our garbage or as the experts like to say from our residual waste therefore any notion that offensive odours will be generated from this facility are very minute the advances in technology over the years in thermal treatment of waste as is seen in europe has proven to be an effective means of dealing with our residual waste while having the capability to generate electricity in the process the facility in brampton is a perfect exam ine 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 6290 main st stouffville l4a 1g7 email jmasonyrmgcom or fax 9056408778 pie as you would never know by looking at that it is an incineration facility derek sawyer stouffville 79 tax hike proposal not hohum re tax hike shrinks march 29 i find the cavalier attitude the suntribune takes in covering the proposed and ultimate tax increase appalling the initial 79percent hike was reported as just another hohum tax bill toronto residents are up in arms over the 39 per cent they are being assessed and the major newspapers and media reflect that outrage here in stouffville no such critical reporting i think if you want to be taken seriously as a news paper your reporting should reflect a little analy sis that a 79percent increase was even taken seriously is an affront to all the taxpayers of whitchurch stouffville wbrunow stouffville off the top with jim mason trying to do the environmentally correct thing youre a good person you hold the door for others you wave other drivers in you donate to charity you recycle or at least you try to it was that final attempt at goodness that riled some environmentally con scious of your good neighbours this spring and i cant say i blame their green selves they were doing the right thing plac ing their recyclables in their blue boxes if they had a big week they put the extras in clear plastic bags curbside with the ok of the municipality that blessing ended abruptly and not even papal intervention will bring it back to life at first blush the bag ban also makes sense why add more packaging and work as we attempt to save the planet but the number of blue boxes some of these recyclers would require would be costprohibitive one resident drove her car the back filled with bags of items to be recycled to the suntribune to prove her point the bags had been rejected without warning that day left at the curb thats what stung the most readers told us there was no advance notice there wasnt time all levels of govern ment said the region of york told the town of wwtchurchstouffville the week before the ban was implemented no time to sent a news release post the notice on the towns web site or on the municipali tys page of advertising in the sun- tribune and politicians wonder why residents are cynical those residents must now choose between spending part of their vacation allowance or new car fund on additional blue boxes or putting the recyclables in a green bag and returning to the curb as much of a nonoption as plan b should be jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune letters policy thesuntyibuno welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribuncrescrves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a 1g7 lettersstouffvillecom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrews9yrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom ontario press council ape fdsfij cwudun editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified i8007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan citizen the erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing