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Frieda to get facelift This amounts to a 9.63 budget increase for Waterloo, an 8.62 percent increase for the Region, 26.29 percent increase for elementary schools and a 14.56 percent hike for secondâ€" ary schools. The mayor and Ald. Walâ€" ter McLean, chairman of the â€"community â€" services committee, were the only councillors to favor a new float. The mayor said the city needs the new float because it can‘t use the Waterloo‘s contribution to the tax hike is $14.68. The Reâ€" gion and the elementary and secondary school assessments have added a further $65.62 to the tab. Ald. Brian _ Turnbull agreed that buying a new float wasn‘t a good idea because in his opinion "‘the float wasn‘t a wellâ€" advised expenditure in the first place". 1 think we were led down the garden path two years ago when we were led to believe that the float would last for quite a few years,"" she said. The cuts trimmed $463,386 from the city‘s $9.27 million budget but willâ€"still leave the average %xpayer with a property tax hike of $80.30 for a home valued at $40,000 to $50,000. With this increase the average tax bill will be $601.94. i Council decided Saturday at a budget meeting not to spend $5,.500 to build a new float for the annual Oktoâ€" berfest parade. _ Instead $2,000 will be spent to reâ€" furbish the existing float. Ald. _ Marjorie _ Carroll called the suggestion of a new float ‘"ludicrous" since the city commissioned the Frieda float only two years ago. Community services director Ken Pflug was not too concerned about the budget cuts in his department‘s budget. The proâ€" jects listed in the budget, which included park equipment, tennis court‘ installaâ€" An Oktoberfest clock tower, an arborist, a car for the fire chief and a new Oktobegfest float were a few of the items slashed from the city‘s 1977 budget Saturday during a dayâ€"long finance meeting. O The city‘s Oktoberfest Frieda float will get a new hairdo and a facelift but it won‘t get a new $5,500 format. . The fire department budget was cut by about $16,000, the community services‘ budget by $4,000, parks by a whopping $109.000 and recreation programs by about $6,000. The swimming pool budget was slashed by about $3,000 and the cemeâ€" teries budget by $14.000. The budget for arenas was cut by $17,000 when council turned down a request for people heaters The proposed budgets for the fire deâ€" partment. the community services deâ€" partment and civic promotions were hardest hit Saturday when council slashed $463.386 from its 1977 budget. at Moses Springer arena. dehumidifiers at Albert McCormick hrena and $15.000 for other capital works projects. Taxes rise $80 Waterloo‘s aldermen bore down harder on the proposed Clock tower, : Parks, fire department suffer biggest cuts (Continued on page 2) 122nd Year No. 14 waterioo chronicle By Mary Stupart o in t ualhe s ut uP » in Gary Brown (left) and Bruce Davison of Waverly Dr. school in Guelph displayed a Solarâ€"Q at the Waterâ€" looâ€"Wellington Science and Engineering Fair last week at Seagram Stadium in Waterloo. The barbeque heats food on a grill with the use of solar heat reflected by a metal parabola. The hiring of an arborist to carry out a city tree maintenance program was one of the more controversial items pruned from the parks‘ budget. The arborist was recommended in a report from the city‘s tree advisory committee. The deletion of this item was a contentious one Saturday with several aldermen arguing that the tions, and improvements to existing parks were ‘"sort of an inventory of things needâ€" ed to make council aware of them. We didn‘t expect to get them all through,." he said. > Two of the major items planned for community recreation were not included in the budget. The figure skating arena which councillors have already endorsed in principle, is a debentured item for which funds will be borrowed. A baseball stadium for Bechtel Park will also come before council for a decision in the next few weeks. Wednesday, April 6, 1977 City finance commissioner Don Schaefer said he conâ€" siders the city‘s budget increase of 9.63 percent "moderâ€" ate."" However, combined with the school tax, taxpayers are getting a "substantial, increase‘‘ in their tax bills this year he said. budget than the city‘s finance commissioner Don Schaefer anticipated. Mr. Schaefer asked council to trim $449,887.22 from the budget but the aldermen clipped an additional $14,000. The city‘s reserve fund for sick leave was slashed by $20,000. However councillors added another $3,000 to the city‘s community services budget to pay for new lighting on a Waterloo Park roadway and voted to spend $4,000 to begin an overpass study for Bearinger Rd. Mr. Schaefer attributed the city‘s increased mill rate for 1977 to a slow growth in the city‘s assessment roll. Assessâ€" ment increased by 12 percent in 1975 and eight percent in 1976 but he predicts only a four percent increase in 1977. Two other expenditures have added substantially to the tree advisory committee might fold if its request was denied. Some councillors tried to find a comâ€" promise on the arborist issue by suggestâ€" ing that $4,000 be used to hire a summer student to implement some of the proâ€" jects outlined in the tree advisory comâ€" mittee‘s report. However. this suggestion was overturned by the majority. _ Ald. Marjorie Carroll and Mary Jane Mewhinâ€" ney agreed not to vote for a "bandâ€"aid~ treatment of tree maintenance. Some of the items cut from the fire deâ€" partment‘s budget included a new car, a traffic light control at Westmount Rd. and Westcourt St.. a fire protection suit. air conditioners, and some fire hoses and foam. The fire prevention budget was increased $500 over 1976 but was $200 less than requested The city‘s engineering and works deâ€" Waterloo Historical Society Museum comp. Kitchener Public Library, Queen Street North, KITCHENER, Ont. Overall the city‘s finances are in excellent shape accordâ€" T _ ing to the finance commissioner. Waterlod hasâ€"decreasing â€" _ debt charges and is one of a very few cities in the province 1 _ to be in this enviable position. The 1977 budget will retire .__ over one million dollars of the city‘s debt which totals about 2 â€" $9.10 million. ~ Vss C/,;; ) ’ requests .. l x# cut back Mr. Schaefer also predicted the city would enjoy a far smaller surplus in revenue for 1977 than in previous years. He agreed he prepared the city‘s revenue estimates with *‘a note of pessimism . _ city‘s budget â€" the new levy for sanitary landfill sites and a doubling of the city‘s rent at Marsland Centre. The finance commissioner also predicted a poor year for city revenues, particularly for building permits. He estiâ€" mated the city would receive only $40,000 from this source in 1977 as compared with $106,439 in 1976. The city has received only $7,000 from permits issued to date this year he said. io The city‘s proposed budget for civic promotions was also reduced by about $13,000. The major casualties were Canada Week, which received $2,000 inâ€" stead of $5,000; the historic picture comâ€" mittee, which received $2.000 instead of $2,500;. the Oktoberfest clock tower. which was withdrawn from the budget, the Local Architectural Conservancy Adâ€" visory Committee, which was cut back to $2,500 from $4.050., and the Oktoberfest float. partment budget emerged almost unâ€" scathed from Saturday‘s budget session. Only $7,000 was cut from the engineering budget and council approved the hiring in September of a new engineer. The works department budget was cut by only $2,000. _ The total budget for works is $410,700. The city‘s works maintenance budget was cut by about $34.000. which received $2.000 instead of Average bill ‘601 Project People, a musical â€"entertainment group; St. <‘Jolhn Ambulance, and a research project surveyâ€" ing recreation â€" opportunâ€" ities for the disabled had their requests for city funding denied. Groups â€" that â€" received the same amount as last year included the Kâ€"W Drum and Bugle Corps Associaâ€" tion ($2,700). the Kâ€"W Young Men‘s _ Christian Association ($10,000), _ a seniors‘ snow â€" shovelling service ($500), the Labour Day parade ($75), Autistic Project Lift, a transporâ€" tation service for the disâ€" abled, had close to. $2,000 slashed from its request but still came away with $23,098. The Kâ€"W Art Gallery received $300 less than in 1976 and $2,800 less than it requested for 1977. The Kâ€"W Symphony Orchestra Association also came out on the short end of â€"the stick with $700 less than its 1976 allocation. Most community groups applying for city grants had their requests chopped back to 1976 levels by council Saturday but some groups came away comâ€" pletely emptyâ€"handed. 10 Cents (Continued on page 2)