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$10,000'In taxes lost Eighty-nine homeowners have a warm spot in their hearts and wallets today. thanks to the City of Wa- terloo. Ott Monday. City treas- our Don Schaefer appeared before assessment court to illrt what the City and 89 idents felt were unrea- Residents of the Maple Hill. Glasgow Heights and Beech- wood North areas of Waterloo got their message across to city council Monday night. They want public transit of some sort. and they're not happy with council's lack of action on the problem. buring a lengthy discussion a delegation from each of the three subdivisions spoke to council about the problems caused by not having a regular transit service. Despite) their concérn. enuncil isn't willing to take defini- tive action till the situation has been.. closely examined. Beechwood North. Maple Hill. and Glasgow Heights are all relatively new subdivisions: But after five to eight years of paying city taxes. the residents in the area feel they're entitled to transit service. Maple Hill and Glasgow Heights residents presented council with a petition of about 60 names. calling for the in- stallation of “bus service to the area”, The Beechwood North delegation presented the results of a survey conducted Spokesman for the group Dave Wood- hall. explained that 153 survey forms were mailed to Beech- wood residents and 62 were returned, Residents angry with city inaction Only five of the respondents didn't want bus service to Beechwood North, The three subdivisions concerned are all located in the . ea between Hallman Columbia Avenue and Glasgow Ili/ii According to the delegations people in the area who _ " have cars are often stranded and unable to use facili- ties in downtown Waterloo. Swimming pools, libraries. the Family Y. churches and schools are examples. the delega- tion said. An extensive car pool is presently used to take many of the area children to school. though school buses cover the area Residiint spokesman John Wright. pointed out another problem resulting from laek of public transit, Many high school students living in the area have to walk down Colum- bia Avenue if they don't take school buses, or want to come (Conhnued on page 9) 124th Year No. 12 Mayor Marjorie Carroll pointed out that the City maybe under pressure to cutback bus service In order to save money She recalled figures from a study done by Kitchener Transit illustrating the poor ridership in Waterloo. One out of 10 Waterloo resi- dents ride a bus, the study said, While residents in Beechwood North. Maple Hill and Glasgow Heights are having trouble getting bus service. the City of Waterloo is having trouble getting people to ride what buses there are During the debate on bus service at Monday night's council meeting. Alderman Walter McLean pointed out that all but the main-line Waterloo buses are usually empty " those figures are accurate. Mayor Carroll said, the City is paying $675.000 to provide buses for 5.000 people The most heavily used bus routes in Waterloo are the main-line routes and some others that go to the universities “How cah we afford to. run as many empty buses as we do?." Alderman McLean asked Only 5,000 use existing service City goes to ttttt forbomeowners Wednesday, March 21, 1978 anany high tax assess- The appeal was success- ful. but Waterloo lost more than $10,000 in the proce§s. The problem began when homeowners in the Lake- shore North subdivision re- ceived their annual tax as- sessments. According to Mayor Ma- jorie Carroll. the tax assess- ments in that area were pro cessed using the old town- ship mill rate. and using a Lakeshore is located in cubic foot system Nther the a Lateshore ho "old Waterloo Township". than a Tarket value assess- meowners. Mayor Carroll which became part of the merit. maid the City has given " city when regional govern- As a result. the Ite,'?: vice and consolation to ment came to power. the!!! were yery high'. City many individuals who wish According to Mayor Ma- officials noticed the prob to protest their tax um jorie Carroll. the tax assess- lem befort the assessments merits. _ . ments in that area were pro were mailed out, and ho. Despite the large loss in cessed using the old town- meowners in the area wet- tax dollars, Mayor Carroll ship mill rate. and using a ed no time in protesting. feels the City did the right Because most of the resi- thing in representing the dents in that area are new. protesting residents. She the City decided to “go to said the City is interested in bat" for them. Mayor Car- equalizing taxation when; roll said she thought many _ever possible. rather than . of the homeowners would collecting tax dollars arany ' ' have "suffered" through the cost.. situation. because they were Mayor Carroll doesn‘t T new and not used to the as- want to get into the situation sessment system. Kitchener. Cambridge and e-inside---- Community calendar Waterloo at a glance Comment Historical insight Believe it or not these two ladies are wearing the latest fashion creations designed by Canadian and local artists. The models were trying on the outfits in preparation for a pageant of creative clothing to be held at UW on Tuesday. March 27. For more pictures and information see page 10. 10 Cents Thanks to the City's re- presentation at assessment court. the homeowners were saved an average of $125. The tax cuts ranged from $24 105231. A The problem originally came before council several weeks ago. The decision to appeal the assessments was made by council. As welt as representing Creative Clothing Despite the large loss in tax dollars. Mayor Carroll feels the City did the right thing in representing the protesting residents. She said the City is interested in equalizing taxation when; ever possible. rather than collecting tax dollars arany Mayor Carroll doegn't want to get into the situation Kitchener. Cambridge and other cities like Hamilton are in because of reassess- ment. Many homeowners in those areas are angry over high assessments._ peals launched this year from homeowners it the Re- gion. only 331 came from Waterloo. "Thars because Waterloo didn't have a reassessment "dui of more thah 6.0m ap- Bobby Schnurr “Shaky" brought rounds of applause from Waterloo fans during the Kitchener Ranger game last weekend 14-17 Mayor Carroll feels a complete ‘fpackage of tax reform" is needed on the provincial level. to make laxation fair to all. According to provincial regulations. a municipality may launch a reassessment at any time. provided the reassessment applies to the entire municipality. She said there is a possibility the City “may not even go the reassessment route". be- cause of the inequalities in the system. ’ The system may well be unfair now she said. but it's going to get worse if the pro- vince doesn't "bend its thinking". . V this year whereas the rest of the Region did. Mayor Car- roll said the City wanted to wait and see what the re- sults ot the reassessment would be tiitore calling for one here. And in view of the mas- sive protests launched in other centres. she's glad they did wait. .