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PAGE 4 - "£1!er CHRONOCLE, WEDNESOAV._F£I.UARY H. "St HS TMD MWE. IE FRONT WHEEL DRIVE PERFORMANCE WITH ROOM TO SPARE Drive Youig Sweetheart Happy in '81 'il!ph,la,t),),)li,l!tlPP, HONDA L, 5 121923513; “4---- Tg!L1a!LUttt ASK FOR YOUR TEST DRIVE NOW 427 Gage Ave. Wmmoum . Gog. - mm Willis told council that its appro- val in principle does not commit the city to completing projects this year. He said there is flezittitity in his department's plans. By Stem Sutherland The engineer said projects that Council approved in principle may adversely affect the city's My capital and local improve- mill rate could be paid for in other mt projects for not estimated at ways or dropped aitogetiter. 'tdVrnillioet, while asking city a- The request tora list of engineer- gineer Jim Willis to recommend “priorities came from Alderman jobs that can be delayed intil next Richard Biggs qrtto said the city is year, not as economically healthy as in City ready to prune budget ”III/IA HONDA FOR 1981 The request for a list of engineer- ing priorities came from Alderman Richard Bias it» said the city is not as economically healthy as in the past three xears when zero- growth budgets were brought in by council. "We're going to have to" facé some sort of cutbacks to reflect a VII/IA Mayor Marjorie Carroll and city Insurer Don sander have both warned that it will be virtually im- possible to avoid a tax hike this year Alderman John Shortreed told council he was concerned with pro- jects "coming in the back door" for council's approval. “There's too many projects all at once and they should be spread over a longer time period," Shor- treed said "I‘d like the engineer to list what he thinks are marginal projects which could be dropped _. more moderate tax Increase at budget lime," Bias told council Schaefer told council Monday that even with approval in prin- ciple. each of the projects wtll come before council again for in- dividual approval and would also be considered as the budget is being drawn up by city staff Alderman Charlie Voelker warned council that if it doesn't have enough money at budget time then council would have to "deCide its priorities ', A totarof 37 capital works pro- jects are recommended for 1981 which call for a city expenditure of nearly WI-million With about 3250.000 of that figure commg out of the current budget. The most expensive prolecl IS the $725,000 acquisition of indus- trial land near the Columbia St, ex- tension. Other prOJects proposed by the engineering department include: 03125000 for downtqwn impro- vements along King St, with the Downtown Improvement Area: 0:58.000 in Improvements to the parking lot at Waterloo Arena: 03600000 for construction of a sewage pumping station and in- stallation of trunk sewers: ' cums . cantons- T , emanates . mums . WALLPAPER. nae.» 0:42.000 for construction of an TOP BRAND NAMES, ' _ snap coma: mm m " TILE LTD. fat Gm. lst Quality oversmng storm sewer and deten- tion pond east of Bridge St About 20 local improvement pro- Jects will cost the city about 8301110 this year, according to a report from Willis Prior to budget day, city staff and councillors will be conducting a series of pre-budget meetings to study estimates and make recom- mendations before the final draft is approved. These and other projects and grants WI" be studied by city staff who are currently working on we iiminary budget estimates. Waterloo residents will have to wait until March 30 to learn just what kind of a tax increase they'll face this year, That's when council will meet in a special afternoon session to approve final budget es- timates. All departmental preliminary budgets are to be completed and returned to the finance department by February 27. according to Schaefer The city's finance committee will then meet on Tuesday, March 24 to discuss preliminary estima- tes, including capital and local im- provement projects and grant requests, and also recommend re- ductions or increases Council will then meet on Mon- day, March 16 to hear applicants for charitable and community grants The meeting. which takes place from 3 p m, to 6 p m, in the council chambers at the Marsland Centre, offers these groups a chan- ce to make their pitch for city fund- mg Finally, on Monday, March 30 the committee will meet again to give the budget its final stamp of approval before sending it on to council, 1%