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The Kâ€"W Granite Club, at 99 Seagram Dr., celebrated its milestone 90th year recently with a curling exchange between the local club and the Detroit curling club. From left, Dan Glendinning, Brady Code and Cec Hofstetter play for the Kâ€"W team. aterloo _ regional W.Coum‘il has vaoted to keep its 2007 propertyâ€"tax increase in line with inflation at 2.58 per cent, delaying the addition of some new services while preserving existing ones. The region‘s annual capiâ€" tal and operating budgets now total more than $890 million a year, with its biggest budget pressure coming in the area of policâ€" ing, which made up almost half of the tax increase with a 1.16 per cent increase this vear That means the average homeowner will see an increase of $33.10 on the regional portion of their tax bill this year. Regional tax increase keeps with inflation rate Waterloo Coun. Sean By Bos VrBanac Chronicle Staff: Karin Barthel * Sales Rep., Serving You Personally 885â€"0200 That‘s why they resisted the past practice of many firstâ€"year councils of hitting taxpayers with a big initial tax increase before whittling it down over the remainder of the term. "From the outset I hoped we could achieve a reasonâ€" able tax rate around the rate of inflation." said Strickland. "We were able to achieve that by making some changes like delaying the implementation of some programs that staff where hoping to have in this year‘s budget." Strickland said it was made clear to him on the camâ€" paign trail this past Novemâ€" ber that local citizens weren‘t happy with the way the regional costs were climbing over the last few years. [ think it was a good bal 90 years young CITY NEWS anced budget in that all the areas got what they needed and we were able to keep it down to 2.58 per cent, which is very close to inflation," said Waterloo Coun. Jane Mitchell. Strickland said the deciâ€" sion also made sense because the region is curâ€" rently undergoing a review of its land ambulance servâ€" ices, and it would be tough to make a commitment until having a final report in front of council. "Our ambulance service is under review," said Strickâ€" land. "Let‘s complete the review. let‘s see what the recâ€" One of those items not in the budget was adding another ambulance and the staffing to service it, but council decided to delay that implementation until December. CHRONICLE Council also decided to provide oneâ€"year funding for child care out of existing funds instead of making it a new budgetary item. That will allow the regional govâ€" etnment to help subsidize 2,500 local children instead of the 2,400 they currently do. The hope is that the fedâ€" eral and provincial governâ€" ments would provide more funding for child care after a federal agreement on childâ€" care spaces was rescinded by the Conservative govern ment in Ottawa. There was also hope that the province would still fund childâ€"care spaces after the federal government pulled out of the agreement. Waterloo region ramped ommendations are in the review and then let‘s figure out a way to finance it." JENNIFER ORMSTON PHOTO "This is seen as a wel comed program to encour age new grads to start com T] ~the Ontario governâ€" ment recently announced any new nursing graduate who wants a fullâ€"time job in the healthâ€" care field will have the opportunity to get one this vear. About 4,000 nursing stuâ€" dents are expected to graduâ€" ate from schools across the province this spring. They will all have the chance to obtain a fullâ€"time position in a hospital, longâ€" term care facility, mental health unit or other healthâ€" care facility. The nursing graduate guarantee initiative is designed to help address the nursing shortages across the province, said Sandra Hanâ€" mer, the chief executive offiâ€" cer of the Waterlooâ€"Wellingâ€" ton Local Health Integration Network. Provincial initiative should bring more nurses to region "The region has stepped up to the plate on child care,"_ said Strickland "Hopefully that $2 million committed to child care will be picked up by the province, and will give us some more room next year to minimize any kind of tax increase. There was some new funding for the construction of childâ€"care spaces in last week‘s federal budget, and the province signalled that it was taking some baby steps to by announcing $25 milâ€" lion in new funding for childâ€"care programming last Thursday, with a commitâ€" ment of $50 million in new funding by 2008. up its childâ€"care services to match that program, and was left holding the bag when the federal governâ€" ment pulled out. By Jennirer OrmstoN Chronicle Staff _ WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, March 28. Although Hanmer isn‘t sure how many of those nurses will come to Waterâ€" loo, the Waterlooâ€"Wellington LHIN area, which covers 79 communities, would benefit from having a stable nursing workforce, she said. "Ultimately, this will result in more consistent and the continued highâ€" quality care that we are able to offer in this area," she "It‘s a good first step in helping us try to stabilize the health humanâ€"resources workforce in Waterlooâ€" Wellington." LHINs are responsible for planning, coâ€"ordinating, integrating and funding local health services. And developing a health humanâ€"resources plan and stabilizing the workforce is part of their job. "We have to wait for the details to work their way through the system, but we‘re anticipating at least $2 million to $3 million at a minimum." "I was pleased to hear about the $100 million for light rapid transit," said Mitchell, who sat in on last week‘s LRT input session at First United Church where the majority of those attendâ€" ing were overwhelmingly in support of the idea. ing into our area. _ it total, the government is investing $89 million in this program. The province also came through with a couple of other goodies for Waterloo Region in its budget, includâ€" ing a commitment to help fund the first phase of its rapid transit strategy which would run through Waterioo and Kitchener. There was also $11 mil Continued on page 5 Continued on page 7 2007 * 3