PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28.,1986, WHITBY FREE PRESS Published every Wednesday whitb BILL MCOUAT by M.B.M, Publishing CmuhyEio anyd Plîotography Ine. f m mPhone 608-6111 VALERIE COWEN Advortlslng Manager The Free I>1ress Building, 1:11 Brock.Street North, Second Class Mail Volce of the County Town Michael fan Burgess, Pubisher - Managlng Edîtor 11.0. Box 206, Whitby. Omnt. Registration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned anîd operated by Whitbv residents for Whitby residents. PAW comimittee aims to deliver In January of this year the Pckering Ajax Whit- by Joint Animal Control Committee (PAW> took over the business 0f animal control ln the three communities from the Ontario Humane Society. Relations between the commîttee and the soclety had been degeneratîng for some time prior to the final break whlch was preclpltated by the society's request for a 48 percent budget increase for 1986. Claimlng that the Humane Society ran an Inettîclent operatlon with littIe or no accoun- tabllîty, -the committee announced that enough was enough and proceeded to set up Its own ser- vice run by the Town 0f Whltby. At that time PAW chairman Ross Batten justIled the move claimlng the society "robs Peter to pay Paul" and asserted that a better ser- vice could be provlded for less money by simply lmplementing some sound business management prîncîples. These prInciples took the form of a drastlc reduction 0f staffing, routine patrols and the number of animal control vehicles.-Wth thse help of town clerk Don McKay, the committee cut the shelter's staff ln hall (from 12 to 5), halved the number of trucks (from 4 to 2), cut ail routine patrols except enroute to complaints, and put animal control officers to work ln tise shelter, ceased boardîng animais and stopped euthanizing unwanted animais at the owners'request. For ail this the committee came up with a budget that constituted a one percent increase over the previous year compared wîth the 48 per- cent Increase requested by tise Humane Society. Letersto the editq To Thse Editor: $1,000 of market value of homes. Twenty odd years these older homes, tise The prc ago, thse old County of mwiicipality in 1985 troducedý Ontario - reassessed received $10 in taxes. assist sE Pickering and Ajax and Newer homes that and boni extensive work was recently sold are with their done in Uhe City of located at 111 Bassett buis. Thii Oshawa. The following Blvd., 12 Broughton ease ti year tirougis budget Crt., 107 Frederick St., reassessn cuts, the Town of Whit- 283 Glen Hill Dr. and 22 neglecte< by was not reassessed. Cawker Crt. Tihe reassessrr Shortly thereafter, the average sale price was also pig Province of Ontario $131,000 and the average councillor assumed tise respon- 1985 municipal tax bill year terrs sýiblty for assessment was $1,820. Therefore, time to * from Use Counties. One for every $1,000 of sale political reason used by tise price of these newer of reasses province for assuxning homes, tise owners paid The loci assessment was that tise $13.90 in taxes. This unllkely local municipalities amounts to an increase reassessrr were movlng too slow on of 39 percent over Use happy t reassessment, yet in the amount pald by tise position last 20 years Uey have older homes. Surely, reassessir not finlshed tise job. Uere should not be Uis Ueir i More recently, disparity between tise Tiis, des Darllngton was market value of new tisat tisey reassessed to correct and older properties and bills ca Use disparities caused Use taxes that are paid assessmei wisen Regional Gover- by Uese owners. many yeaý ninent- joined several 1 have only compared Tise provi municipalities into one ten homes and this plemente large town. Whitby is nuxnber only represents authority Use only large about one twelth of one years ar municipallty in tise percent of tise numnier of hesitant tc Region that has not been homes. Since Use only minorityg reassesséd in 50 years criteria for the selection It is M3 and Use following 15 iin- was recent sales to give Use best tended to give a hint of current mnarket value, courage Use problems. tiis trend llkely con- is for tI Older homes in Wiit- tinues Urougisout tise divisionst by that recently sold are municipality. Since new provincial located at 213 Euclid St., homes now represent to reasses 312 Glber St. W., 414 tise majority of homes in Wiitby.E John St. W., 315 Dunlop Whitby it is not Use provi St. E. and 1026 Mc- unreasonable to expect plement tI Cullougis Dr. The that reassessment it puts tis average mnarket value would at least reduce in a diffic of Uese five hoines Use taxes on newer object. Sb amounts to $81,800 and homes by 10 percent or divisionsr Use average 1985 about $180 per year. tise maj<i municipal tax bll Reassessment would previous anuounts to $816. also considerably raise took no ac Tiserefore, for every tise taxes on older governmes Humane Society president Tom Hughes renoun- ced the budget as a "phony" and charged that the PAW commlttee had no Idea what they were dolng. The Free Press at that time was incllned to agree and ln an editorlal publlshed February 12 we questloned how It was that the commlttee and Its chai rman could promise to provIde the same level of service wlth only hall the resources. The num- bers, It seemed then, just dldn't add Up. Weil, It would now appear that Batten and his PAW committee - wlth a lot 0f help from McKay and the busy people at the animal shelter - have succeeded ln pulllng off a mathemnatical lm- posslblllty. Even though the shelter now has hall as many vehicles and employees with whIch to carry out the business 0f animal control, a flrst quarter report on Its performance this year would seem to Indicate the new arrangement Is working at least as well If not better than Its predecessor. MInd you the PAW committee has made It almost Impossible to make a complete and accurate comparison of the two services. Reports are now quarterly instead 0f monthly, and they no longer reflect the same Information or do but under dit- ferent headlngs whlch make It difficuit to deter-, mine whether you are comparing the same thlngs. Where the PAW report has separate categories for "Stray Dogs lmpounded" and "Unwanted Dogs Sheltered" the Humane Society reports have slm- ply one category, "Dogs lmpounded". The PAW report Is rite wlth confuslng changes such as these but nevertheless, If our readinao0f the report ,ovince isas in- 1programs tisat enior citizens aafide farasers ir municipal tax fis was done to he effect of ;ment but they d to bring in ;ent. They rovided local )rs witis a tisree n to give theus withstand tise repurcussions >ssment. cal council are to puas for ment and are to take tise that nent is not responsibility. ýspite tise fact ysend out tax ,lculated on ents that are ars out of date. rnce hasn't im- Ld their ïin tise last 20 and may be o do so, under a ,governent. y opinion that tway 10 en- reassessment the new sub- to petition tise il governusent ma tise Town of By petitioning vince to im- heir authority, ie local council .ult position to ince new sub- now represent »rity and tise government ction, Use new .nt may find this an interesting challenge. Tise City ofToronto is fast, approaching reassessment, why not whitby? Are new Wisit- by residents interested in reducing tiseir municipal tax bill? Yours truly, Forbes N. McEwen. Homework To Tise Editor: I am writing in regar- ds to tise Daycare crisis. It seems to me. Is correct, the shelter has picked up more stray dogs and cats and answered more emergency calîs than the Humane Society dld during the same period last year. More Importantly, shelter manager Carole Lang, a woman wlth a lot of ex- perlence ln the field, feels the animais are receivlng tise best possible care and that, ln the end, Is what responsible animal control is al about. ln an Interview last week, Batten added that councIllors In ail three communîties have sald that the service ls belng operated to, their satisfac- tion. And now, even as they seem to have accom- plished the Impossible, the PAW committee Is putIng thse service out to tender to see If It can't be managed even more effectively by someone ln the private sector. It was the commlttee's Intention all along to go to tender and their new employees were apparently Informed of this when they were hired. If, next September when they revlew the tenders, the commlttee flnds that there Is lndeed a better service avallable, Batten sald that a con- tract would require consIderation for those em- ployees. Although the PAW takeover 0f animal control services last January had ail the earmarks of a classic political ploy, It appears they have managed to live Up to their promises. Cuts ln government services are otten carried out under the guise of "Increased etficiency" but ln this case thse PAW committee appears bent on deliverlng the real thing and for this they should be commended. everyone tiinks tisat al women are good for is babysitting. 1 go througis every paper, every nigist looking for work that I can do at home, so tisat 1 can stay at home witis my four year old daugister. Ail I ever see is telemarketing, sewing and babysitting. My answer to tise daycare crisis is to create real jobs tisat motisers can do at home, and stay witis Ueir own SEE PC. 20 and lots of coloured ib bons.