NELSON SAUMWUR is shown in front." occupants and perbaps prevented of the home that was'on lire -eamjýy tae m orn=*ng Apri 21. Be woke up thme Ph@*4 MakRouw,.Whtby Fr". Pr»» Whitby u dr iv er's ac tions' may have saved -lives, By Mark Reesor Tu.sdaty morning last week began just 1k. aLny other for Whitby Transit diver Nelson Saùmur.i Re was heading est on Burns St. te start his route at 5:40 a.m. wiien he noticed a smoke coiumn coming from a home on- the soutiiw.st corner of Burns and King St. "At irst I tiiought somebodyr was burning wood,» says Saumur, «but tiiere wamnt a, chimney wher. the smoke was.w Saumur stopp.d hie bus and head.d toward tii. hou.,, along~ with tii. driver cf a passing pick-up truck. I t soon became clear te hou. was on fir., se Saumur sent tii. pick-up driver te cail the. tir department and went te rouse tiie occupants. «'I banged on tii. door bý on the. windows and scream.d and yellédL but thre was ne respense, s I kicked the. door in; then I got a responsel! A "reaIly groggy, diseriented"man came te the. doorwafy - Saumur tbinks ho must have' breathed in quite a bit of smoke - "He said, I Ct tepiione tii. ir. department;' I said ltsalready been taken car.etf get eut cf tiiere.' 8hri afterward.s, a woman and young girl approached tii. door. "I told them te gel out tii. back docr but tiie lady said it wa-n't usable... se I coaxed tii. young lady eut the, By Marlo Boucher Wbitby .r.sidents, could face a 7.43 p.r cent increa.. Mi tii. leg'on portion cf their tax bih should teroe. $114..2 mil- lion budget b.approved by regonal council todà jy(Wednei- day). This will mean an increase cf $41 ver iiouseiiold in 1992, slhghtly more, thon tii. region door and teld her te o it onmybus Saumar says the. tur. seemed te -b. centred' above thé. deorway and ini part cf the. roof..ý qI figure another 15 minutes, and. that whole roof would have went. It was juat at, the. point cf reaily gtting going.» Saumur asked tie maniteg et acouple of bianket. for tii. girl, who -wa.s tili in her pajaaand teid ims h.'d b.on the bus ituuhim i aving the, driver cf the pick-up to, wait for ii.tire trucks. "As I wa. pulling away I could hear tiie sirens -in tii. distance and couldn't ielp thinking cf the fast response cf our t:r. departmientY Saumur says the girl siiowed ne. signa cf smoke Inhalation. Tii. police. met Sauniur at tii. (30 tation and pick.d' up the. girl.. Wliitby fire department platoon'chief Ken Corner says there wa. about $5,000 damage tte ihous..- nt 'wa.stly exterior damnage; started, at -the outsid.lilt and went up the wall. Ther. wasn't a lot cf damage insidi.» Th iitiedepartment iiad te eut eut se'me 2.5 fe.t'cf tii. roof te put the, tire eut, says 1Saumur, whc, doesn't feel he's a hero. -Whitby council paid: tribute te, Saumur at Monday night'scuncil meeting. "anybodywould have don. the. same thing if tiiey had seen it."» av.ra¶ increas. of '$37. Th owèst increa.. i. expected to e b.n Nax, witii only a 1.49 pr cent increase mu taxes, wiue Newcatle residents wil l l. face a 11.77 :per.cent'increase tii. y.ar. Tiie r.commended net regfionai levy for. 1992 i. exp.cted te b.e $88 millon, whlcii wil -èest tii average taxpayer about $422, $37 higier than the. average p.r hou»eholdin 1991Y WMhtyrienswilaU$67 in 1992 ýU $41 from layar. Tii. 6i 4.2 millionnet eipen- diture w iuhde tii. $88 mil- lion for -net ri'7onal- levy(or tai increase to taxpayers) sud $26.2 million -for uon-prograim finane- auE PAGE 8 By Marie, Boucher Whitbjy residents who support the pub lic schooi board will face a tax increase of 2.48 per cent this year. <The. Durham Board of Educa- tien on, Monday ap"pro6ved a $358 .1 million budget for 1992, an increase of about' $20 million over last year's budget 0f Durham Region municipali- ties witiirthe. board's sehool area, Whitby han the second Iowest tai increas. this year. A taxpaLyer with an asseasment of $5,000ý wili pay $29.95 more this year. Tiie averagemiii rate increas. is 3.67 per cent for the -bcard's area, with Brock Township« the Iowest at 2.43: per cent and Uxbridge Township the'highest at 4.98 per cent. In ordier te give ailthe. munici- palitiespnincçe flesta rcent;-ýthe board-will ,h'ave te further reduoée th e budgeât by $280,00) over'tii. cours, cf tiie year. «lIt will b. difficuit te find' $280,000 te, eut because w, really eut à te ibon. already," said Pickering truste. Rut h Ann Schedlich, chair cf the -finance committee. Tiie board is net sure at this point wiier. the money wiii corne from or which proj.cts may be. cut -in part te reduce the budget, bytha amount, she says. Ti. sigpificant thingt for tii. tewn of Whitby la the -fact that the miii rate is thé. second iowest' increase for al cf Durhiam Leinion » said Whitby truste. Ian d unn. "We achieved a reasonable and financiaily responsible' budget without sacrificing the prograins for the kids,» h. saîd. Gunn said tii. board hiad, te inake difficuit decisions on what te eut, and noted that provin- cially mandated proras p aid forby the. board are beyon4-the board's control. 'Tii.number on. priority cf the. board was thi.e tucatian cf car ciudren and we'v, don. that - Net everybody>iii b. happy but I tiiink w, did thi e t we couid, and a lot'- more conside- ration wiil b. given te tthe 1993 budget se we can maintain tii. programs,» said, Whitby trust.., TanyaKoch. Wiiitby trustee -Patriciaý Bow- manvice-chair of the. board, said the. bard's responsibiities ýare even more pronounced during the current recession because chidren are stili. coming inttei schools. «Every eut that we've made was very serieus and- respon- ibâle," she said. Bowman saidif tii. board cuts I: 1per houseiiold, it would the equivalent cf iosing $150 000 mn revenues., .' 1ScA,Çdlich said tis Year's budget. proved 'te b. a difficuit See age 13 o 1 proces. "Baiancing tii, demands of a growing educational system'such as w, h ave iDunham, aa'qinst, tii. impact cf a recession, signifi- SU RPAGE 12 2.48per cent busiessmnwsý' Vol.'2'2, No. 18 We(Ines(l.-ý,iy, April 2ý), 1992 9 p«I gt