WHAT’S ON
GIRLS LOVE TO SHOP
OUR VIEW
CHECK OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO PAGE A5 THIS WEEKEND
AND WE DON’T MEAN PAGE A3 AT THE MALL
WE HAVE TO GROW UP, LITERALLY PAGE A6
THE ERA
FORD FUSION ENERGI
NEWMARKET
Publicationmail agreement #40051189
$1 STORE SALES / 44 PAGES
■
Thursday, May 26, 2016
■
yorkregion.com
HOUSING
Get up to
102 MpG! 18001 LESLIE ST,
905-853-8888
(South of Greenlane) Newmarket
905-853-5000
CLOSE CALL
Have deep pockets? You’ll need them to buy in hot market Resales at all-time high as house prices climb 13.5% BY LISA QUEEN
H
lqueen@yrmg.com
ere’s good news if you’re planning on putting your house up for sale any time soon. The average price of a resale home in York Region increased by 13.5 per cent in 2015 to $777,927, Paul Bottomley, York Region’s manager of policy, research and planning in the economic development department, said during a presentation on the state of the region’s economy. That has jumped from $491,883 for the average resale home only five years ago. Meanwhile, the price is almost 70-per-cent higher than what the province deems is the maximum affordable homeownership threshold for the region. That stood at $459,000 in 2015.
i
Watch for our in-depth GTA-wide housing series, Through the Roof, starting next week.
“There is an increasing gap between this affordable threshold and the average resale price, with the gap increasing considerably over the last few years,” Bottomley said. If the price of new homes were included, which sat at an average of $987,106 at the end of 2015, the gap between the affordable housing threshold and the cost of buying a home in York would be even higher. The typical price of a resale home in the region is 25-percent higher than the Greater Toronto Area, where the average is $622,217. See page A9.
STAFF PHOTO/STEVE SOMERVILLE
Newmarket Saints’ Justin Barkell takes a close-range shot during the first period of Sunday’s Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior B loss to Gloucester Griffins at Newmarket’s Ray Twinney Complex. Barkell did score later in the game as the Saints dropped 12-9 to the Griffins. For more local sports action, see B section or go to yorkregion.com
PUBLIC PURSE
WHAT’S ONLINE If you owe money for a ticket, be prepared to face a crack down. The region wants its money — $46M worth.
DON’T SEE IT IN THE PAPER? CHECK OUT MORE STORIES ONLINE INCLUDING:
Region ready to lower boom on ticket scofflaws
D
BY LISA QUEEN
lqueen@yrmg.com
❐ DRIVING IMPAIRED: Nearly 140 people nabbed in past month: bit.ly/1TnMIsB ❐ SPECIAL DELIVERY: Paramedic delivers own baby on the road: bit.ly/1TnMxgW ❐ UNION CASH: Ontario gave $80M to teacher unions: bit.ly/1TnMUYK ❐ DINE SAFE YORK: Find our which restaurants and pubs aren’t meeting health standards. bit.ly/1KpTRrt FILE PHOTO/STEVE SOMERVILLE
TRANSIT
o you have a ticket for speeding, not wearing your seatbelt, being drunk in a public place or selling alcohol or cigarettes to a minor that you figured you could just blow off? Think again. With $46 million in unpaid fines on the books, York Region is about to crack down on people who don’t pay their provincial offences penalties. Regional council is expected today to approve what it is calling “aggressive steps” to make deadbeats pay their tickets.
“Unpaid fines are lost revenue to the hard-working taxpayers of York Region,” Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow, chair of the region’s finance committee, said. Allowing people to not pay their fines “makes a mockery of the whole justice system,” Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, chair of the region’s police services board, said. “We have to do whatever it takes to get this money into our coffers. It’s about increasing the revenues, but it’s about increasing the revenues because we’ve spent a lot of money to make sure our bylaws and the ProvinSee page A8.
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
Empty buses? Give system time, region says Ban sought on union, BY CHRIS SIMON
D
csimon@yrmg.com
ave Kerwin is fuming over the number of “empty buses” he said are running along Newmarket’s Davis Drive these days. The veteran Ward 2 councillor took issue with a perceived lack of ridership on Viva rapidway and York Region Transit bus routes along the road, during a council meeting Monday night. ILLUSTRATION “We have the rapidway by Viva and the (YRT) buses, two lines Ward 2 Councillor Dave Kerwin took issue with a perceived lack of riderrunning parallel,” he said. “Why ship on Viva rapidway and YRT bus routes along Davis Drive, during a do we need two buses running on Davis, both of them empty? Why council meeting Monday night. are we running empty buses? The heavier. People are changing costs are becoming onerous. The their customs to meet those tax regional portion of my (property) bills and that includes taking tax bill is 44 per cent. There are in lodgers and renting out their ❑ Go to: bit.ly/206TdSj for more more and more concerns with the basements. We’re driving the articles on transit. Comments? empty buses, whether it’s on Davis individual homeowner out of the Email tkibble@yrmg.com or residential streets.” market. People cannot sustain About 40 per cent of the systhe continued growth in the tem is covered by user fares, with high rate, he said. property tax.” the outstanding balance paid for “Never would I vilify public However, signs do point to by the region and the province. transit,” he said. “I use it. All I’m However, taxpayers can’t continue saying is that the tax burden on to subsidize the system at such a the property taxpayer is getting See page A8.
corporate donations
Regional Councillor John Taylor introduces motion
J
BY CHRIS SIMON
csimon@yrmg.com
ohn Taylor is trying to take some of the money out of politics in Newmarket. The regional councillor introduced a motion — which passed by consent at council Monday night — that asks staff to prepare a report on the feasibility of banning union and corporate donations from future town municipal elections. The report will be
i
For more stories on this issue, follow: bit.ly/23XtJaS. Comments? Email tkibble@yrmg.com
presented to councillors within the next 180 days. “Any time I see an opportunity to tighten the rules around election spending, it’s probably the right direction to go in,” Taylor said. See page A12.
GET CONNECTED
SAVE UP TO 20%
ON OUTDOOR SPEAKERS
905-898-7133 www.liptons.ca C
M
Y
save on selected models of weatherproof outdoor speaker boxes, in-ceiling, and rock type speakers.
Full installation available at your location: call or drop by for a quote.
JUPITERIMAGES