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The Picton Gazette THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012
A GREAT FIRST TRY
VO LUM E 18 2, N O . 1 5
InsIde
tHiS week
Proposed tax levy increase reduced Hike now sits at 5.2 per cent ChAd IBBotson
GRATITUDE
Staff writer
authors, readers share respect for one another at festival PAge 5
GREEN
Home Hardware gardening guru visits wellington PAge 16
PECI Panthers eight-man James VanDusen outruns a Centennial Charger defender to score his team’s first try of the season in a Bay of Quinte preseason rugby tournament.. The Panthers lost their three contests, including this one 10-7 but looked promising considering none of their players had previously played the game. (Adam Bramburger/Gazette staff)
GROOVIN’ Music students learn their craft from jazz professionals PAge 23
seCtIons
Looking back.......6 Weather.............6 Editorials.............7 Letters....................8 Sports....................26 Classified.............30 Puzzles................RE CaNaDa’S OLDeSt COMMUNitY NewSPaPer
Safety concerns a hot topic in Consecon Unease following rash of vandalism dominates ratepayers’ meeting AdAm BrAmBurger Staff writer
Keith Edgett came to the Consecon Area Ratepayers’ Association annual meeting Sunday seeking answers. In February, Edgett’s County Rd. 1 home was one of several vandalized by three young people police reported escaped from a youth treatment facility within the village. Though Edgett was in Florida when the damage occurred, he said he has a regular reminder when he thinks of his six-year-old granddaughter. “This has had a large impact — many, many thousands of dollars in the financial impact. The emotional
impact is worse. My little granddaughter is afraid to go to any room in her house unless her parents are with her,” he said. “That shouldn't happen in our community. Someone has to step up and do something about it.” Edgett’s son-in-law had to explain to his granddaughter about the male genitalia painted on the hood of his 1965 Mustang as well as some of the curse words that were painted on the family’s other vehicle. Others had to reside their homes and Edgett estimates collectively the community has suffered physical damages of more than $25,000. The youth were later apprehended in a stolen van in Kingston and charged in
P U L L - O U T
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R E A L
relation to the incidents. Edgett says that hasn’t made his neighbourhood whole again, however, especially when he said the individuals involved in the incidents had taken knives and axes from homes. “No question our safety, security, and peace of mind as residents in this community has been seriously impacted,” he said. At the meeting, he was looking for answers from community leaders about who was going to step up and take responsibility for the actions of those youth. He said none of his neighbours had been contacted by Bayfield Treatment Centres, the operators of the home in Consecon, nor by municipal
E S TAT E
NO COMPARISON NO COMPROMISE
officials regarding the situation, though the police have been actively involved. Edgett said he knows the young people come from troubled backgrounds and he added he’s not looking to run Bayfield or its group home out of the area. He’d just like some assurance that such incidents won’t be a regular occurrence. “They are troubled young folks, I understand that, but we have a right to live in our community,” he said. He said he felt such incidents were escalating and wondered if the time was coming when someone would get hurt in a confrontation.
See SAFETY, page 38
S E C T I O N
There was some heated discussion, but nonetheless progress has been made. Council started Monday morning looking at roughly an 11-per-cent increase in the net to be raised through the tax levy in 2012. After two daylong sessions that number has been reduced to 7.6 per cent which represents an average tax bill impact of 5.2 per cent. It is significantly lower than the 13.3-per-cent net to be raised increase and 9.7-per-cent increase on the average tax bill that council was looking at in late March. Councillors looked at a variety of issues over two days, but ultimately made the following changes: To include an additional $25,000 for a request for proposal to obtain an independent facilitator to conduct a public consultation process to review the size of council; voted to freeze wages for councillors at the 2011 rate for the balance of this term of council; voted to reduce the CAO budget by $50,000; increased the 2012 revenue budget for provincial offenses by $23,511; reduced the winter road maintenance budget by $200,000; reduced the library board budget by $25,429; removed the $50,000 enhancement for the heritage conservation district plan and moved $25,000 out of planning study reserves to fund that plan; reduced the economic development budget by $138,815; deferred the Hallowell Fire Hall roof replacement of $28,000 to the 2013 budget. The following changes were also made to budgeted enhancements: The GIS technician budget of $47,230 was reduced by $20,000; the McFarland Home increase for RPN hours was reduced by $30,000 from $95,913 to $65,913.
See BUDGET, page 14
I N S I D E !
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