Today ie Environmental awareness has become a normal part of school curriculum, and Bernadette Fitzpatrick’s kindergarten class at Veritas school is part of that trend. The children recently painted a mural, creating a forested background using evergreen branches as paintbrushes and added drawings depicting the varied uses of the forest. The mural won a contest sponsored by Canadian Women in Timber, Skeena Cellulose and Skeena Sawmills. Care _ THROUGH (Were takin’ GUINNESS H JUNE 30th 9 % Financing on selected 1991 Ford vehicles or up to $1000 cash back 9% — on selected 1990 models : | or consider " The smart way fo get a new car’ THE PLAN ~ Rates as low as 6% . | -4631'Keith Ave., Terrace, phone 635-4984 Call TOLL FREE 1-800-772-1128 ov #ssaa Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 15, 1991 A9 City rolls surplus — into tax relief for 1991 budget by Tod Strachan The city’s 1991, $14 million budget was released last week, and there are some interesting facts to review. First and foremost, how the city delved into surplus to boost expenditures by 8.68 percent. with only a 5.44 percent increase in revenues. Surplus cash, of course didn’t do the job all by itself. An expected 7.6 percent increase in recreation revenues and a 17.94 percent increase in permits and licensing fees will help a little too. Still, using surplus funds and applying a _ little will power when it came to approving capital expenditures means lower taxes for almost everyone. The city plans to collect $6.3 million in property taxes, more than half of the $10.2 million needed to operate the city. The balance of what they collect, $3.8 million, belongs to other govern- ment authorities. School District 88 gets the lion’s share, nearly $3.4 million. The remainder goes to the Regional District, Regional Hospi- tal District and the province. But where does the extra 8.68 percent in expenditures go? Coun- cil is going to cost us a little more; 5.6 percent more for indemnities and 47.37 percent more for "sun- dry expenses". The grand total for 1991 is $111,645, up 17.63 percent from 1990. It’s going to cost $899,598 to operate city hall this ycar. That’s up 5.93 percent. And for protective services we'll spend almost $2.8 million, up 13.12 percent. This is divided between policing ($1.85 million), fire protection ($696,564), building inspection and licences ($153,856), bylaw enforcement ($32,100), and animal control (359,709). Transit costs jumped 63.5 per- cent, primarily due to the imple- mentation of the HandiDART system. And the cost of running ‘the Public Works department is up 13.34 percent to just undér $2.2 million. The biggest winner within city ranks this year is the Planning Department. Saddled with the responsibility of coming up with a new Official Community Plan, the Planning Department gets $218,735. That’s a huge jump of over 184 percent. Tourism and Economic Develop- ment costs are up nearly 40 per- cent. Garbage collection and the operation of the sanitary land fill are up 18.2 percent to $461,143. Cemetery operation is up 31 per- cent to $62,099. Recreation will be bringing in 7.6 percent more than it did last year, but 7.62 percent more will be spent on maintaining recreational services. A little less ihan a quarter of the $1.8 million recreational cost, $483,766, will be Spent on pool operation and wages. That’s up 10.2 percent. Almost equal expenditures of between $287,000 and $297,000 go to three services; the arena will cost 2.62 percent Jess than it did — last year, park maintenance wages and operation will cost 20.4 per- cent more, and the library got a ‘funding raise of 5.41 percent. It will cost $165,042 to operate rec- reational programs. That’s 17.6 “percent more than the year before. Under capital expenditures, one highlight is city council’s ongoing, support of the R.E.M. Lee Hospital © Foundation’s CAT scan fund. The foundation gets $25,000. Other capital expenses include a number of computers which will be scat- tered around various city depart- ments, an electronic microfilming system for city records, the pur- chase of the first half of a new rescue vehicle for the fire depart- ment (a five-ion cab and chassis), and a $30,000 start on a new ani- mal shelter. The $30,000 will cover the cost of surveying and preliminary drawings. There won't be a lot of work done to city streets this year, but in November there might be a refer- endum on the 25-year, $25 million street upgrade proposal. The Public Works Department will get a couple of "much needed" buildings — a $30,000 salt shed expansion and a $45,750 vehicle storage building. Under recreation, the biggest capital expense for 1991 is the $54,000 George Little Memorial Park washroom. It was in the 1990 budget. The plan of that day called for an expenditure of only $30,000. Other recreational expenses include $34,000 worth of air con- ditioning for the arena banquet room, $18,000 for renovations to the recreation office, $10,000 for fencing and new trees at Heritage Park, and $5,000 for a "slightly controversial" study of the need and design for a skate board 1/2 pipe. And finally, there has been a nine percent-plus cut in the city’s commitment to offering grants to community organizations. In 1991, the community pie totals $108,000. Of this the Aurora Summer School of the Arts gets $25,000, the Ter- race Beautification Society gets $10,125 and the Terrace Arts Council gets a healthy hike from $6,600 in 1990 to $15,000 in 1991. The Arts Council increase will cover the cost of the Terrace Art Gallery, or for that matter, anyone else who is qualified and interested enough to apply. Sewer and water rates have been resolved. Sewage revenues will be $903,356, up 4.04 percent, and expenditures will be $880,956, up 19.96 percent. The balance, $22,400, will go into surplus, and $71,600 has been budgeted for capital expenditures. Water rev- enues will total $922,707 and expenditures have been set at $858,236. This will leave $64,471 sitting in surplus. And a few capi- tal projects worth $109,034 are planned.