u efficiencies where they could.” W fOr cases What exactly is up with what’s down there? Local women are about to tell all \COMMUNITY Bi Fight to recycle A legal battle over who is allowed to recycle beverage containers here is still raging ~\NEWS A5 ¥ 8, ‘Rock solid 7 Terrace rinks sweep the ice with competition in Aluminum City bonspiel \SPORTS B6 $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) is) By JEFF NAGEL CITY OFFICIALS plan to cut $400, 000 out.of this year’s budget. - “We asked every department: to find , council- lor Marylin Davies said last week of cuts which have become an annual event. “Tfelt we'd cut and cut and cut and : we'd be very lucky to find more efficien- ‘cies, she'said. “But they found more.” The cuts will mean some reduction in service levels, but the aim willbe to minimize the impact, city officials say. - The bylaw enforcement officer posi- tion will be eliminated, said city admin- strator Ron Poole. -That work will be done by other staff, and the current bylaw enforcement offi- cer — a unionized employee — will'be able to bump into a different position. “We may be looking al clitting some secretarial in'the city as well,” Poole said, “It may entail some layoffs.” Other city. employees, including guards at the RCMP detachment and arena employees, may face reductions in hours, Poole added. : Savings of $60, 000 are also expected to come out of the fire department, he said. ' Because several vacancies last..year - aren't being -filled, the. city is already _ anticipating lower labour costs in 2005, because it hasn’t filled several positions, despite a union pay increase and raises for many remaining managers. The city will avoid hiring vacation re- placement staf f, Poole added. » “If we can get away with someone go- ». ing on holidays without bringing another ~ person in, that’ s what we're doing.” More- capital spending. —.which. last year went to the George Litthe House and the campground expansion on Ferry © Island — will this year go to road recon- struction, —-, And Poole said that will in turn mean the city has to spend less:money patching the roads that will instead be rebuilt. They include the 3400 and 3500 blocks of Munroe St., 4700 block of Loen Ave. and 4800 block of Straume Ave. “ The planned road work accounts for $970,000 out of a total capital project list totalling $2.07 million. The spending cuts here are ‘nowhere near the levels being considered in Prince Rupert, where millions must be chopped because of the loss of New Skeena prop- erty taxes.’ But the situation isnt trivial in, Ter- race, If the New Skceena sawmill here ends (axes in future years —‘cither because of some sort of up paying no property deal or the city taking over the land — the lost revenue will have ever-worsening effects in the coming years, council has - been advised. , " _ “AL some point we're going | to have to find more income, iby taxation or Some other. methods of raising funds,” city councillor David Hull said. “There is no alternative,” he said. “We desperately have to prepare for every possibility. * NORTHWEST Government Employees” - strikes. loss of “fast week. She. ore strik could a students NITY College - fficials here are worried that any escalation of strike action by support. workers -““dould affect students. . As of last week, mem-: * bers of the British Columbia and Service Union (BC- GEU) have closed down the. college’s campuses for three - days in a series of rotating “While for most students, the lass of three days has not been too detrimental, further instructional will certainly take its toll,” college president Stephanie . Forsyth said in.a statement met , with college City staff so far aren't recommending a lax increase. Council is also-being asked to approve a series of cuts in grants to community - organizations. Six groups, Beautification Society, would have. their grants cut by 10 per cent if council ap- ‘proves,a. recommendation at its Feb. 14 meeting. City staff also recommended there be no city money for fireworks on Riverboat Days and at Hallowe’en. Davics hopes the city might get some - of the increased money the province has . committed for policing service. ° “You've got money, we a take’ it is my attitude,” she said. - fect ere COMMU- -(NWCC) cthér students, Forsyth did add there are.no plans to cancel this .. month’s reading ‘break. That move has al- Kwantlen University Col- lege on the lower mainland. - BCGEU members struck again Feb. |, time in-as many wecks, to press demands for wage and benefit increases. College instructors, who are members of the Cana- dian Union of Public Em- ployees (CUPE), came out for two hours in the morning .to support the pickcters. Strike | captain Gowen said there’d been no time ° prenticeship, are affected more «by “the strikes” than _ ready been ‘undertaken by’ the third such: .] Waiting game ‘ STRIKING COLLEGE worker Lorrie Gowen fended off the rain and the cold Feb. 1 as she and other members: of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union were off the job for the third time in as many weeks. Support workers want more money and’ "> more benefits. College officials are worried that any continued strike action will begin to affect students. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO . instructional: time can be as | School district predicts | yet another deficit year By JENNIFER LANG LAST WEEK‘S provincial government announcement that schools will be receiving another $150 million in funding is raising questions than it answers. The increase means B.C. will be spending more than $4 billion on education fund- ing, or an estimated $7,079 lars,” more Gowen said. It's also not clear how much leeway school districts will have when it comes to spending that" additional - money, Gowen pointed out. School boards will be services “students have school libraries, music and aris programs, and improved to support cial needs students, the an- nouncement reads. “We don’t know whether access to money is targeted. “[ had. six phone calls from people in Kitimat ‘ask- ing is the government going to fund band programs,” Kitimat trustee Rarry Pan- khurst said. =I think the pub- Spe- unique geographical factors and transportation costs that drive up operating costs in this sprawling rural district. “They've asked us to submit information on the buildings we own and what managers, union representa- : tives and students yesterday to see how lost class time can be overcome. “We arc looking for what options we can.take so stu- dents can get the time they need,” said Forsyth. She acknowledged thal vocational students, whose gotiations, which was frus- trating. ‘When asked why pickets weren’t set up in front of MLA Roger Harris’ office, because the college gets the majority of its budget ment, Gowen said, “We're not asking the government Continued on A16 short as a one-month ap- |Green is key THE CITY may be about to land a grant delivering a big | chunk of green for Terrace’ $ proposed second sheet of ice sportsplex. Feb. | | is the day the Federation of Canadian Munic- ipalities will announce this year’s grant recipients from its Green Municipai*Funds program. 5 The maximum the city could get for the project is $3 million, city administrative officer Ron Poole said. asked to work with teachers, parents and school planing councils on a plan outlining” how the added funding will. . we can use it for every- thing,” Gowen said, adding the district will have to wait for clarification. This line in the announce- lic should be well aware we - don't know what it’s for.” Gowen said on March 15. the district also expects to learn how much it will re- -teacher and CUPE wages we use them for,” she said. Gowen said the district is ‘also bracing for increased City staff had previously estimated the grant might provide close to $500,000 but they now hope for more. “The committee that’s reviewing this has given us Poole said. for the 2005-06 school year positive indications on our application,” per student, an increase of: $327 per student next year. But individual districts won't know much they’re getting until March 15, Coast Mountains school board chair Lorrie Gowen said. First, school — districts have to provide the educa- tion ministry with the Feb-. ruary enrolment count. The money: will then be divided by the number of students. “For us, what this means is because we’re still pro- jecting another 350 student decline, we're still going to be down a half million dol- be spent. The. plans must ensure By JENNIFER LANG A NEW YEAR has brought some good news for the Coast Mountains School District, where student enrolment has unexpectedly gone up by 33 students. It’s only the second time in the last three-and-a-half years the district has seen an increase, assistant superinten- dent Rob Greenwood told trustees last week. The spike in enrolment came in January, coinciding with the begin- ning of the new semester for high ment seems to suggest the school students. That suggests ‘the increase can be explained by dropouts who have de- vided to return to school. The district's enrolment is. still ‘down from the start of the current school year. In September, the dis- trict’s student head count was 5,902. By the end of December, that had dropped to just 5,830 students. The district has lost more than 1,000 students in the past five years, creating enormous pressure on the , ceive from ‘the ministry for - both contracts are up. Student total nudges up a bit budget, which is largely: based on en- rolment. Student enrolment in Kitimat has dropped by 25 per cent since Septem- ber 2000. In. Terrace, enrolment has dropped by 17 per cent during the same period, and by 18 per cent in the Hazeltons. Looking ahead to next year, Green- wood said he is still forecasting an enrolment drop of about 300 to 350 students by September. “Hopefully, I’m wrong,” he said. approv ed.” “That’s going to be a. huge announcement, if in fact it’s The money could cover much or all of the geother- mal heating elements of the sportsplex, which qualifies it for green grants. The federation’s green funds spring from a $250 million federal endowment. provided to help Canadian towns and cities cut pollution and reduce — greenhouse gas emissions. The $4 million project was still well short of i its fund- raising target last summer, despite a $2 million federal- provincial infrastructure grant, a $450,000 pledge from Alcan and several hundred thousand in money, or ser- vices donated or pledged locally... Then council found out the cost had gone up by $1. million to $5 million because of supply price increases. — The costs of cxtendig the geothermal heating system to the entire complex, including the existing pool, drives the price tag up further, to a total of $6.1 million. n \ Lorrie . new developments with ne-. from the provincial. govern- . including’ the Terrace - ”