FORMER AMARANTH MAYOR BOB CURRIE had some interesting observations when he appeared as a delegation at a recent township council meeting.

It is unfortunate that he chose to approach his issues in the manner that he did - as a "report card" on individual members of the council - as the inferences to be taken from his analysis of the township's 2007 budget deserve serious consideration.

Cutting through the personal comments, what he said was that the council had drained its reserves to pay for two bridges that are being built this year, that there is no money in the budget for road improvements, and that there are unavoidable expenses not budgeted for.

He also said that the council has voted itself a raise, but cloaked it by voting for payments for attendance at committee meetings - in addition to the basic stipend that has remained unchanged.

The most vital concern of taxpayers should be for reserves. In 2008, the council will either have to borrow money to pay for the Eighth Line Bridge or raise taxes mightily to avoid debt.

The "bridge reserves" were used in their entirety this year to pay for most of the township's share of the cost of rebuilding two of three bridges - and those two were the least costly of the three.

Going into 2008, the township is absolutely committed to realigning the Eighth Line and rebuilding the bridge. It is constrained to pay one-third of the cost - either by upping taxes, by borrowing, or by deferring things once again. And, it is our understanding that the bridge itself would cost as much as the total of this year's two bridges. (COMRIF has approved a twothirds share of the bridge construction. It is our further understanding that the costs of realignment might be borne totally by the township.) To pay all the costs through taxation would be to raise taxes by 10-20 per cent.

The council has not budgeted adequately for the costs of the upcoming Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the wind farm. That cost could easily be in excess of the costs of the Eighth Line Bridge. (Last year's spending for the preliminaries was about $100,000. Going into the actual hearing this year, the budget is a mere $60,000.)

Now Environment Minister Laurel Broten has agreed with approval of the Environmental Screening for the project, with conditions. Would it not make sense for the township to avoid the OMB hearing by approving zoning for the turbines and the site-plan for a second transformer - subject to the same conditions as those set down by the minister?