News

Under two per cent increase in Sidney

Sidney taxpayers will be hit with
a municipal tax increase of under
two per cent.

The budget had proposed an
increase of almost four per cent,
but council timmed some expen-
ditures to get the rate down, said
Mayor Marie Rosko.

She said additions to staff and
capital road works projects were
cut from the estimates.

Aldermen have been holding
budget deliberations over the past
few weeks.

Rosko said while the process
went smoothly, tough choices had
to be made.

“If residents want to keep the
same amount of services, theyre
going to have to consider a tax
increase,” she said.

She added that “staff have done

an excellent job in re-evaluating

their necessities.”

Town treasurer Paul Edgington
said administration would have
liked to add more staff, but council
opted to wait for a pending review
of Town hall operations by a
consultant before making deci-
sions on staffing.

He said the tax increase com-
pares favorably to hikes in other

Legal aid strike hits Sidney court

The backlog is beginning at
Sidney provincial court as defend-
ants delay their cases, unable to
obtain legal counsel because of a
strike by B.C. lawyers.

On Thursday, five cases were
remanded because the defendants
were eligible for legal aid but
could not find a lawyer willing to
handle their case.

“It’s starting to pile up,” crown
counsel Edward Ormheim noted
Friday.

As of April 15, B.C. lawyers
were no longer accepting legal aid
referrals, except in cases involving
clients in custody, the security of
spouses or the security and welfare
of children.

Sidney lawyer Mayland
McKimm predicted the strike will
lead to delays in handling court
cases, since dates for trial cannot
be fixed or pleas entered without
the right to legal counsel being
obtained.

Evan Blake, chairman of the
Victoria Criminal Justice subsec-
tion of the Canadian Bar Associa-
tion, said the underfunding of legal
aid by the province was leading to
a two-tiered justice system.

Lawyers who were underpaid
for their handling of legal aid cases
tended to spend less time on the
cases or take on more cases than
they could properly handle, Blake
said.

As a result, legal aid clients were
not getting the same service as
clients who paid for their own
legal advice.

The bar association is asking the
provincial government to imple-
ment recommendations made in
1984 following a task force review
of the legal aid system.

Those recommendations
included a 70 per cent increase in
the amount paid to lawyers han-
dling legal aid cases.

Blake said there has been no
offer to date from the provincial
government. A similar legal aid
strike in Newfoundland last year
took seven months to resolve, he
added.

Since the Canadian Charter of
Rights requires prompt handling of
charges against any individual,
delays of six to eight months may

cause problems for the justice —

system, Blake noted.

Cadets blow horns in competition

Members of two Sidney cadet
bands were among the nearly 350
army, navy and air cadets who
performed in the Strathcona Trust
Cadet Band Compettion Saturday.

The bands were from 676 Kitty-
hawk Royal Canadian Air Cadet
Squadron — a brass band with 18
members under band leader Cadet
WO P. Minkley — and the 220
Royal Canadian Seca Cadet Corp
— a 13-member ensemble under
Cadet PO S. Hill.

Cadet bands gathered from 19
units throughout the province for
the day-long musical competition.

Trophies were presented to the
top bands in each category and to
the best drum major.

There was an annual awards
parade and ceremony in the after-
noon. Band members performed a
march past for reviewing officer
Major John MacKenzie, Regional

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centres, especially considering
that last year there was no tax
increase in Sidney.

BUDGET

Continued from Page Al

Board chairman Graham Hill
said he was very depressed by the
budget cuts.

Given the provincial funding for
education, Loveless said the dis-
trict would have had a budget
deficit even without the increases
in the teacher contract.

APOLOGY

Continued from Page Al

on the site selection process
because the decision had to be
made in-camera.

However district staff have now
prepared an information sheet on
the issue. Trustees agreed to distri-
bute the two-page summary
throughout the community.

TheReview

Wednesday, May 15,1991 — A2

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