March 12, 1986 Your Number CGne Suburban Newspaper NEWS phote Tom Burley 3 HARD hammering pays off as itiree-year-old Adam Stefishen fearns while he works, as he constructs a ooden toy (rain. Adam is part of Little Carpenters, a. wood-working class for children held at Karen : Magnussen Arena. The children cut, paint, hammer and nail while building projects. mn Sports action inside PAGE 13 ~ school Hard — work recognized PAGE 41 taxes WEST VANCOUVER taxpayers will pay about $800,000 more in school taxes to help support the local schooi district’s 1986-87 budget. School board chairman Michael Smith said Monday the board has voted in favor of a tax increase, to provide monies for school maintenance costs, to increase the paper supply account and to replace school equipment. He said an individual taxpayer will pay $60 more in school taxes in 1986 and about $90 in 1987, “don’t like passing on a tax increase to West Vancouver tax- payers, but [think it's justifiable," said Smith. “Part of the success of a com- munity is a successful school system. If you want a better pro- duct you have to spend more " money. TRUSTEE OPPOSED Margo Furk was the only trustee who opposed the $19.8 million budget. The actual operating budget for next year is $18.7 mil- lion. Last year’s operating budget was $17.4 million. She said services could be main- tained if individual taxpayers paid $35 more in 1986 and $25 more in 1987, “TE will not accept it's necessary in these economic times, when a lot of people's income is going down and not up, that we need to have a nine per cent increase per child,"’ said Furk. Smith argued the budget in- crease per child is five and a half per cent, This is the first time, since 1982, the West Vancouver School Board has sought additional monies from local taxpayers. School trustee Hugh Stark said the district can decrease its budget, once it has been submitted to the provincial government for ap- proval March 15. But, he said, the board cannot increase a submitted budget. “We can't set the budget too low at this point — it's not lavish in any cespect,’’ he said. ‘Next month we'll know more what money is available to us and we can rethink the budget.” Trustee Pat Boname said, ‘‘Cer- tainly there are going to be a lot of shock waves (from taxpayers), but we're right down to rock bottom and we have no choice but to do what we're doing." OVER-ESTIMATION Furk said the school board's budget has over-estimated some school items, providing for a substantial ‘‘cushion,’’ which she said has yet to be determined. Instead of requesting so much moncy from taxpayers, Furk said parents should bear extra school costs, such as buying sports equipment. “We're not running a social ser- vice — we're running an educa- tional system,’ she said. Smith said school costs were not over-estimated in the budget. The school budget will be finalized May 1. SUPER SLALOM SLATED SUNDAY THE WORLD’S best 107 male skiers will begin training runs today on Whistler Mountain in preparation for this weekend’s World Cup Downhill. Saturday’s downhill and Sun- day’s super giant slalom, spon- sored by Molson, are the final two races in the 1985-86 World Cup ski championship, and they will decide this year’s men’s World Cup winner. Race co-ordinator Rob Macleod said Tuesday course conditions for the two races arc good. “The forecast for the next three days is cool with snow showers, but we really don’t need any more snow. We’ve got a 180-centimetre base right now.” He said there was no danger of the race being cancelled. Whistler’s Gondola ski run is the scheduled course for the two races. Austria’s Peter Wirnsberger and Switzerland's Peter Mueller are currently first and second respectively in World Cup stan- dings, with Wirnsberger virtually assured of winning this year’s championships. Points are assessed from each skier’s top five World Cup per- formances in the 13-race World Cup circuit. Wirnsberger has four first- place finishes and one second- place finish in his top five; Mueller has three firsts and one - second. The best Mueller can do is tie Wirnsberger for first place overall. Sentimental favorite at the weekend races will be hometown Whistler skier Rob Boyd, who placed sixth in races at Are, Sweden and is currently in the top 30. On Friday at 1 p.m., the four original Crazy Canucks, Steve Podborski, Ken Read, Dave Ir- win and Dave Murray, will go head-to-head at Whistler for the first time in a pre-World Cup double giant slalom race.