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December 21 marked the one-year anniversary of last December’s vi- cious ice storm and Milton is still waiting for compensation from the Province. Trees were toppled, thick ice dam- aged hydro wires and streets were inaccessible as more than 20 cm of freezing rain and snow dumped on Southern Ontario around this time last year. The Town of Milton incurred more than $2 million in damages and to, date hasn’t received any funding from the ice Storm Assistance Pro- gram to assist with the clean-up. The $2 million includes damage to municipally-owned equipment, equipment rental costs, clearing and removal of debris and wreckage, overtime for employees, emergency communication measures, the repair and restoration of parks, roads and infrastructure, and costs for the Mil- ton Sports Centre to operate as an evacuation and warming centre. The reason for the delay, according to Linda Leeds, the Town's director of corporate services and treasurer, is that the application process was "extremely onerous." Leeds said the Town needed to sup- ply complete documentation to the Province, including all source docu- ments substantiating any costs in- curred. That included log sheets, time sheets and individual pay cheques to show that employeés were paid for their work. The information then needed to be cross-referenced, put into a certain type of file format (PDF), encrypted because the data is confidential and sent away to the Province. Staff dedicated more than 325 hours compiling and completing the appli- cation, Leeds said. By Rachael WIIIIams CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF waiting, hoping for ice funds