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Watermain break Town and Region public works crews were kept busy early yesterday (Thursday) morning when a watermain on Mountainview Road South, near Delrex Boulevard burst. The water, combined with the freezing temperatures turned parts of Mountainview into an instant skating rink and tied up traffic for a short time. Photo by Ted Brown Company will now handle sale of properties in tax arrears The Town of Halton Hills will hand over the tax sales of properties to a company specializing in the procedure. The Finance Department used to handle the selling, or collection of, properties in tax arrears, but that proved problematic with a revolving door of staff in the part-time specialized position in the past few years. Realtax Inc. will take over the sales on behalf of the Town for the next three years. The cost of the service will be placed on the tax roll accounts of those properties in arrears. Property owners who are three or more years in tax arrears will be sent a letter saying that the tax collection charges-- generally in excess of $1,000-- will be added to their tax bills if don't pay their taxes. Realtax has conducted more than 900 tax sales for more than 175 municipalities since 1996. The Municipal Act gives municipalities the authority to start a tax sale process if a property is three or more years in arrears of tax payment. About 100 properties a year fall into this category but only one in the past five years has been sold-- a vacant lot.