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ELIGIBLE OWNERS RECEIVE $1,500 IN WINTER CASH. ELIGIBLE O $1,500 905877-6944 33 Mountainview Rd. North, Georgetown WITH YOUR FIRST MONTH'S PAYMENT ON US. FULLY LOADED LEASE EVENT See dealer for details www.georgetownrealty.ca edimou@georgetownrealty.ca EFFIE DIMOU Sales Representative Thinking of buying or selling? Call Effie Dimou for all your real estate needs. 905-877-5211 Dir: 416-991-4247 Real Estate Centre Inc., Brokerage • your window & door professionals • 341 Guelph St., Unit 3 Georgetown 905.873.0236 www.buy-wise.ca info@buy-wise.ca • awarded readers choice 22 times • Visit our showroom Thursday, January 22, 2015 Halton Hills' award-winning newspaper serving Acton & Georgetown 64 Pages 50 Cents (+HST) Hockey Heritage's choice, pg. 46Visit us at www.theifp.ca facebook.com/Independent&FreePress Twitter: @IFP_11 Quebec visit HaltonHills Mayor Rick Bonnette made a quick trip to Quebec to press for Buy America reforms. See page 10 COMING DOWN The former Holy Cross Church is being demolished to make way for a seniors' residence. See page 11 By Lisa Tallyn ltallyn@theifp.ca 2015 taxes will go up Halton Hills residents will be pay- ing more property tax this year. The Town portion of the tax bill is going up $18 for every $100,000 of home assessment after Hal- ton Hills budget committee (all members of council) approved the $40,841,300 2015 operating budget with a 4.9 per cent increase Mon- day. The budget is expected to be ratified by Council on Monday (Jan. 26). So combining the Town's hike with the expected Region's 1.6 per cent increase and zero increase in the education rate the overall tax impact on local residents would be 2.6 per cent or $23 per $100,000 of assessment-- or a $92 rise in taxes for the average homeowner (with a home assessed at $400,000). Halton Region's budget is slated for approval Jan. 28. The Town's base budget is up by 2.7 per cent, plus 1.2 per cent for the fire levy (to support the hiring of fire personnel and help with Fire Department capital projects), and 1 per cent for the arena program (to finance the Acton Arena con- struction program), bringing the total to 4.9 per cent. Town taxes represent 42 per cent of the homeowner's tax bills Continued on page 3 The Milton Fire Department (MFD) and Halton Hills Fire Department were at the scene of a fully- involved house fire yesterday at 9340 Regional Road 25 in Halton Hills on the border with Milton. Huge black plumes of smoke could be seen over Milton's skyline, as crews worked to extin- guish the blaze at the single-storey home, which is north of Five Sideroad. Two occupants of the home were taken to Milton District Hospital as a precaution for smoke inhalation, according to MFD deputy chief Dave Pratt. It appears the fire started around 11:30 a.m. in the garage and spread to the house. There were eight trucks on scene, including three tankers and an aerial. It was made more challenging by a fully-in- volved Volkswagen Jetta parked in front of the ga- rage. There were also multiple explosions coming from the garage, which firefighters say were likely caused by aerosol cans. Fire crews battle house fire A Milton Fire Department crew battled a fire on Regional Rd. 25, which included a house, garage and vehicles on Wednesday. Photo by Graham Paine, Metroland Media Group