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Thursday, D ecem ber 31, 2015 - The IFP - H alton H ills - w w w .theifp.ca Page 11 Georgetown's trusted choice for hearing care 360 Guelph St., Unit 44 Georgetown (In the Knolcrest Centre) 905.877.8828 FREE consultation 90 day RISK FREE trial Armstrong Ave Delrex Blvd Better hearing begins here. Once again Town charges and user fees will go up effective January 2016. Halton Hills Council approved the fee changes at the December Council meeting. The money gen- erated from these fees are an important source of rev- enue for the Town, help- ing to offset an increase in the taxpay- er-portion of the budget. The majority of departments ap- plied a general 2-3 per cent index on their fees with some exceptions: • Finance: higher fees for services requiring postage and paper/printing. • No changes to the Fire Services charges related Open Air Burning and Preventable False Alarms. • Clerks: There is an average of 2% increase overall within the fees asso- ciated with business licenses. The 2% increase is in keeping with the fees charged by neighbouring municipali- ties, and in a number of cases are low- er than neighbouring municipalities. • Building Services: Except for the building permit fees for three catego- ries of new residential buildings all other Build- ing Services fees have been in- creased by 2.0%. As per the Building Code Act the building permit fees must not exceed the anticipated reasonable costs of the principal authority to administer and enforce the Act. Accordingly, no increase of the permit fees for the new single, semi and town houses (any area) has been proposed for the year 2016 as it was estimated that the cur- rent fees cover the actual costs of the issuance of permits and performing the mandatory inspections for the said categories of buildings. • Engineering: A new fee has been established for Municipal Access Agreements. This is an annual admin- istration fee of $5,000 that will be used for the planning, review and co-ordi- nation process of any plan with the Town's Right-of-way. Recreation and Parks: Town's fees fall generally in the medium to high ranges of the regional rate compari- sons so here are the following excep- tions to a zero % increase: • Park rentals - Rates have been ad- justed in the range of 0 to 6% to bring the rates in line with the propor- tional premiums/ discounts offered to non-local and youth groups. • Lights - Sportsfield light- ing has been in- creased by 3% due to area market conditions and operating costs. •  Event Sup- port - Loan of equipment, event clean up, mobile vendors permit, garbage bags, por- table bleacher rental and snow fence supply have had an increase of 3% due to area market conditions or in- creased materials costs. • Sportsfields - Local and non-lo- cal rates have been kept at 3% to bring the rates in line with the proportional premiums/discounts offered to Adult local, non-local and youth groups. Staff has completed a thorough in- ternal analysis and market compari- son of swimming passes and reduced most pass fees by 5-20% to encourage better uptake and value for fee for each pass. • Hall and meeting room space rental rates have been reviewed and adjusted by 1.5%. • Cemeteries: Rates have increased by 3% in line with the regional com- parators. The Town will review all of its rates and user fees in a study in 2016. NEWS Town user fees will see increase starting Jan. 1 ADAMS EQUIPMENT Hours of operation: 7:30 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday; 8 am to 5 pm Saturday; Closed on Sunday SALES, SERVICE, RENT-ALL INC. 334 Guelph Street Georgetown, Ontario L7G 4B5 Tel: 905-877-0157 Fax: 905-877-0159 www.adamsequipment.ca We Service Snow Removal Equipment Rentals For EVERY need! • Tools & lawn equipment • Skidsteers, excavators & trenchers • Light construction equipment Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season.