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Budget up 41 per cent Regional levy down 12 7 per cent in Acton Regions Adminis tration Committee will re commend acceptance of a regional budget of an Increase of per cent in spending over tbe 1877 actual spending Because of the chargeback system calling for each com to pay for work in the community the Impact of the budget varies dramatically from one urban area to another Acton will see 127 per cent reduction in the regional levy while Georgetown faces a whopping 38 per cent In crease In the urban part of town In MUton the Increase Is per cent Burlington per cent and per cent After noting that Acton la the only municipality in the region to enjoy a decrease this year Mayor Harry Barrett blasted treasurer Don Farmer You mean you had the nerve to tell us that we should go to equalized water rates to bail Acton out and now Acton Is the only one to receive a de crease Barrett asked Farmer pointed out the heavy increase In George town this year Is due largely to debentures coming on stream for the sewage plant He suggested that Acton paid a large share of Its sewer and water needs through a surcharge that doesn show on the mill rate Their plant comes on stream next year and then look out Farmer said He claimed that while there was a decrease In Acton this year a heavy Increase could be anticipated once the sewage plant debentures come on stream The committee members were pleased with the final budget estimates At one point the budget called for a 10 per cent overall Increase The committee sent the budget back to the respective standing committees for reconsideration end In some areas direction to make sub stantial cuts In the last round sub stantial cuts were made in the areas of public works Social and Community Services and the Board of Health In all the budget was trimmed by In the last round Councillor Carl one of the chief proponents of slashing budget con gratulated the committees for taking a severe look at the estimates and making reduc tions While he congratulated the groups which did make cuts he blasted the police com mission for reducing the by a mere HO noted that budget had skyrocketed from In 1074 to In Mayor and Police Commissioner Harry Barrett defended the commission s effort to hold the line but wasn t satisfied I so fed up with the sacred cow To come back and say sorry is Just not good enough beard about taking services over In the northandalltberestoflt But led to believe the level of service tbe level of protec tion and crime reduction is falling in spite of big budget increases The police budget is completely out of whack he said Barrett said be refute the contention that police service is costly but noted the high cost of policing Is In line with the high cost of regional government Burlington Councillor David Coons said the com mission bad gone over tbe budget line by line and he indicated they may even have to add dollars to the budget because fear they have under budgeted In overtime Coons said the commission was urging changes that would see fewer remands take less police tune in court and allow police to be out in the street more of the time Of the that will be required will be levied back to the area municipalities and the balance will come from grants and subsidies from the province and revenues generated In the region INSIDE THIS Spring babes WEEK Track field Ann Thumb saved PAGES ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY APRIL 1978 One and Third Year No Fundraising projects planned for town hall The Town Hall Restoration committee Monday decided on a series of money raising projects Including a cam for pledges A campaign organization is being set up to line up donations for the project Meetings have already been held Anyone wishing to assist with this would be welcome Back to Acton Days will be the focus of most of their enthusiastic plans There will be a draw with ticket sales starting before long The prize money will be half of the total raised In the draw Souvenir plates are being ordered and Souvenir Tshirts will be printed These will both be on sale at the Back to Acton Days Both will of course display a picture of the old MAMA LLAMA at Klahame Wildlife Game Pre serve heralds spring See Page Second chance for TOWn Hall Set Citizens Band grant as theme for Back to Acton Support of the town hall will once again be the theme for the Business Association sponsored Back to Acton Days festivities It was agreed at an organizational meeting last Thursday About 20people gathered with Ideas for the event which is being held July l weekend Community spirit and activities were stressed over the business end of the ac tivities Business Association president Ed Wood remarked at the opening of the meeting If this Is to be a community project it would be better If we each worked for one thing instead of each lining his own pocket There was some question as to whether the stores should be open for the Saturday activities Tbe point was made that If the stores were dosed the Back to Acton committee would be saying to customers come on down but we doot want your business Because tbe Saturday of Back To Acton Days will be Julyl a legal holiday stores will have to get permission to open It was decided the committee will leave Ihe decision up to the individual merchants with the recommendation they open At the start of the meeting Mr Wood outlined several ideas for communityoriented activities which could be held and many more followed at the meeting Only two of the plans are definite now The Lions Club will be running a bingo in the centre of the street and guides and brownies will be making name tags for people to promote community friendship In addition to the bingo the Lions are looking Into the possibility of making photo buttons on the spot This would depend on whether they could get the equipment or not Terry Grubbe has proposed a parade all through town to start off the weekend basing her idea on similar parades which were staged traditionally In Acton for the Dominion Day week end A parade Continued on Pap 2 Acton C Band will have a chance to present their esse to Halton Hills finance committee in an attempt to keep t at 860 Last week the committee asked them to reduce It to 360 At council meeting Monday night Councillor Peter Marks asked it be referred back to committee to give the band a chance to explain their views Councillor Miller Eventually the whole item including the Acton Agricul Society cutback to from the It asked and the Georgetown Agricultural Society grant which had been dropped entirely were sent back to committee for further discussion town hall A series of short stories will be prepared to appear In the Free Press These Town Hall Tales will recount ex perlences and memories of older residents Any people with anecdotes to share ore asked to contact any member of the town hall restoration committee A bake sale will be held in front of the town hall Itself on May It is hoped some of the souvenir plates will be here to be sold that day For the Back to Acton days dance on Willow St com members are thinking of going Ins de the hall and arranging to have t filled with light There is adequate wiring both downstairs and upstairs for this Dr Elliott the chairman of the committee says the group Is also pur suing the matter of grants The hopedfor grant from the Ontario Heritage Foundation was withheld until the town council showed more involvement in the project as the owners of the property GLEAMING PLAQUE lists all the firefighters names as well as that of Chief Mick Holmes Making the presentation at the Citizen of the Year dinner right is Chamber of Commerce president Jake Kuiken Chief Holmes and trict chief Bern Van Fleet accept the plaque surrounded by fellow firefighters More inside today s Free Press Chief and firefighters 1978 Citizens of Year Commission to clarify police office deal Regional Police Commission scanned a draft agreement for rental of the new Acton offices In Murray Memorial YMCA Building The commission will go into detail concerning payment of taxes hydro and heat Also to be clarified is the towns office employees right to go to the washroom when tbey need to Commissioner Glenn said office workers could be given a key to tbe outside door in tbe summer The draft agreement permits town staff access to use washroom and storage facilities in the basement The commission thought the agreement gave access during office hours only Commissioner Harry Barrett of Oakville Indicated agreement with ihe town concerning parking stations in front of the Mill Street building If tbe town puts up posts we will pay to paint them Barrett said The commission was not sure If It would be paying taxes on per cent of the entire YMCA building or a percentage of the space Halton Hills rents from the The commission was also unsure of tbe metering for ACTON MAJOR ATOMS GOT a tour through town on the old 1927 Studebaker firetmck Saturday Tbey drove alt aver town shouting Were number one as they went Members of zone champion team are Tim Garton Scott Nolan Steven Tony VanDam Grant Smith Berry Mike Hudson Robbie Porte Terry Jamie Lawson Bruce David Thomas and Sandy Coaches are Bob and Andy Berry Bob is manager Herb is driving the truck hydro and water services Chief Ken Skerrett said he was sure there was room at the back of the building to park three cars He added however access to lot Is by a narrow driveway Discussion alto touched on the parking of the private cars of police officers Halton Regional Police Association President Al told commissioners two cars were damaged at Acton recently a wild spot that Acton mayor Barrett commented 14 estate homes plan A plan to build estate homes with ail lots over two acres on Highway south of Acton was explained to Hills planning board Wednesday night The acre parcel of land on Lot is zoned rural at present and would require an amendment to the Official Plan and toning bylaw William Long representing Michael Mitchell Properties explained mere Is 80S feet of frontage on Highway with per cent of it covered with mature trees He said tbe land t appear to have been actively farmed for some years He said there would be an internal road feet wide Mr Long said two blocks of land on Highway 25 would be held with any designation the town desires He suggested it mi be commercial some time in the future Tbe development would have private wells and septic tanks Councillor George Maltby asked if the land was near the nursing home Mr Long retailed he believed tbe nursing borne was south of the property plan was turned over to the planning department Names of members or Acton fire brigade and Chief Mick Holmes ore all engraved on the large plaque which honors this years Citizens of the Year Chief Holmes and the were the 1978 choice of the Chamber of Commerce and the dinner and dance day In the Music Centre was in their honor The record sized plaque was presented to the chief by Chamber president Jake Kuiken Councillor Duby read the formal citation and presented them with It as a memento A standing ovation greeted the introduction of the men All were called by name to stand Those with the longest service over years each- are Chief Holmes and Sam Tennant Specially mentioned were district chief Bern Van Fleet and district deputy chief Alt captains Herb Dodds Duval and Brent Marshall All the men spontaneously thronged to the head table to shake Chief Holmes hand All were in full dress uni form for the occasion with boutonleres presented by the Chamber There were cor sages for their wives and a huge bouquet of spring blooms for Chief Holmes mother Holmes In appreciation of Chief Mick Holmes assistance Productions gave the a complete set of their training film trips and cassettes Through Peter Saxon had learned of the lack of Canadian training material for fire fighters His company pre pared the of the set and now are being ordered widely The first of the set are done and the remaining 14 will also be delivered to the Acton brigade when they are finished made the presentation on behalf of Productions Kevin Conroy Introduced the program starting with the traditional request for Fred Wright to say Grace Volunteers sell bicycle licenses For the third year In a row Regional Police Con stable Tom is organizing a special day for the pur chase cycle 1 censes The day is arranged for the convenience of those with b cycles who arc cither n school or at work during the hours that the pal off are open With this special day being on a Saturday no one has any excuse not to renew or purchase a cense Cons Roduck says Failure to a I cense is an infraction of a Halton Hills by law and is subject All b 1 censes are registered with a central computer in Montreal If the vehicle Is stolen police can call in the serial number and locate the owner even if was stolen in Acton and recovered in Vancouver Constable Alex and local resident Pop Main will Allarevolunteenngtheirtime L censes can be purchased at the municipal offices Mill St April EuroCan caterers the hot dinner Past Citizens of the Year Mr Wright Dave Dills and Frank Ookes were welcomed Chamber secretary Janet Fleming presented the flowers to Mrs Holmes and thanked all the firefighters wives Frank M P congratulated the Chamber on their fine choice and read a citation from Prime Minister Trudeau M Julian Reed spoke stressing the word volun teer In relation to the fire department Chief Holmes spoke on behalf of the recipients of the award thanking everyone for the honor bestowed on them He said they were glad to be able to give the service required Dancing followed to Discus with a friendly crowd enjoy the evening together Sour note while the group was inside hub caps were taken from cars parked out side and gas siphoned from tanks of cars caps were located and returned to their owners although Dr left without realizing his were gone He had two other Continued on Page MCKENZIESMITH Students fill the stage in designed to get the cast ready for their public preparation for the grand finale of Gribert and performances tonight and tomorrow There are Sullivan s H M S Pinafore Monday in a per two complete casts for the show one going on before schoolmates which was stage tonight and the other tomorrow