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Couple rings in new year with their first child BY SANDRA BOLAN Staff Writer Little Teanna Tsirigotis arrived at 8:25 a.m. on Jan. 1, making her Stouffville’s first baby of 2009. Teanna, who weighed in at seven pounds, 14 punc- es, is also the first child for Jenny and Peter Tsirigotis. “Words can’t even explain how exactly it is," Mr. Tsi- rigotis said. “It’s a lifeâ€" changing experience." Throughout Mrs. Tsirigo- tis' pregnancy, friends and family were convinced the couple was going to have aboy. - Mom knew otherwise, without medical confirma- tion. ' “I just had an inkling it was a female because of how I carried,” she said. ' Teanna was actually due on Dec. 31, but was born via C-section a day later. “We're just blessed that she came,” Mrs. Tsirigotis said. “They say how you spend your New Year’s day is how you will be spending the rest of your year." For the Tsirigotis family, that means changing a lot of diapers. Markham’s Joshua Parsa, b seconds after mid~ n1 ht, was the first baby born at Markham Stouffville Hospital in 2009. Mom figured she was having a girl Jenny and Peter Tsirigotis and their first child, Teanna, back at home in Stouflvifle. Teanna was born Ian. 1 at Markham Stoufivifle Hospital, the first baby from Stouffville born there in 2009. STAFF PHOTO/SJOERD WITTEVEEN BY SANDRA BOLAN Staff Writer Whitchurch-Stouffville’s draft budget proposes a 5.9-per-cent municipal tax hike, which translates into an increase of $61 per household assessed at $360,000. “It's a draft budget only,” Mayor Wayne Emmerson said at Tuesday morning’s public release of the document. “Council now has an opportunity to go over this." Previous budgets used an assessed home value of $330,000. However, according to Marc Pourvahidi, Whitchurch-Stouflville's director of finance and treasurer, existing home values have actually increased by about 20 per cent. The new number takesinto account newer homes. The proposed budget calls for an overall operating budget increase of $815,108, which includes a 212-per-cent increase in planning and building services. The department was created last November after the development services department was dissolved. 5.9 % tax hike proposed by town A 27-per-cent increase to the leisure ser- vices budget is also proposed, as is a 12â€"per- cent hike to the fire department and lO-perâ€" cent to the administrative budgets. A library giant increase of 15 per cent, or $113,485, is also being proposed. Various town departments have requested a total of 13 new staff positions for 2009 that includes four additional firefighters and two additional captains, which are required in order to provide around-the-clock staffing Additional stafir members in departmental proposals Opinion . . . ‘ Things to do Sports . . . . . Classified . . Sec BUDGET, page 12‘