Saugeen Shores council has started taking a look at its proposed budgets for 2016.
Councillors got their first look at the draft capital budget, which proposes to boost capital spending to $10.1-million next year, which includes $1.3-million in new spending from the tax levy.
Deputy Treasurer Sue Dent says if no changes were made, it would mean the average property tax bill would increase $154 next year, and that's without considering any increases on the operating side, with that budget scheduled to be presented in December.
Dent says staff is proposing to cut the tax-funded portion of the capital budget from $2-million to 5-million down to about $1.55-million, which would reduce the tax increase to about $40.
Mayor Mike Smith says he wants to see the operating budget before making any final decisions, but says they may have to go even further with cuts to get to a tax increase that he will support.
"(Staff) made a recommendation that we go to $1.55-million (in tax levy funded capital projects), which would include a 3% increase in the levy on that portion of our budget alone. That would be the upper limit for me because we've got operating to look at also, and so we're going to see another 2% or 3% or 4% in operating, I don't know, so that would cumulatively be 6% or 7%. There's no way I'll vote for a 7% (tax levy increase) budget," says Smith.
