Kincardine Council got a look at preliminary budget numbers which would represent a 10 per cent tax rate increase if the package was approved as presented last night. The proposed operating budget shows a revenue shortfall of 1.1 million dollars, mainly due to reducing the town's dependence on dividends from municipality owned utilities. $600,000 from Bruce Telecom, and $65,000. from Westario Power will go to a Lifecycle Reserve Fund. The budget also includes a 3% infrastructure levy for asset management. 1.9 million dollars would go into the Lifecycle Reserve Fund for long term capital projects, but 1.6 million is being applied to the budget. Other factors contributing to a 2016 increase include an increase of $470,000 dollars in the cost of wages and benefits, and $115,000 in legal fees for arbitration in the unsuccessful Bruce Telecom sale. There's also $78,000. for reserves to replace money used to pay for a baseline acoustic noise study, $50,000. for the natural gas study, and $40,000. for an economic development budget. The capital budget includes 41 high priority projects, including a million for the airport runway, and $874,000 for a municipal parking lot.
