Kincardine council has passed the 2020 budget despite concerns about the relatively high 5.6 per cent municipal tax rate increase.
Director of Finance and Treasurer Roxana Baumann said the tax increase would work out to 3.17 per cent once county and school taxes are blended in.
The average property assessed at $275,000 would see a tax increase of about $107 a year.
She said the municipality is taking on an additional $11 million in new debt to make the investment in infrastructure.
"One of the significant projects we have this is for the replacement of the Huron Terrace Forcemain and that project alone is coming in at $8.6 million," she explained.
She added the rehabilitation of the Queen Street Bridge will cost almost $3 million.
Bauman said council recognized the tax rate increase was high.
"They also recognized the need to invest in capital, so this particular year, we do have a very aggressive capital plan of $24 million and that is going to really address some of our infrastructure needs," she added. "If we did exclude these debt charges from the calculation of the tax rate increase, really our overall operating expenses would have increased by only 1.7 per cent. So that's less than $400,000."
