Saugeen Shores has nearly concluded the budget process for the upcoming year and they’re hoping to raise the municipal tax rate by 6%.
Staff proposed a 7.1% town levy hike and before council made suggestions at Tuesday’s meeting to bring that total down to six.
Rather than fund the Port Elgin beach enhancement design through taxation, council voted to use $120,000 from the waterfront reserve to cover that project, bringing the proposed rate to six and a half. Then they opted to use money from the tax stabilization fund to get it down further, which brings the blended rate of municipal, county and education taxes to 5.94%.
During discussions, Mayor Luke Charbonneau warned that if they don’t keep the tax increase in line with inflation, council could regret it, which is partly the reason Bruce County’s rate is so high this year.
“I benefit a little bit from the cautionary tale sitting on county council. You see that 7.91% that county council passed, the reason why was a chronic failure to increase it’s tax levies at the rate of inflation,” he said.
“I do not want to see the Town of Saugeen Shores in a cycle where it cannot fund core services. People don’t like tax increases, but what they like less is not having the services that they want.”
The final business plan and budget will return to council on Feb. 27.