Written by Peter McIntyre Friday, 10 February 2012 15:40 Vernon council has managed to get this year's budget increase down to two percent, a big drop from the earlier eight percent. Mayor Rob Sawatzky says most of the cuts came from putting some infrastructure projects on hold. "Some of our capital works projects, we tried to balance that.You try to make sure you're not deferring capital works and maintenance that is going to cost you more money later on, and you hoped you've made wise decisions that way." Sawatzky says the two percent hike would add 20 dollars to the average homeowner's tax bill. He says council has had to deal with an eight percent jump in fixed costs for firefighters retroactive pay (1%), a pavement management plan (5%), and cost of living hikes (about 2%). "So that's right around eight percent that you're handed right off the start, so I think council and staff did good work to get it that level." Sawatzky says the budget is expected to be approved by council after another public input session, expected to be held in the next couple weeks. He says the next priority for council is hiring a new chief administrative officer. The application period closed at the end of January and Sawatzky says they had a lot of interest, but wasn't sure of the exact number.
1 comment:
When does the Core Review start?
Post a Comment