The city is looking for ways to slash the tax hike by almost two per cent. Early numbers were showing a nine per cent increase, which included both property tax and property assessment increases. The property tax rate was going up by almost three per cent. Council is now asking for a report to bring that hike down to one per cent.
Mayor Steve Black says the city needs to balance out capital spending with the operating budget. He says if they are spending on capital investments, he is happy with that because it means they can catch up on the infrastructure deficit, and put some funds away for future investing. He says they have had multiple studies show that more capital dollars would be beneficial to the city.
City staff is going to bring a report back to council next week with options to lower the tax increase from almost three per cent to one per cent.
Previous story: Early budget numbers show a nearly 9 per cent tax hike in 2016