UPDATE: Barrie City Council Gives Final Approval To 2016 Budget
Increase for average homeowner around $100
January 26 – Barrie City Council tweaked this year’s budget a bit before giving final approval last night. The end result is the same as we told you last week – a 2.9 per cent tax increase over last year with the average hit to the family budget about $100. Below are excerpts from our interview last week with Mayor Jeff Lehman on how the money will be spent.
January 19 – Barrie City Council is working toward a budget increase of 2.9 per cent this year. Councillors began fine-tuning the budget last night, cropping back from an initial increase of 3.6 per cent. Mayor Jeff Lehman says one per cent of the increase goes to the city’s infrastructure fund, which will help the city catch up on some much needed road work along Ferndale, Morrow and Mapleview…
Mayor Lehman says there’s also a focus this on economic development as the city continues to grow…
Among the cuts to the budget are a couple of hirings that had been proposed. Council could make more changes before final approval at next week’s council meeting. As it stands, the proposed increase would add about a hundred dollars to the average property tax bill this year. Mayor Lehman notes the 2.9 per cent increase is plus or minus a few tenths of a per cent when compared to increases in recent years.
