South Bruce councillors have a long way to go to get their budget down to a manageable leve.
South Bruce Mayor Bill Goetz says they met last night and they’re looking at an 8% increase with a budget around the 7-million-dollar mark.
Goetz says they’d like to whittle that down to a 2.5 per cent increase.
But he says it’s difficult when the police costs come in at a 9 per cent increase and the Saugeen Conservation Authority at an 8 per cent increase.
He says they have no control over that.
Goetz said on his wish list is the province picking up the funding for these organizations like it was before they were downloaded by the Mike Harris government.
In the meantime, council is going to have to look at cutting elsewhere and he suspects it will probably be in road and bruce work in the municipality.
He says some repairs will be put off and some road paving will be postponed.
Council has already met four times on the budget and they’ll do it a fifth time on March 17th.