The only thing keeping the 2009 Huron-Kinloss budget from passing is setting the tax rate.
Council went over a couple of options offered by Treasurer Jodi MacArthur at Monday night’s meeting.
One option was to deliver a 5.9 percent increase in the levy which would result in a 16 dollar increase based on a 200 thousand dollar assessment.
The other option — the preferred option from staff — was an increase of over 6 percent that would see another 29 dollars on the tax bill based on a 200 thousand dollar assessment.
The majority of Council agreed to the 2nd option and a draft by-law will be up for a vote at the April 20th meeting.
Mayor Mitch Twolan says this is a re-assessment year and not all properties went up at the same rate.
He says the best way to explain the tax situation is that the overall mill rate is going down an average of 1.35 percent from last year.
He says that will be the case assuming the County tax rate will be at 4.69 percent and with the education rate going down from last year.
Twolan says Council has gone through a long budget process beginning with their capital forecast in November.
He says while the budget hasnt officially passed they did do their due diligence.
He says they are running a multi-million dollar corporation and they have to do what is best for the corporation at the end of the day.
He says they also had to consider some of the job losses happening in the Township and around the region.