West Grey will be in a lot better shape budget-wise this year than many of their neighbours.
Mayor Kevin Eccles says they started out at a 10 per cent increase but managed to whittle that down to 5 per cent — and when all is said and done — they should be looking at about a 2 per cent hike.
Eccles says they’ve been able to save a few bucks in the operational budget thanks to a fairly mild winter this year.
He says they’ve also put off a couple of construction projects but for the most part they will be able to complete most of their capital projects.
Eccles says West Grey was able to save money from past provincial infrastructure funds and spread it out.
And unlike other municipalities in the region — West Grey has not had their provincial funding slashed..in fact they received close to 130 thousand dollars this year, which Eccles says has brought them up to where they should be.
The biggest project on the books this year is the refurbishment of the Durham Community Centre and Arena to the tune of about 800 thousand dollars.
However government funding will cover up to half a million of that.
And Eccles says they’re also going to redo about 3 km of South Mulock Road for which private contributors will also be picking up some of the costs.
He says they’ll wait until Grey County approves their budget before finalizing the West Grey figures likely in mid April.