There are 81 million reasons why Bruce County is satisfied with their 2009 budget.
Council passed their budget at yesterday’s Corporate Services meeting in Walkerton.
The budget contains close to 81 million dollars in spending — up 3 percent from last year — with 33 million raised through taxation.
The tax levy will go up 4.69 percent — which includes 1.8 percent in growth — and that will mean every household in Bruce County will see another 23 dollars on their tax bill for every 167 thousand dollars of assessment.
Warden Bill Goetz says the budget — passed yesterday at their Corporate Service meeting — is a reasonable budget for both the County and the ratepayers.
He says you are always moving ahead and you can’t always be trying to save money because it will be tough trying to catch up the following year.
Goetz says part of the reason is that 2009 is a re-assessment year and expects the value of property will go up the next four years.
He says that threw a wrench into their plans and households will continue to pay more in property taxes until the rise in assessment comes to a halt.
Council had concerns about the additional staff being proposed by Tourism and Emergency Services.
But Goetz says they were satisfied with what they heard from the department heads adding Council “grilled” them pretty good in getting the answers they want.
Goetz says there are things that the County can’t control like the social programs being downloaded by the Province.
He says they tell municipalities what to do but don’t provide the funds to pay for it.
Goetz says the County does the best that they can and is moving ahead.