The 2010 budget in Brockton is almost a done deal.
Mayor Charlie Bagnato says council spent the past two days working on the document and ratepayers are looking at a 1.4 per cent municipal tax hike.
That would mean an additional 13 dollars on a home assessed at 125 thousand dollars.
Bagnato says he was aiming for a zero per cent increase.
He told all department heads back in October that he wanted them to start chopping in anticipation of a zero increase.
However, Bagnato says 1.4 per cent is pretty close and they may even be able to get it down a bit more before passing the final document at the end of April.
He says some departments have grid increases in wages that can’t be avoided but otherwise they did a good job holding the line.
Bagnato says the recreation department wanted to make the Horticulturist a full time job but that was turned down because this is just not the year for new hires.
Bagnato recognizes that Brockton could not have achieved a 1.4 per cent increase if they had suffered a loss in provincial funding like so many local municipalities.
Instead, Brockton’s Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding actually went up by a few thousand dollars.
Bagnato also says more good news is in for Brockton and all other municipalities in Bruce County because the County budget will be passed on April 1st with a 0 per cent increase.