The mayor of Saugeen Shores is pleased with the first round of budget talks, despite the tax increase currently being proposed.
Mike Smith says the draft capital budget presentations were a good opportunity to learn about the potential projects for 2015, while gauging council's interest in which projects will ultimately move forward in the final budget.
The draft capital budget contains nearly $9-million in proposed spending, with $2-million to be supported by the tax levy, an increase of 7.6 per cent compared to the 2014 capital budget.
Smith says he would like to see about $750,000 cut, which would bring the tax levy increase down to just over 1 per cent, but admits he needs to see the operating budget before making any firm decisions.
"I think we really need that information about operating, because there's going to be some other strains in it from operating, from the police, from snow removal that added extra costs and we've got to bring all those into it. Then we'll start putting our hands up and down, picking which projects will stay and which won't," says Smith.
Saugeen Shores budget talks are set to resume on January 13 with operating budget presentations.