Residents in Leamington will see a 1.5% tax levy increase in 2016.
Leamington council finalized the budget today at noon. The increase will amount in an extra $355,899 of tax revenue resulting in a total tax levy of $22,008,536. It equates to a $29 increase for the average urban home assessed at $175,000.
Mayor John Paterson says they put an emphasis on capital improvements in this year budget.
"Everything that needs to be done in our municipality, not just waterlines and sewers and not big sparkly things either. It's just a combination of everything we feel should make everybody happy in one way or another," says Paterson.
The town is taking $8,776,000 from reserves to complete the additional capital projects.
"We are dipping into our reserves more than we have in the past but we still remain in a very, very stable level and after we past this year we will be able to start adding back into our reserves and building them up," says Paterson.
The municipality is also hiring four new staff including a tourism officer to promote all town events and tourist attractions.