Essex Mayor Ron McDermott admits councillors will have a lot of cutting to do if they want to get the municipal tax levy down to less than 2%.
Budget deliberations are underway, and so far the town's director of corporate services won't say how much of an increase residents can expect to see in the levy. Donna Hunter says she wants to get closer to balancing the books first and admits the town may have to get creative with its reserves to achieve that.
A 1% increase would generate $120,000 in revenue.
McDermott admits it all depends on how much money is in the pot but there are some road projects he doesn't think should wait.
"There's work that needs to be done on the 3rd and the 4th [Concessions] out Colchester way," he says. "The 14th, we'll probably finish up and Walker Sideroad."
Budget deliberations continue at 4:30pm Thursday, February 11.