Chatham-Kent councillors have approved a 0% tax increase for this year's municipal budget.
A final cut of $396,000 came when council agreed to forego principal and interest reductions in infrastructure until 2016.
Budget Chair Derek Robertson has been preaching for council to "own" the budget, and says they did this year. "It took a significant path that was one council absolutely owned. We delivered the first budget tax freeze that the municipality has seen in a very long time."
Not everyone was happy with the decision. Councillor Joe Faas voted down the budget, saying this already puts council behind come 2016. "We've got $369,000 to include in [next year's] budget, so we're behind the eight ball by that much right off the bat."
Another big factor in reducing the tax impact was a recent adjustment to the inflation rate. Between November and February, the inflation rate has dropped from 2% to 1.5%.