The municipality of Bluewater approved its budget for the year at its council meeting on April 24.
Mayor Paul Klopp says he's happy with the final budget, given what they had to deal with.
“The overall increase of taxes is 6.81 per cent year over year increase from last year. On an average home in Bluewater, which is assessed at $246,000, it works out to a total increase of $77," Klopp stated.
For a seasonal recreation dwelling, which would average in Bluewater about $338,000, Klopp says the increase is $105 and for a farm with an average value of $1.2 million, the increase would be $94.
Klopp says they didn't have to take any money out of reserves to get to that number.
“But we didn't put as much money into reserves this year as we were hoping to do when we originally started at the budget. But we also have a number of major capital things that are going to get done this year that are going to long-term save considerable dollars and be here for the future," he said.
Klopp says one of the things they didn't plan on was a fairly narrow bridge on Rodgerville Road, but by widening that bridge, they'll allow a lot more vehicles as well as farm machinery to use it.