Common Council Gets Ready For Belt Tightening As Budget Deliberations Begin

Common Council gets down to budget deliberations in earnest tonight after learning its unconditional grant from the province will be cut next year by 200 thousand dollars. That, along with a freeze on property assessments, is going to make it challenging to say the least, according to Mayor Ivan Court.

The Mayor estimates the city spends something like 800 thousand dollars on community events and that could be in jeopardy. City Police and the Fire Department have been told to limit their budget increases next year to an even 1 per cent.

Court says Council will have to distinguish between wants and needs with the needs coming first and the wants getting any money that may be left over.

The budget is not expected to be ready until sometime in January.