Kitchener approves budget following marathon meeting
Posted Jan 31, 2014 05:22:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kitchener city council has approved a 2014 budget increase of less than one per cent after 11 hours of deliberations and a vote of 10-1.
Council approved a tax rate increase of .99 percent which means 10 extra dollars for the year for the average homeowner.
Councillor and Chair of the finance and corporate services committee Scott Davey says residents wanted a tax increase in line with the rate of inflation and they were able to make that happen with transfers of funds and 8 new revenue sources.
Davey says they were also able to make a 136 thousand dollar dent in the city’s chronic deficit…where they keep coming up short on money that they budget for year after year
Also included in the budget is a 3 percent hike in the city’s storm water rate.
Kitchener increased the water rate .75 percent and .5 percent for sewer rates. When the regional portion is added on it is a total of 3.5 And 5 percent respectively.
Two additional bylaw staff have been added to reduce response time and two additional information technology staff to implement and support technologies to expand mobile computing. According to Davey, that can lead to more productivity from one employee instead of hiring more.
