With the budget process set to move into the final stages and work still to be done, Mapleton council is currently looking at a 6.6 per cent levy increase for 2016.
That would translate into a $215 increase in the township portion of taxes on a residence assessed at $300,000 said Mayor Neil Driscoll.
Council has scheduled a special meeting for final budget review on Jan. 6 at 9am.
An open house to present the draft budget to the public is scheduled for Jan. 14, from 6 to 8pm at the Maryborough Community Centre in Moorefield.
Around $6.5 million worth of projects aimed at improving water and wastewater capacity, long a stumbling block to growth in Mapleton, and upgrading the Maryborough Community Centre and numerous road and bridge projects are among the capital items under consideration.
Continued work on the new municipal maintenance facility will also factor into capital spending plans. Availability of federal and provincial grant funding to offset project costs will also factor into decisions on the capital program.
If passed as currently projected, the budget would mark the second consecutive year of an increase of more than 6% in the municipal tax levy. The township’s 2015 budget was 6.18% higher than the previous year.
An asset management plan prepared in 2014 with the assistance of consultants Watson and Associates projected Mapleton should plan for a 5.8% levy increase every year for 10 years and 3.4% per year after that to generate enough funds to eliminate the municipality’s “infrastructure deficit.”
