It will be a couple more weeks before Kapuskasing Town Council finalizes its budget… and determines how much more you’ll pay this year in municipal taxes.
It was expected to happen Monday night, but Mayor Dave Plourde says a presentation about health care recruitment asking for financial support pushed it back.
That’s on top of demands for spending on needed work for infrastructure. The mayor says council is trying to avoid a punishing tax increase.
“It’s really a delicate balance,” he comments. “and so what we’ve done is we’ve sent it back to committee to add the extra request and see where we’re at at the next council meeting.”
Plourde is non-committal when asked for a ballpark estimate on what the tax increase will be.
“Right now it’s too early to tell,” he says, “but I think that we’re certainly looking at an increase, it’s just to what extent.”
Faced with all the same rising costs as every other municipality, Plourde says it’s important to communicate to taxpayers what it’s up against. That, he adds, will help everyone fully understand the pressures.
