Hearst town council has passed it’s 2025 budget with a four per cent tax increase.
That means homeowners with an unchanged property assessment of $100,000 will see an$80 increase a year, while the hike of commercial properties is $88.
Administrator Eric Picard says it was a challenging time for staff in putting the numbers together.
“It’s trying to find ways of keeping the operation going with less costly expenses to make us think outside the box,” he said. “One of the things I’m very proud of is budget is the operational budget which only increased one per cent this year so that’s really good.”
Several streets in Hearst are getting upgraded as part of the town’s 2.1 million capital works budget this year.
Picard says one of the main streets where Hearst High School and the arena are located on is in pretty bad shape.
“We are going to be doing a portion of our Edward Street just the surface, the surface has gotten really bad and definitely needed,” he said. “We are going to continue our work three years on the work on Maison Neuve section of town where we want to get all the streets done.”
