NIPIGON – With over half a year into the new term, Nipigon council has made some strides in moving the township forward, but there are some long overdue agenda items they need to get off the books.
One of which is the 2023 municipal budget, which council plans to have complete by Aug. 1.
Nipigon Mayor Suzanne Kukko explains that “in a normal year, we would probably be looking have our first operating budget meeting in sort of in November.”
The challenge with having a brand-new municipal council is the amount of time for training in municipal procedures.
“I'm thinking that because we're pretty much all a new council there's some education involved there that had to be done prior. So, it took us a little bit of time to get to approve our operating or our capital budget,” Kukko added.
Council has directed the administration to focus on a three per cent tax increase.
According to Kukko, the rationale behind a three per cent increase is the price of doing business, specifically major rises in gas, equipment, repairs, and utilities costs.
“With the way things have gone in the last three years. We're hoping that will prepare us for any upcoming increases in service,” said Kukko.
On a positive note, Kukko said their operating budget is “extremely healthy.”
"We’ve got a good solid tax base," she said. "We've got a good commercial tax base which we really appreciate. Not every small municipality in northwestern Ontario has that. We're very lucky and we have some great future prospects as well for commercial and new builds and things like that.
Moving forward, Kukko explains that once this year’s budget is accomplished, council will be ready to start looking into next year’s come November.
With files from Leigh Nunan, TBT News
