The finish line is getting closer for the completion of Stratford’s 2023 draft budget.
Karmen Krueger, Director of Corporate Services and Treasurer for the City of Stratford, says the current draft budget reflects a 7.5 % increase over 2022 in terms of the tax levy.
If it goes through, that would mean a property assessed at $350,000.00 would pay an additional $250 in taxes on top of what they paid last year.
Krueger says inflation is playing a role in increased costs for the maintenance, repair, and replacement of hard infrastructure as are supply chain issues.
As part of the budget process, two lengthy Finance and Labour Relations Committee meetings were held, the most recent on Tuesday night, where the heads of various city departments have said what they are hoping for as far as the budget goes.
Krueger says seven new job positions have been tentatively approved in the draft budget, including some existing jobs that are changing from part-time to full-time and others that are morphing from one type to another.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Councilor Cody Sebben said he’s troubled by where they currently are with the budget and its increase over last year.
He said many residents will find it tough to keep up with and asked for a vote to have staff review their 2023 budget to see if there was anything that could be deferred until 2024.
That was countered by Mayor Martin Ritsma and several other councilors including Brad Beatty who said it wasn’t fair to ask staff to go back and look over their budgets that they have already completed.
Sebben’s motion was defeated.
The next budget meeting in Stratford is scheduled for March 7th.
