At least 2 councillors oppose town budget

At least two Cochrane councillors have indicated they will oppose the 2024 town budget when it returns for a vote on Dec. 11.

At last night's committee-of-the-whole meeting, council heard how adjustments made during budget deliberations potentially crept up the increase to as high as 4.62 per cent before adjustments were made to lower it to 3.63. At the beginning of deliberations, a 3.45 per cent increase, net growth, was proposed.

• Council opts for 3.85% tax increase to hire more firefighters

When you add in utility increases, the 2024 increase amounts to just under $225 for the average Cochrane home assessed at $561,200.

That didn't sit well with Councillor Morgan Nagel, who says they could have bared down even harder while producing the budget.

"I came into this budget deliberation with pretty high expectations that I wanted us to deliver on, particularly in terms of fiscal prudence and I feel we haven't exhausted every opportunity to get the tax rate even lower."

For Councillor Marni Fedeyko it was about unanswered questions on expenditures.

"The fact that I think that I've just had so many questions," said Fedeyko. "I've asked for different things to be showcased to me or different possibilities that we could consider as council that just have not been brought forward, so with that, I can't support it."

It was in contrast to views expressed by councillors Alex Reed and Patrick Wilson, who believe it shows fiscal responsibility.

Council agreed to add four full-time firefighters in the second quarter of 2024, extend hours in the vestibule of The Station for $8,000, and add $150,00 towards the completion of an affordable housing action plan by drawing from reserves.

Councilor Tara McFadden was not present at the meeting.

The proposed budget looks destined to be approved, but there are normally spring adjustments after supplementary requisitions are completed.

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