Belleville City Council approved the guidelines for the 2025 Operating Budget at its meeting Monday.
The guidelines were put together through surveys sent out to the public.
When asked about current taxation, related to tax-funded services, the city says that 42 per cent of respondents to the surveys preferred to maintain taxation even if it meant reducing some discretionary tax-funded services.
As for services the respondents would like to maintain, the top three were doctor recruitment at 58%, long-term care at 34%, and road and sidewalk maintenance also at 34%.
Finally, when it comes to user fees, respondents were supportive of increases to dog tags, pools, sports fields and recreation programs, with over 45% of respondents, and arenas and museum services getting 55%.
One of the guidelines laid out in the report calls for overall residential property tax rate increases not to exceed 5%.
A link to the full report can be found at the City of Belleville’s website.
