Residents in Quinte West will have to wait a little longer to see by how much their taxes are increasing.
Councillors in Quinte West voted on Monday night during their regular council meeting to defer the 2022 operating budget to a later date for further discussion.
Council asked staff last month to return to the table with a tax increase under 2% and they did so on Monday night with a budget of 1.93%.
Councillor Al Dewitt stated that while they do need to be cognizant, supporting the budget through reserves and cutting maintenance just leads to trouble down to the road.
“Using reserves, and also I see where we’re cutting maintenance budgets, remove $28,700 from the facilities and arena maintenance. Cutting maintenance or not doing preventative maintenance, I believe that adds to capacity and adds to trouble down the road,” he said.
He asked for a special meeting to further discuss the budget.
Councillor Terry Cassidy agreed and asked for the budget to be deferred.
He felt okay with a budget increase of 1.93% but was not comfortable with how staff got there.
In a recorded vote to defer the matter to a later date, only councillors Sally Freeman and DeWitt were the dissenting votes.
