It’s getting down to crunch time for South Bruce Peninsula budget talks.
Mayor John Close tells Bayshore Broadcasting News they are a bit behind schedule, but he hopes to have final numbers by the end of March.
At Wednesday’s Council meeting — Close noted they still have a budget shortfall of a few hundred thousand dollars that needs to be addressed in order to attain a tax rate increase of zero per cent this year.
He says part of that gap will be closed by deferring some money earmarked for a new fire truck — paring it down from a cost of 170 thousand to 100 thousand dollars.
Councillors noted there is no immediate need to replace the existing trucks this year, but they do want to build a reserve for the future.
Close says there are also some high priority infrastructure projects in the works.
Those include 300 thousand dollars worth of work on the Claude Street reconstruction project in Wiarton, as well as 167 thousand for repairs to the D-Line.
Close adds he wishes the budget process was moving more quickly, but he remains happy with the progress they’ve made so far.
