Waterloo city council approved its budget for this year, which will see property tax bills increasing by a total of 5.45 per cent in 2023.
The city says the average tax bill will jump by around $76 to $1,478 in 2023.
“This budget strives to balance ongoing commitments and needs of the community; while also considering the potential impact of increases,” Coun. Diane Freeman stated.
“We are mindful that we are living in challenging economic times. This is the first city budget in over 20 years that is so severely impacted by inflation rates, which are at their highest level in decades.”
The city’s operating budget is $92.7 million with that money going to snow removal, sewer maintenance, fire protection, bylaw enforcement, road maintenance and repairs, parks, recreation, culture and leisure services, as well as youth and older adult programming.
The capital budget, which covers the costs of items such as affordable housing, arts and culture, sustainability and climate change as well as infrastructure maintenance like road repairs, comes in at $98.6 million.
Council also asked staff to look into sidewalk snow clearing in the city, a hot-button topic across the region these days.
Staff are being asked about potential improvements that will be considered for budgets going forward.