The mayor of the Municipality of Lunenburg thinks there is a lot of good news in the budget approved Tuesday night.
Don Downe says for the 12th year in a row they’ll be running a surplus, this time of $80,000.
And, he says, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
“When I first came here, a number of years ago now, our debt was at about $19-million,” he says, “It’s now at $6.8-million and we will be debt free by 2020-22 which is only a few years away from now.”
Downe adds, the more than $2.7-million dollars set aside for capital projects won’t require any additional borrowing.
He says funding for the environment was a theme during deliberations.
More than $500,000 was earmarked for sewer infrastructure and straight pipe solutions.
Meanwhile, tax rates are staying the same for both residential and commercial properties.
Downe says they’ve also set aside $75,000 to provide tax rebates for those who need it most.
“That gives an individual $100 to a maximum of $400 of a grant from the municipality to help with their property taxes based on their income.”
The total operating budget for the municipality comes in at just over $29.4-million.
