Deliberations are over and the Town of Bridgewater is ready to table their 2016-17 budget.
The numbers have yet to be officially approved but they have been finalized.
Council and staff started working on the numbers last fall.
Mayor David Walker says everyone involved cares about getting it right.says they had to make some tough choices but the community is continuing to grow each year.
“Somebody’s always there to say ‘no let’s take another look at that,’ so nothing gets through,” he says, “I think people will echo their–to a degree their frustration, but also how pleased they are with the work staff has done.”
Walker says some big ticket items planned for the coming years will actually be paid for through federal grants making them cheaper than they appear now.
“Hopefully some good things will come down the pipe next year as far as development goes,” he says “and that will make the picture a little bit rosier than it is today.”
Walker says when they started the process the budget was a million dollars in the red.
The final draft is expected to be balanced when it comes to council next Monday.
