GRAVENHURST, ON-Gravenhurst council is considering the budget proposed at its recent meeting.
On December 18th, council met as the total budget was announced and broken down at to how much would go to different community sectors.
An initial $6.9 million dollars was proposed at the meeting that included 86 projects that it would support.
Moving forward into 2020 and the next few years, the council reiterated what their priorities were, including sustained efforts to support business activity and to stimulate residential development. Council also wants to focus on continuing to build a sustainable financial base for a multi-year capital plan that was not identified at this time and to continue being involved in significant economic drivers including the Muskoka airport.
Council made it a point to note the emerging priorities that they would like to focus on including affordable housing, youth, the environment, mental health and poverty.
Some of the notable breakdowns of the budget announced included 35 percent going to roads, 13 percent going to facilities and 12 percent going to parks. This breakdown is not final however and the council will reconvene to make and changes they deem necessary.
In an interview with the MyMuskokaNow.com newsroom, Mayor Paul Kelly said that a “key issue is capital costs as there is a $18 million deficit that we would like to pay back.” He went on to say that it would be a “reasonable discussion among council to decide if the outlined sectors is where we want to spend that money.”
The next steps that were outlined in the meeting set January 18th as when they will be collecting public input about the budget to measure what the public is interested in.
February 3rd to the 6th is when the council will be making their final review of the budget and on the 6th is when the council will make their final approval of the 2020 budget.