Aurora council set to approve 3.91% tax increase

YorkRegion.com
May 21, 2015
Teresa Latchford

You may have to dig a little deeper this year as Aurora council is poised to approve a 3.91-per-cent municipal tax hike.

If passed, that will translate to an additional $68 in 2015 for the average home assessed at $500, 000 but, when combined with the tax increase passed at York Region and the school board, the rate increase will nearly double to $130.

Council and town staff were able to find additional savings during the last round of budget deliberations, including the slashing of funds earmarked for council training, the town’s advertising and legal advocacy budgets, eliminating funds for the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Achievement Awards and the creation of a four-month gap when hiring for new positions.

The decision to eliminate a full-time position that was made behind closed doors will yield $108,000 in savings and $50,000 will be cut from the staff training budget.

While it was suggested further cuts be made to the funds available to the Aurora Public Library and Aurora Cultural Centre, council decided not to proceed.

Council is set to discuss the final approval of the budget at next week’s council meeting to be held May 26 at town hall beginning at 7 p.m.

SIDEBAR

The full meeting agenda will be posted tomorrow at aurora.ca.