Taxpayers and residents in the Municipality of Grey Highlands will get their chance to tell council how they feel about the proposed 2025 budget at a special meeting next week.
On Feb. 4, Grey Highlands council will hold a hybrid town hall meeting to give the public an opportunity to comment about the draft 2025 budget. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Those interested in attending can do so at the council chambers at the municipal office in Markdale or can watch and participate in the meeting online.
Starting in Dec. 2024, Grey Highlands council held a series of committee of the whole meetings to discuss the 2025 proposed budget. In mid-January, council completed the process and settled on a local tax increase 16.8 per cent. When combined with the 3.3 per cent increase at Grey County and zero per cent increase for the school boards this results in a 10.5 per cent overall increase.
The increase would mean a tax hike of $136 per $100,000 of assessed value of a home this year.
A significant portion of the local increase proposed in Grey Highlands – approximately 10 per cent of the 16.8 per cent – is for capital projects and asset management. Grey Highlands is facing significant financial pressure to bump up spending on capital assets like roads, bridges, community centres, arenas and more.
During the budget discussions, council approved a significant number of capital projects in order to build up the portion of the tax levy for capital projects.
Those interested in making comments during the budget town hall meeting can register online here.
The meeting can be viewed online at this link.
Information about the 2025 draft budget can be found online here.