North Huron council has passed the budget for 2025, and it comes with the smallest tax levy increase the Township has seen in years.
The levy increase will be 3.11 per cent for the current year, part of a total $7.7 million tax base the town will use to fund operations and capital.
Deputy Reeve Kevin Falconer said such a modest increase was welcome considering the current struggles municipalities are facing.
"I'm quite thrilled with the 3.11," he said. "That's monumentous in the times and the struggles that the Municipality has gone through with the current state of affairs in Ontario, and dealing with what we receive from the high levels of government... most of that falls onto the struggle of the taxpayer. I'm quite happy with the state of where things are right now."
The budget includes upgrades to the Wescast Community Centre, replacing trucks for fire rescue and plowing services, and initial funding for the expansion of the Blyth Day Care.
The budget was passed at Monday's meeting, with much of the discussion and deliberation taking place last month.
Councillor Chris Palmer said he still wasn't pleased where things ended, noting that he hoped Economic Development's $424,000 expenses could come down.
"As far as I can tell, there wasn't much adjustment where all the other departments really worked hard at that," he said. "I'm seeing Ec Dev as, it's supposed to collect taxes, property assessments; that's what its function was... Now I just look at it and its sole purpose seems to be managing projects, and that doesn't bring in money."
Staff said at a previous meeting that many expenses were filed under Economic Development because they didn't know where else to put them.
Expenses for this year in Ec Dev included hosting job fairs, improving the town website, and administering the Community Improvement Plan grants.