Council for the Town of Saugeen Shores has amended its Business Plan to reduce the tax impact on residents for next year.
The proposed 2026 budget originally included a 2.2 per cent levy increase to support municipal operations.
But after hearing feedback from residents, Councillor Bud Halpin proposed moving $400,000 from the tax stabilization fund to lower the impact on locals.
"I understand that we can't continually do this, use reserves (to cover taxes)," he said. "But I think a lot of the taxpayers feel that it is a rainy day, and we put the money away for a rainy day... there's quite a bit of tax fatigue."
Vice Deputy Mayor Mike Myatt said he has also been hearing that it was just too costly for families. He questioned why they couldn't send staff back to find more savings.
However, under Ontario’s new Strong Mayor Powers legislation, the budget will be deemed adopted on Friday, 30 days after it was introduced, so changes can't be made after that.
Drawing from the tax stabilization fund reduced the proposed levy from reduce the proposed tax increase from 2.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent, excluding police.
The motion passed 7-2, with Deputy Mayor Diane Huber and Councillor Dave Myette voting against.
When combined with local police (which is seeing a significantly higher cost due to two new officers), estimated Education and County budgets, the change results in a blended tax rate increase of around three per cent, or about $132 per average household.
