Sarnia Council has set a $135.4-million 2017 budget, raising city taxes 2.32%.
The increase adds $20.62 per $100,000 of assessment on the municipal portion of the property tax bill.
Council set the tax rate in three hours of deliberations at City Hall Tuesday, trimming just over $1.1-million from the original draft budget.
The vote was 8-1 in favour of the budget, with Mayor Mike Bradley not endorsing it for the first time in 30 years.
"One of the criticisms directed to me by senior staff was in the past I supported the budget then was critical of certain items," says Bradley. "There were a number of items in this budget I could not support. The public should be aware there are some very hefty fee hikes in there.
"I believe there's issues that aren't in the budget that will come back in 2017, including a major storm water management issue that we have to deal with. There's a number of other legal and consulting contracts that are out there that I don't believe are reflected in the budget. So, I don't view it as a document that I could fully support at the end."
Bradley says he is particularly concerned about bus fee hikes and increases non-profit groups will have to pay.
"Will council stand by their budget? What happened last year was there was a continual waiving of fees and that type of thing. I'd rather be true to myself. I don't mind being in the minority 8-1, because I've been concerned about the city's spending for some time," he says.
The 2017 budget includes just over 70 new fees for services, including rates to rent the new mobile stage, rental fees for the Seaway Kiwanis Wedding Pavilion and even new Canada Day charges for parade participants and concessions.
Non-profit or charitable groups will also have to pay daily fees to use Centennial and Canatara parks.
Councillor Anne-Marie Gillis doesn't think the fees will be detrimental to local groups.
"You have to think, when we waive the fees, there's still the costs that we're incurring by coming in and cleaning up and our overtime budgets are going up," says Gillis.
A $0.25 increase in Sarnia Transit's adult cash fare for 2017 was approved, raising the rate to $3. Monthly passes will also increase 5.8 % from $69 to $73 next year.
Council unanimously decided to offer free bus passes to all veterans. Until now, only Second World War and Korean vets were offered a free pass.
Bradley's request to create a reserve fund for demolition of the former Sarnia General Hospital was also supported. Councillors were assured the initial allocation of $200,000 would not impact the tax rate.
City council also approved a blended water and sewer rate increase of 2.8 %.
