Kincardine council has approved its draft capital budget for 2024.
Council deliberated Monday about what will and won’t be a part of the capital budget for this year.
Overall, council chose to continue funding phragmites mitigation, municipal tree purchases for the Tall Tree Program, and IDEA training.
The draft capital budget that was approved during Monday’s special council meeting will see a tax rate increase of 6.42%, with a blended tax rate that includes estimates for education and county taxes of 5.5%.
The council also chose to add the cost of hiring a municipal records assistant for a one-year contract, which would cost the municipality $68,000 for a one-year contract as it works to digitize historical documents.
Several capital projects were also approved for water treatment.
The total carryover for capital costs from 2023 is $12,523,740.
The estimated cost of capital projects for 2024 coming into the meeting was $13,112,500.
There was debate as to whether the municipality would continue funding a school resource officer, so council chose to defer the decision so that staff could complete a report on the matter.
*Editor’s note: This story was updated from an earlier version to clarify only the capital budget has been approved.
