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PETAWAWA – As the town continues to look for efficiencies and areas to cut expenses, council made some difficult decisions once again in relation to the 2021 budget, while also maintaining a level of service expected by Petawawa residents.
Going into the one-day workshop Jan. 26, the budget document before Petawawa council set out $1.9 million more in expenditures than on the revenue side. After members of council agreed they were comfortable with a tax levy increase, they did work to reduce the budget. These changes saw $656,158 in additional Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) money, gas tax top-up dollars and reserve draw downs and $587,500 in expenditures cut as council settled on a $20.7 million budget. The 4.89 per cent levy increase means taxpayers can expect an increase of $19.25 per $100,000 worth of assessment or $48.52 on the average residential assessment of $252,000, which is down from an average of $268,000 in 2020. These increases are on th