Mayor Paterson says it was important to keep increases to a minimum while still maintaining services that residents need.
After two days of budget deliberations, the tax increase for Kingston ratepayers for 2026 has not changed.
The budget was finalized on Tuesday that will see a 3.75 percent increase or another 155 dollars to the average tax bill.
Speaking with 98.3 FLY FM's Reid and Ben Friday morning, Mayor Bryan Paterson says he went into the budget deliberations with the goal of keeping the increase to a minimum while still maintaining the important services that residents need.
Council went over the budget with a fine-tooth comb debating which items to add or remove. One that got abolished was a pay increase for Council, and one that was added was more funding to support local artists.
Paterson says in the end very little was changed.
One item that received a lot of attention was the budget for road maintenance especially snow removal.
Paterson admits that is one area that is hard to budget for.
The 2026 budget sees a total of $530 million in operating expenses and $136 million for capital projects.
Story by Ken Hashizume
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