Belleville has set its budget increase at two-point-five percent but the tax rate will not be set for a few weeks.
Yesterday council decided to drop the industrial ratio to two-point-four, below the provincial average. It held a lengthy debate on the area rating issue for the two wards but settled finally on the “status quo” when it couldn’t come up with a motion that satisfied a majority of council. In the end council asked staff to come back with the necessary cuts to bring the budget from a three-percent increase to two-point-five. Mayor Neil Ellis says this could be such things as leaf-and-yard waste pickup, or weekly garbage pickup.
