The District of Lantzville has given the green light to its four-year financial plan. During a council meeting on Monday, Lantzville councillors approved the 2016-20 financial plan, which includes the budget for this year.Mayor Colin Haime said he was pleased with how the 2016 budget turned out.
"We were able to absorb the increased costs related to the fire chief as well as the regular wage increases of staff, which between those two totaled just shy of six per cent of the budget and at the same time we only ended up with a one-per cent tax increase," Haime said. "Certainly, it would have been very easy to use the new position of a paid fire chief as an excuse to raise taxes beyond inflation."
Haime expressed a bit of concerns regarding the 2017 and 2018 in the financial plan, but said those issues can be addressed during budget talks in each of those years.
Council also approved tax rates, sewer rates and water rates for 2016.