Dryden Budget 2002

A long road ahead for Dryden City Council as they begin to wrestle with its 2002 budget.
Councillors will spend the next couple of weeks crunching the numbers, debating the feasibility of some infrastructure projects and trying to find a common ground on an acceptable budget.
Right now, council is looking at a 4 to 6 percent tax increase coming out of its capital budget.
From its operating budget, another 3 percent hike is floating around council chambers.
Finance Chair Bill Brown and Dryden Mayor Sid Wintle say they are very uncomfortable with that kind of number.
Brown says these are just preliminary numbers however they are faced with a number of challenges.
A hike in provincial property assessment rates, as well as a rise in Home for the Aged and Health Unit tax levies are just some of the factors.
They hope to draft a budget at the end of March.
Meantime, the city has adopted a policy that will set time lines for future budgets.
The document maps out deadlines and allows city council to be better organized and prepared to deal with future budgets.
With a number of municipalities facing funding shortfalls in recent years, some councillors want to establish public meetings.
Councillor Brian England says the meetings would allow the public to better understand the troubles council faces when drafting the budget.
It would also allow the public to keep up to date with the process.