Moncton City Council adopted in principle an almost $150 million General Operating Budget last week for 2017.
Chief Financial Officer John Martin says there were very few changes at last week’s deliberations, which is relatively unusual.
He says deliberations went by quickly this year, in part because of new software and by briefing Councillors ahead of time.
“Most of the Councillors have been through a number of budgets in the past, a lot of it has to do with familiarity, it’s a large budget, a lot of paper, a lot of departments, a lot of services those types of things that are provided,” says Martin. “So the more familiar they are with it, obviously the easier it is to work through it.”
We asked him to break down the $150 million revenue figure.
“88% of that will be from property taxes, which will be $133 million, equalization grant is anticipated to be $3.5 million and own source revenues will be about $14 million,” says Martin.
Own source revenues are money the City raises on its own, for example, Zoo admission, and fines.
Martin says this Operating Budget is up 1.5% from last year, and it will be ratified by Council officially at the next meeting on December 19th.
