It was a familiar message from Pat Sobeski this morning. Woodstock's Mayor says politicians need to control their urges to spend money and say yes to every project. Sobeski delivered his annual "Breakfast with the Mayor" speech this morning to a Chamber of Commerce crowd. Sobeski drew attention to his latest sticking point with the County, a report (in chart below) that showed increasing garbage bag tag fees, with some of the money decreasing pressure on the tax levy, but also, some of that extra money being stashed away in reserve accounts. "As I pointed out in some of my charts, it seems it's more important to build reserves at the County, than actually provide more competitive prices for industry and consumers." The Mayor has used the theme of spending control in previous speeches to the Chamber, suggesting council needs to be wise with new money coming in from the city's industrial boom. But at the same time, Sobeski says they can't be frugal when it comes to providing essential services. "It's a mugs game if they think they can have a 0% tax increase. You have to have that balance between running the city, looking after existing infrastructure, and making sure your maintaining that." Sobeski's speech also hilighted future projects the city is working on, like improving water quality in Cedar Creek, developing the James St. Public Works Yard, and a new north-end recreation complex.

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