Ingersoll Town Council Passes 2023 Budget

Thursday, 9 March 2023 11:10

The average homeowner in Ingersoll could be paying close to $36 extra on the town's portion of their property taxes this year.

INGERSOLL - Ingersoll Town Council has passed a $16.96-million budget for 2023.

It includes a tax rate of 1.8 percent, which means the average homeowner will see about a $36 annual increase on the town's portion of their property taxes.

Chief Administrative Officer Michael Graves says the budget was passed on Monday.

"There was a lot of work to get to this point, with a lot of work by staff and council. Some of the past decisions of council really set them up in a good place and council took a very strategic approach to this trying to implement some of the goals that are in the Strategic Plan. I think this accomplishes that."

The budget includes an increase in services including public works staff and by-law enforcement. The Town is also planning to invest $3.7-million toward capital infrastructure.

Graves is also happy to report that there is no new debt in this budget.

"Council has taken a very strategic approach. They are trying to put money aside for the future of the MURC (Multi-Use Recreation Centre) because they know they might have to take on debt then, but there is no new debt and the debt has gone down drastically. In fact, our Treasurer (Iryna Koval) has done a fantastic job and we are making significant money from an investment that we had made in building up our reserves. It's nice to be able to gain money and make that a revenue source out of our reserves."

Mayor Brian Petrie is really proud of this budget and all of the hard work that went into it.

“I want to commend staff for presenting Council with a very responsible budget. I would also like to commend Council for thinking about the future and investing into the goals of our community. Past financial decisions have really set us up in a place to allow us to be in a better financial position than a lot of our counterparts and I think Ingersoll rate payers should feel confident that the Town is in a good financial position.”