The Town of LaSalle has released its 2022 draft budget with a proposed tax hike of 1.75%.
Mayor Marc Bondy says the majority of the increase can be blamed on nearly a million dollars in inflation with the rest coming due to increases to policing costs and service level changes.
He says, if approved, they'll be adding two additional police officers.
"I think it's a very fair budget. A main part of the increase is we're adding two additional police officers. We haven't had in addition to the complement in, I'm going to say, 20 years."
Bondy says, with the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has presented, this is a reasonable and responsible budget.
"There are things we have to do. We have to maintain the roads and we have to pay our police and fire and so on. When you look at inflation, everybody's household costs have gone up dramatically this year and for them to come in under inflation at 1.75%, I think it's very, very respectable."
He says the town's reserves will be getting a boost as well.
"What we need is to maintain our infrastructure and put costs into repairing things just like your home. If the roof goes you have to replace it. So we have to put money aside so that when we need it, it's there. We have one of the highest reserves per capita when you compare with other municipalities."
The entire budget document can be found on the town's website and residents are encouraged to submit feedback before December 10.
Budget deliberations are scheduled for December 15 and 16.
— with files from AM800's Rob Hindi