Clearview budget passes

Clearview council passed its 2019 budget Monday with only a minor change. 

The $75,000 earmarked for the ice pad at the New Lowell Recreation Park is now being funded from reserves, rather than coming directly from taxation. 

Councillors Thom Paterson and Doug McKechnie were the only two to support a reduction in the amount of money going into bridge reserves. They wanted to reduce the $250,000 allocation by half but others on council would have none of it. As a result, neither of them voted to approve the budget.

The final numbers for the $47.2 million budget are: A 4.89 per cent increase to the Clearview portion, and a 2.85 per cent increase once policing, education and county taxes are factored in. That means a property assessed at $284,667 (the median average) would pay $3,262.75, up $90.36 from 2018. (All the numbers are estimates until the final tax rate is set later in the year.)