Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Roy Pierunek (middle) shares a laugh with friends while being asked about the City of Brandon's 2013 budget over coffee at Shoppers Mall on Monday afternoon.
Now that city council has given tentative approval to the 2013 budget, the Brandon Sun went out to see what taxpayers thought of the city’s financial plan.
The mill rate increase will be just under one per cent, which is a significant difference from 2012’s net increase of 4.9 per cent.
Janet Reimer, a Brandonite for the last 15 years, said small increases are easier to take.
"Rather than you wait and you wait and you wait and we don’t get any increase, and all of a sudden … boom," she said. "That’s a little more of a shocker … It’s not going up a huge amount, it’s a little bit. You understand that everything goes up and you’re going to have to pay for it and that’s one of the ways that we do."
Homeowners with a property assessed at $200,000 will pay $1,733 in property taxes, up $17 from last year. If your home is assessed at $250,000 that means $21 more than last year.
Marty Williams has lived in Brandon for the past year and isn’t pleased about the tax increase.
"Everything’s going up. Nothing stays the same. Nothing ever goes down," he said. "I think they should stop gouging people. That’s what they should stop doing."
One thing Williams was glad to see included in the budget this year is the $500,000 for infrastructure projects like sidewalks, street resurfacing and drainage.
"The infrastructure in Brandon is falling apart," he said. "I don’t know what the answer is I just know when I’m going through all those pot holes and all the bad spots in all the roads … I think they should be doing something."
Roy Pierunek, a resident of Brandon for the past 25 years, said he’s happy with the 2013 budget.
"I don’t think it’s that bad," he said, adding he too is pleased to see more infrastructure dollars set aside.
Pierunek said this year’s budget process was a lot smoother than in 2012. Council held a community roundtable discussion in advance of the public forum in an effort to hear from the general public before budget deliberations.
"It went a lot better this year, I think, than last year," Pierunek said.
» jaustin@brandonsun.com
» City of Brandon
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition January 15, 2013
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Now that city council has given tentative approval to the 2013 budget, the Brandon Sun went out to see what taxpayers thought of the city’s financial plan.
The mill rate increase will be just under one per cent, which is a significant difference from 2012’s net increase of 4.9 per cent.
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Now that city council has given tentative approval to the 2013 budget, the Brandon Sun went out to see what taxpayers thought of the city’s financial plan.
The mill rate increase will be just under one per cent, which is a significant difference from 2012’s net increase of 4.9 per cent.
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