Scugog council approves the 2024 operating budget

DAN CEARNS, The Standard

SCUGOG: Scugog residents will be seeing a 2.47 percent increase on the Township side of their municipal tax bill.

At a meeting on Monday, March 25th, Councillors approved the 2024 municipal operating budget. When combined with the Region of Durham and Durham District School Board, the average residential tax bill will show an increase of 6.32 percent. This equates to an extra $29 per month. On the Scugog side of the bill, there will be an increase of $11.23 per month.

Regional Councillor Ian McDougall described it as a “significant increase for us as taxpayers in Scugog” and asked if future budgets will begin looking more historically normal provided inflation rates start to normalize.

“I would expect that if inflation got back to normal we would see a budget that is more in line with historical levels,” Treasurer Laura Barta responded.

Councillor McDougall also questioned if the Township will see a surplus from the 2023 operating budget.

“I do anticipate that there will be a surplus for 2023. We had some significant income in unexpected areas,” Ms. Barta said. She continued council was able to do a little extra work which would not have been able to be done without it.

She noted councillors will see a full report on that surplus when year-end finances are tallied.