The long process of finalizing Niagara's budget continues with councillors setting up another meeting to find savings.
Niagara's budget committee has decided to add another meeting next Thursday, after voting last night, to defer the decision to hike taxes by 9.4%.
Niagara residents pay a regional tax levy for regional-run programs and services such as waste management and policing, while they also pay municipal taxes, for their own community services such as libraries, ice rinks, and road maintenance.
Budget Committee Chair, and Fort Erie Mayor, Wayne Redekop, says the budgeting process is completely different this year as the Region takes over the cost of Niagara's newly amalgamated transit service.
"There are going to be fingers pointed at the Region because of the transit increase. It's not fair because this isn't a region function, the Region is not operating transit it's the Niagara Region Transit Commission. It's an entirely new body, it just happens to be a new separate line on the tax bill."
Redekop says they will search for extra savings at next week's meeting, but no matter what happens, residents will be seeing an increase.
Some local municipalities, such as Welland, have passed a negative per cent budget increase for residents, passing on the savings of the community not paying for transit to residents.
Redekop says at the end of the process he would like to see an increase closer to 7%.
Once the committee approves the budget it will still need to be finalized by Council.