Waterloo draft budget released

The City of Waterloo has released its draft budget for 2012 to 2014.

Waterloo's Director of Budgets and Financial Planning, Karen Eskins says they're looking at a proposed tax increase of 1.09% for 2012, 1.21% in 2013 and 1.44% in 2014, a total of 3.79% over three years.

She says the city is aiming to maintain the level of services while saving some money. "We've really gone through and done a review of our expenses and our services and have incorporated into the budget, 1.8 million of property tax reductions," Eskins explains.

Additionally, Eskins says this is the second year of the phasing in of a stormwater management fee. "So, it's now going to be managed as a utility so...citizens of Waterloo will get a user fee on their water bill for stormwater management, as opposed to having it built into the property tax based budget."

Waterloo's final budget approval will happen on February 13th.