Three more days are being scheduled for 2015 budget talks in Amherstburg after council didn't feel comfortable enough Tuesday night to approve the document.
Council had a number of questions and criticisms of the budget brought to them by administration. However, Councillor Jason Lavigne says lively discussion doesn't mean there's a lack of trust in their senior staff.
"I think we have an excellent relationship in most aspects with our administration and our council. I think that what you see in these meetings is democracy," says Lavigne. "I would be more afraid if we just showed up to every meeting and rubber stamped anything administration said."
CAO John Miceli understands the persistent council questions given the recent financial struggles of the town.
"The community was shocked that they're $46-million in debt, the community was shocked that they didn't have money in reserves, the community was shocked for a number of situations," says Miceli. "A lot of the councillors were elected on platforms of bringing full transparency and full accountability to council. This is a step in that process."
The CAO adds administration isn't being treated unfairly by council, but doesn't expect future budget deliberations to be a repeat of the 2015 process.
"I can see this year being the difficult year and as we move forward with our increased reporting and all of the issues that are identified in the Deloitte report that we're trying to hammer out and resolve, I think this will be a thing of the past," says Miceli.
The budget proposes a 9.2% property tax increase while reducing its operating costs $625,000 from the 2014 budget.
