Mark King A meeting that lasted almost four hours concluded with a budget proposal of just under $21.7-million from Community Services.

Chair Mark King says that is a 2.99% increase over last year’s figures.

King was asked if residents would feel any kind of major affects with this kind of increase, but King says when it comes to service levels there are no major changes. He adds they will be holding public discussions in January with the goal of getting residents more involved in the process.

King says they will ask the community about possible field closures, transit issues and more. He says overall he was hoping to come in with a proposal of zero – but he says there were compromises made to suit majority.

King says there could be further opportunities to lower that number. He says overall he’s surprised at the Fire Department coming in with an increase of 1.66% and that helped bring down the original proposed increase of just over 5%.