High River residents will be digging a little deeper to pay their municipal tax bill this year.

But Mayor Craig Snodgrass says not all of it is to run the Town, but to actually save money to reduce the cost of big ticket capital items they know are coming down the road.

"Out of the 4.6 (percent, tax increase). One per cent goes directly into infrastructure reserves. We also committed another one per cent into the swimming pool project. You know it's only one percent, which means $180,000 per year. And at least we can start getting design and stuff, we have those monies in place now to start getting a few things in order. But, it's not enough to pay for the pool right?"

Snodgrass says they've paired down the plans for the new aquatic centre to $8-to-$10 million, which he says is more manageable financially for a town of 13-thousand people.

He says also on the horizon are a new waste water treatment plant and upgrades to the current water treatment plant, which will cost the town ten's of millions of dollars, and that's before other levels of government kick in for them.

 

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