The tax and water rate hikes in this year’s Barrie budget translate into about 32 cents more a day for the average homeowner.

Barrie council approved its 2008 operating and capital budgets Monday night – and the plan calls for a tax increase of 3.07 per cent.

Included in this year’s operating plan are numerous service enhancements – including 12 more firefighters and eight police officers, as well as the first full year of recreation programming at the new Holly Recreation Centre, which opened just after Christmas.

The 3.07-per-cent hike equates to $91.27 more on a tax bill for a home assessed at $218,000. The average Barrie family can also expect to see its water and sewer bill rise $24 per year.  Combined, the increases total $115.27.

“Politically, it would have been easy for council to accept the increase as proposed by staff with the thought that people would forget about it at election time, given that we are in the second year of our term, but we didn’t. I’m proud that we didn’t succumb to that temptation and produced a budget that is responsible and provides the city with a plan, which is what a budget is meant to do,” said Ward 7 Coun. John Brassard, the chairperson of the city’s Community Services Committee.

Work on the budget began last fall, as the city changed the way it constructs its budget. Staff analyzed programs, their costs and their benefits, and also identified gaps in services. A council committee led the process change, which for the first time rolled out the capital program concurrently with the operating budget.

“The new budget process made it much easier for council to make the decisions we did in order to reach the final number,” Brassard said.

Councillors began number crunching this month with a proposed 5.57-per-cent increase and whittled it down last week by deferring several facility-related upgrades (such as door and window replacements and a $100,000 security upgrade program for all city-owned buildings). Politicians also trimmed the capital budget and deferred projects, including $2 million in operations centre upgrades.

The need for tax revenue for capital projects was also alleviated by provincial grants. Barrie has received almost $6 million for roads, bridges and infrastructure upgrades.

The $100-million capital budget for 2008, along with ongoing but unfinished work, would enable the city to proceed with a total of approximately $230 million in projects. Significant projects include the expansion at the sewage treatment plant, the purchase of land for a new police station, the widening of Mapleview Drive between Welham Road and Bayview Drive, a $7.4-million upgrade at the landfill site, and the realignment of the Lakeshore/Tiffin/Bradford intersection.

Continuing this year is work on Simcoe Street, a project that received some additional provincial cash. Work on the unfinished stretch between Mary and Bayfield streets is to begin in early May; the project will widen the road and link Simcoe with Mary and Maple, as well as Bayfield.

The section between Bayfield and Mulcaster streets has yet to go to tender, but work is anticipated to begin in June.