With the holiday break fast approaching, members of Moose Jaw City Council have new stack of paperwork to start reading.  The 2015 Operating Budget was presented Monday night and council is staring down the barrel of a proposed 3.62% tax increase.

Right now, we're short over $800,000 and there are very few service increases according to Finance Director Brian Acker.  During his presentation, Acker highlighted the fact that in the last 24 years there have been several years without a tax increase, despite inflation going up by 2 and 3%.

"We have a whole bunch of years with zeros,a actually 12 to be exact, in property tax increases while in the CPI line, which is inflation, there are regular increases each year." said Acker. "What that causes is tax revenue that the city has never gotten."

12 years of no tax increases has left a gap between inflation and taxation

Acker explained the "zero" budgets are catching up with us, pointing out that while inflation has increasing for a total of 48.9%, taxes only went up 37.7%. So while things like fuel and utilities increased, taxes didn't go up to cover those new expenses according to Acker.

So for a home with an assessed value of $141,000 or a market value of $200,000, the owner would pay $1165 in taxes next year if the budget is approved, a $41 increase over 2014.

Councillors will take the holiday break to start reading the massive document before taking part in budget meetings in January where they can make cuts or additions.

Where our taxes go after handing them over to City Hall