Budget talks are always a trying time for members of city administration and elected officials. Meetings can take hours and the entire process can take months but Monday's four hours worth of crunching numbers appeared to get to some of them.

It was around hour three and moments before a vote on a 6% utility rate increase when Councillor Brian Swanson left the meeting without saying a word. Mayor Fraser Tolmie got a little upset at the end of the meeting saying Swanson's actions need to be addressed.

"This has happened numerous times," started Tolmie. "This council has been working through, struggling through and we have a councillor (Swanson) leave without an explanation. Walk out of planning sessions, walk out of executive meetings and I find that that disrespects the rest of councillors here and disrespects the position."

"I think that this needs to be addressed as a council later on that if you don't have an excuse and just get up and walk out and think that it's acceptable behaviour... I'm tired of it."

The meeting continued on without Swanson for another hour and included approval for the water and sewer rate increase for 2019. The meeting adjourned around 9:30 pm.