St. John’s city council has passed their budget for 2022 and although the document was passed unanimously, several councillors had reservations before declaring their support.

The budget is a mixed bag for residents—the residential and commercial mil rates are increasing by 0.6 and 0.8 respectively, and the water tax is also going up by about five dollars per unit.

But, there are no cuts and some important areas for residents have been given financial boosts. The city has allocated $19-million for Metrobus and Go Bus, with part of that going toward the ZIP Network beginning next month. As well, $510,000 has been set aside for a third shift for sidewalk snow clearing.

While most councillors were critical of certain aspects of the budget, such as the approach to snow clearing and the mil rate increases, all ultimately gave their support to the document.

Here's the breakdown of how the mil rate increases will affect residents @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/q10vV9fiCt

— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) December 13, 2021

Finance lead Ron Ellsworth says this budget is about finding a balance, noting that they had to make some tough decisions.

Ellsworth says nobody is excited about the contents of the budget.

Meanwhile, one glaring omission from the 2022 budget is any sort of movement on how the city plans to deal with the Mary Brown’s Centre.

Ellsworth says no decision have been made by council about how to proceed, therefore it was decided to maintain funding levels for the time being.

He says council needs to make some decisions on whether the facility is an economic development piece, and if it is a businesses the city should be in at all. Ellsworth states that those are all conversations that will be had before next year’s budget.