Ratepayers in the Municipality of Morris will pay a little more in municipal taxes. Council approved a $6.8 million dollar budget for 2017, which represents a $570,000 increase in spending over last year.

Ralph GroeningReeve Ralph Groening says they have worked hard on putting together an efficient budget that he feels is very reasonable.

"We have some major projects we are proposing like our gravel project that we have increased by 45%, which is more than $200,000," said Groening.  "The resources and funds for that project will come from reserves so it will not have a significant impact on our bottom line. Our request of the taxpayers this year is an overall municipal increase of 1.7%, which is just over $70,000."

Groening added the increase basically covers the cost of inflation.

Meanwhile, the municipality has a number of significant capital projects on the books for this year.

"We plan to build a new road in the Lowe Farm Industrial Park which is included in the budget and dependent on the Municipal Road Program. We also have a major project in the form of a new fire hall in the Rosenort Industrial Park at a cost of 1.2 million dollars which is dependent on Building Canada and province of Manitoba dollars," explained Groening.

The municipality will pay 1/3 of the cost for the new fire hall in Rosenort, which works out to about $400,000 and the balance of the cost will be fundraised locally. Council is working with residents to complete the project by 2018.