You will not have to dig deeper to pay your tax bill in Richmond County.

Council is keeping the rates the same for homeowners and businesses.

The budget comes in at just over $17.4 million with just over $5.4 million going to costs for things like policing, education, and valuation services. 

Warden Amanda Mombourquette explained council wanted to keep tax rates low due to increased assessments and overall higher living costs.

“Although Richmond County continues to have one of the lowest tax rates in the province, we recognize that the increase in assessment values, combined with other inflationary costs, are creating an affordability challenge for many of our residents; so councillors unanimously agreed that a tax rate increase was not possible this year.” she said.

Other highlights from the budget include money for community grants to support local projects and planning for future improvements in cell coverage.

The budget also includes significant investment in healthcare on items such as physician recruitment, seniors, the Cape Breton Regional Cancer Centre, and Hospital Foundations.