Municipal taxes in Stonewall are going up, but not as much as they could have gone.

That's from Mayor Lockie McLean, who points to this being a re-assessment year for the increase. He explains how Council kept the increase as low as they could, noting the town's taxable assessment went up 12.9%.

"What we were able to do was lower some charges, specifically in garbage collection and recycling fees. And it brought the average taxation increase to 2.3% for 2016. If we hadn't found ways to decrease cost, then just with the 2016 tax re-assessment, taxes would have gone up 4.6%.

McLean says they have several projects in the $5,000,000 budget.

"We put a lot of money into roads and sidewalks this year -- $616,000. So when you're able to plug roughly 12% back into street renewal and side walks, I think it's really positive for the future. We're looking at an expansion of our lagoon, so we put $90,000 in for a feasibility, and part of that cost will be covered by the Water Services Board."

McLean says Council's committed to keeping their hands out of taxpayers' pockets, and look for ways to add value without increasing taxes.