Orangeville council continued to reevaluate its spending priorities Monday night in an effort to trim its 2008 budget.

As matters stand, the town's property owners are looking at a hike of about 8.53 per cent in the tax levy and a tax-rate increase of 7.1 per cent.

This means that, without further cuts in spending, a home assessed at $221,300 (the Orangeville average) will face an annual increase of $115.42, or roughly $10 a month.

It is an increase that Mayor Rob Adams contends is "much too high," and he added that council should make reducing the increase its main focus.

Council adjourned after reviewing roughly half of the 112-page budget document prepared by town staff, and will resume the review next Monday.

Circumstances other than cost-cutting came into play when it came to discussing the operating budget. For instance, winter has made an especially harsh debut in Orangeville, forcing council to add $20,000 to public works for the purchase of more road salt and sand.

And 60 projects listed in the capital budget total slightly over $11 million. A number of these projects are mandatory, but many can be put off for the time being or cancelled altogether.

Expenses under scrutiny, for example, include $4,000 for plaques for the Orange Lawrence statue, which was voted out Monday night, along with a contract for a part-time health and safety officer.

And a motion brought forward by Councillor Sylvia Bradley proposed sending just two councillors to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, instead of the four budgeted.

That motion was opposed by councillor Scott Wilson, who said that at such conferences "you can learn a lot about municipal government. "Restricting it to just two representatives is very short-sighted."

The Bradley motion was defeated.

There was a compromise on another Bradley motion, to scratch the hiring of a part-time health and safety officer. Once again, Mr. Wilson was in opposition, and was joined by Councillor Gail Campbell.

While the motion carried, it was decided to allocate $10,000 to bring in a health and safety officer from the county if and when the need arises.

A few unknowns, or "placeholders," remain that delay the formation of a comprehensive budget; the most notable being the police budget, which is not yet available and may not be until early in the new year.

Yet Cynthia Rayburn, chair of the police services board, addressed council and said an approved document from the police could be ready when council meets to discuss the budget next Monday.

The police services board did make it known that it wished its IT (information technology) services to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To accomplish this, the current staff person would have to be increased from three field techs to four, in order to complete a staff rotation where someone will be on duty at any given time.

Cindy Weir, the new CEO of the Orangeville Library System, presented council a library budget, which totalled $1,178,000, representing a 7.5 per cent increase over 2007.

The library's budget proposal also included options that would limit the increase to 2.5 per cent. But that would include keeping the Mill Street branch closed on Fridays, and would involve decreases to both the training and program budgets.

Ms. Weir emphasized the importance of library programs on the community, and youth in particular. She pointed out that 6,048 young people made use of the various library programs. The summer reading club, she said, was also a success, with 2,290 books being read.