Mono council began its preparation of its 2010 municipal budget Tuesday night with a public meeting on the issue at Mono Centre Community Centre.

About 20 residents showed up at a meeting which town council hoped would be a barometer of what its top priorities should be in deciding on expenditures and capital projects.

As to be expected, the 2010 draft budget shows a significant increase in spending, because draft budget time is when the various municipal departments tend to put their wish lists on the table.

Council has given itself a deadline of Nov. 24 to cut about $2.27 million from the draft budget to achieve its policy of a town-only tax increase held to a rate of inflation that had been pre-determined at 2.5 per cent.

For the past two years, however, Mono has actually exceeded the policy and come through with final budgets that had no town-only tax hike. Council has indicated it will aim for the same result in 2010.

But a note of caution was delivered by council members present Tuesday night. "Zero budgets are okay for awhile," said Councillor Bob Shirley, "but we have to be careful."

Elaborating on Mr. Shirley's statement, Deputy Mayor Ken McGhee told the residents that budget trimming is a "line-byline process," also noting that cuts made for the sake of short-term savings could have negative long-term ramifications.

"We cannot think of just the short term," said Mr. McGhee, "but the long-term pros and cons as well. If we save today, we have to ask what it's going to cost us down the road."

The councillors' statements stemmed from inquiries about road construction which, at close to $3.9 million, makes up a major portion of the draft budget.

As well, a debate broke out among residents of Five Sideroad over its proposed paving from Airport Road to Mono-Adjala Townline. The project is budgeted at $1.2 million.

Several residents urged council not to defer or cancel the project, which was deleted from the 2009 budget. They said dust from the road is penetrating houses to a point where one claimed he could no longer open his windows.

Another suggested the dust can be so dense that, at times, it creates a driving hazard. He also said winter snows create potholes and a "washboard effect.

"The number of times the road has had to be regraded certainly makes it uneconomical not to pave it."

Paving a road, however, by no means makes it maintenance free.

For example, a paved road's gravel shoulders must be maintained with graders and what is called a "retriever," which pulls gravel and sod into the area directly opposite the travelled surface and lessens the loss of gravel into the ditches.

There is also the occurrence of a "second ditch," where winter sand and weeds accumulate on shoulders and build up to a level above the pavement.

This doesn't allow rain water run-off into the ditches and will create a second ditch between the pavement and the shoulder. In heavy rains and runoff periods, the second ditch could undermine the pavement and cause excessive cracking.

Other residents, meanwhile, spoke out against the paving. One said paving increases traffic, incidents of inconsiderate speeders, making the road more dangerous for those who live along it.

There were other queries and suggestions apart from road construction.

Michael Lang is a zerotax increase advocate who, during the 2009 budget meetings, went so far as to tell council to deny town staff a contractuallyawarded 3 percent pay increase.

On Tuesday, he pointed out that the draft budget shows that both the Mono Centre Community Centre and the Monora Park Pavilion run deficits. "We could consider leasing at least one of these facilities out," he said.

He was countered by a woman who said that both facilities play a vital role in the arts and culture of Mono. "If we can spend $6 million on roads, we can spend $70,000 on this," she said.

There was also an inquiry into why the budget for members of council was increasing from $123,560 in 2009 to $141,520. During the 2009 budget debates, Councillor Jean Castel publicly told town administration to strike his salary from the budget.

In 2010, Mr. Castel wants his salary back.