VIDEO: Mayor, CAO answer your budget questions

As city councillors prepare to debate next year's budget, Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and CAO Malcolm White stopped by our SooToday studio to dive into the numbers.

We had a lot of questions for them — and so did you.

Some background: the city's preliminary expenses for next year are approximately $216-million, which would mean a 7.2 per cent levy increase for ratepayers.

The mayor has promised to shave that number down, but don't expect miracles. When all is said and done after budget deliberations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, homeowners will almost certainly be hit with a levy increase over 5 per cent.

Want to have your say on the budget process? Be sure to visit SooToday's new Digital Town Hall, a place to share your big ideas for Sault Ste. Marie — and check out other people's ideas, too. You can find it all RIGHT HERE.