The St. Ignace city budget is available for review at City Hall, and a public hearing on it will be Monday, December 15. The city council is expected to adopt it following the hearing.

St. Ignace is projecting a $7,358,769 budget for 2009, down 7.9% from last year, mostly because the city will not have state funds for improvements at the wastewater treatment facility that it had last year.

The city is projecting a 3% increase in salaries and is not planning to fill a full-time vacancy in the Department of Public Works (DPW).

The city will collect $1,423,520 in property taxes, with a 16.26 mill levy on $87,821,121 in taxable value. The Downtown Development Authority will receive $233,000 and the Recreation Department will receive $78,015.

The water fund could have a $50,000 deficit by January 1, when a $178,000 bond payment is due.