Cutting costs versus the same or higher taxation must be a careful, informed collective decision of council, in close consultation with staff.
Barring new or unexpected costs, annual taxation rates are largely designed just to maintain the status quo. Cutting costs often equals cutting services and/or maintenance/replacement of existing infrastructure, with consequences for residents – sometimes immediately, and sometimes in the future at potentially greater cost. Often cuts are done to move funds to another community need, but with no savings to taxpayers.
We taxpayers may ask for lower taxes but we rarely agree on having less of anything else.