SAINT JOHN, N.B.- Mayor Mel Norton is dishing out some very straight talk when it comes to the city’s 2013 budget.

Four budget consultation sessions were recently held in advance of upcoming budget deliberations.

Norton tells “McLean in the Morning” the next budget will be tough for many people to accept. “This is going to be the toughest budget cycle that this community has likely ever seen”, says Norton.”It’s going to involve some very hard decisions and definitely the many wants that are in the community are not going to get answered”.

Norton also believes the majority of budget deliberations should be held in public.

City manager Pat Woods had recently suggested more budget meetings be held behind closed doors.