Windsor residents will have the highest property tax increase they've seen in nearly two decades.
Windsor City Councillors approved the 2023 operating budget on Monday with a 4.48 per cent increase. That's down from the proposed 5 per cent in the draft budget.
"They managed to get this budget well under the rate of inflation and without cutting services. At the end of the day, I think that is what residents expect, that we are fair, we're reasonable and we still deliver the services they expect," said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
The increase means the average resident will see an additional $145 on their property tax bill.
Only Ward 1 Councillor Fred Francis voted against the budget.
"I think we could have went down further but it wasn't the will of council to go down further so I voted against it because I thought we could have done more," said Francis.
He advocated for further reductions in staffing requests, transit, and the asset management levy.
There are still around $7.5 million of costs or losses in the budget as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those include loss dividends from the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel and the Windsor International Airport.
"Council really had no discretion with about two and a half per cent of the tax increase that was passed today. The rest of it, we're dealing with inflationary pressures and other costs that are a function of COVID and dealing with 40-year high inflation. That's what we saw playing out here around the council table," said Dilkens.
Council also approved an additional 0.25 per cent of funding for the asset management plan. An additional $ 1 million per year will be collected that will go directly toward repairing residential roads.
Residents will also see an increase in their sewer surcharge bills. Consumers will see an average increase of around $6.23 a month or $74.76 annually. Those funds go directly to fund the sewer master plan to reduce the risk of basement flooding in the city.
User fees for recreational services will be maintained at the 2022 level. This was a campaign promise made by Dilkens during the last election. The net effect on holding fees is around $150,000 to the overall budget. That will be covered by the interest the city is making on some of its investments.
Windsor City Council also approved the 2023 Capital budget that includes $178,530,254 in spending for infrastructure spending.
The 10-year capital budget contains $1.75 billion in projects. This is not an exhaustive list of projects that will need to be completed in that time.
Currently, the 10-year budget does not include allocations for the full development of the Sandwich South lands or the Banwell Road and E.C. Row interchange needs.
