The City of Windsor's 2023 draft budget includes a preliminary property tax increase of just over five per cent.
A City Council Operating Budget Review Committee will go through administration’s preliminary 2023 budget estimates starting Jan. 23.
Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens told AM800's The Morning Drive that the committee that they established includes every member of Council, minus him.
"That committee is going to meet the week of Jan. 23 for the whole week, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day and go department by department," he says."Bring the department heads in and go through each discreet budget for each budget."
Dilkens says at a time of high inflation, even at five per cent, it's well below the rate of inflation.
He says it's the largest tax hike he's seen in the 16 years he's been on Council.
"We are approaching being nearly a billion dollar co-operation, so there's a lot of line items to look at and questions to ask," says Dilkens. "So everyone will have a chance to do that to see how they can get that number down to something that's probably likely going to land in the four per cent range, much like you're hearing with our neighbouring municipalities but it's going to take some work to do that."
The formation of this new working committee came at the suggestion of City Council members during earlier discussions surrounding the 2023 budget process. Council members expressed a desire to introduce a participatory budget process into the operating budget cycle that would allow Council an early look at the budget pressures and estimates that are being considered by administration.
Materials, including preliminary budget estimates and supporting department-based budget documents, that will inform the OBRC’s work and feed into the April 2023 municipal budget process can be found online.
Members of the public are invited to provide written comments and questions for the OBRC’s review by contacting clerks@citywindsor.ca via email. The deadline for written submissions is Jan. 23, 2023. In-person delegations will be welcome during full budget deliberations in April.
With files from Paul McDonald