The City of Windsor has released an updated 2023 municipal budget and it includes a proposed tax levy increase of 5.02 per cent.
Earlier this year, administration presented a draft of the 2023 operating budget to a special council committee which spent a week reviewing the details of the 2023 budget estimates for all city departments and looking opportunities to save.
The Operating Budget Review Committee (OBRC) reviewed the estimates in late January and approved measures to bring the proposed tax levy increase down to 4.59 per cent from 5.23 per cent.
According to a release from the city, "additional cost pressures have arisen" bringing the proposed rate to 5.02 per cent.
The city says the additional costs include:
- Land Ambulance Costs beyond January 2023 OBRC Estimate $858,200
- Provincial Gas Tax Reduction for 2023/2024 $209,322
- Cyber Insurance Increased Cost $96,480
- Engineering Development – Organizational Restructure $270,994
- Per Diem Rate Increase for Residential Services Homes Program $450,000
Joe Mancina, Chief Financial Officer and City Treasurer, says between now and early April, administration will be looking for opportunities to reduce the amount.
"It's really important to note that the Operating Budget Review Committee already undertook a significant amount of work, spent one week going through all of the department, a line-by-line review of the budget, and basically whittled down around $2.8-million. So it will be really difficult to find additional savings," he says.
Mancina says 2023 is proving to be a difficult budget for Windsor and all municipalities due pressures such as inflation.
"If you look at a lot of cities and regions across the province that have finalized their budgets, we're below that percentage. A lot of them are in that mid-5 per cent range, I think the average is 5.34 per cent for the ones that we've identified, a lot of the other ones are still in the works," he adds.
"Each of these cost pressures has emerged since the conclusion of the Operating Budget Review Committee’s work and represent non-discretionary expenditures resulting primarily from mandated and/or provincially required service delivery," a news release from the city states. "These additional budget pressures represent an additional $1.9 million in costs and an updated proposed municipal tax levy of 5.02 per cent."
According to the city release, Fiscal 2023 has presented significant challenges for municipal governments across Canada to maintain existing public services at a time of increasing costs, inflationary pressures and reduced pandemic supports from upper levels of government. Comparisons with similar jurisdictions across Ontario place Windsor below the average of 5.34% for 2023 municipal tax levy increases.
City council will meet on April 3 to consider and approve the final 2023 capital and operating budgets and set the final municipal tax increase.