The Essex Region Conservation Authority is looking for a funding boost of $90,000 in 2019.
Climate change, greenway maintenance, and land acquisitions to create protected land are a few of the focuses of a $7.7-million draft budget received at ERCA's Board of Directors meeting Thursday night in Essex.
Only about $3.3-million of that money comes from taxpayers, which works out to about a 32-cent bump to $10 per person.
General Manager Richard Wyma says around $1.76 of that $10 is going towards water resources and planning to combat climate change that has caused several flooding events across the region.
"How do we collectively deal with them from both an adaptation and a mitigation side of things," he says. "There's obviously a cost to doing that, so we've built some of that cost into this program so that we can deliver that on behalf of all nine municipalities in the region as opposed to individually."
The highest portion of the $10 levied to residents is $2.65, according to Wyma.
But that goes to conservation areas and greenways that have seen a resurgence in recent years, and are a service the public gets to enjoy.
"These are great new features in our region and people are using them, which is terrific, but we need to make sure that we can maintain these facilities," says Wyma.
Land acquisitions get second billing, working out to $1.82 per resident.
Wyma says land acquisitions were put on the backburner for years to help dig ERCA out of a financial hole — after years of work to get back in the black, the plan is to allocate an additional $600,000 towards buying and protecting wetlands and natural areas.
"The Great Lakes are in a very dire straight right now, especially the Western-Basin of Lake Erie, which abuts us. From a phosphorus and a water quality perspective the support for land acquisitions is really key to make sure that we can acquire those lands and restore them to reduce the impacts to The Great Lakes."
Wyma says 70% of the budget is gained through ERCA's fundraising efforts and government programs.
A copy of the budget will now make the rounds in Essex County and a final decision will be made in February of 2019.