A member of Windsor city council is pitching a plan to reduce a proposed tax increase of over 5 per cent laid out in the 2023 Budget.
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis has sent his ideas to the mayor and the rest of council ahead of budget deliberations scheduled for April 3.
The plan takes aim at over $22-million in new spending in the proposed 2023 Operating Budget.
Francis suggests the elimination of nearly $1-million in spending for new employee hires, cutting an over $900,000 funding request from Transit Windsor in half and a one year suspension of the Asset Management Tax, with the suspension alone resulting in over $5-million in savings.
The Asset Management Plan or AMP accounts for 1.1 per cent out of the over 5 per cent total tax levy. The Asset Management Plan results in money being set aside every year to make sure there's funds to maintain buildings and infrastructure.
Francis says city council created the Asset Management Tax, city council can suspend this tax and city council can eliminate this tax.
"That's why I put it forward. We can't seriously tackle a budget with $22-million of additional spending without looking at a $5-million expenditure. That's a big ticket item in the Operating Budget that's one of the largest discretionary items we have control over, a lot of the other elements are non-discretionary," he says.
Francis says suspending the Asset Management Tax would drastically impact the 10-year Capital Plan and Budget.
"To which I would say is 'let's have that discussion.' Let's reprioritize the Capital Budget that focuses on needs rather than wants, focuses on basics like roads, sewers and parks. Then let's have a discussion on what else is this capital funding going to go to," he says.
Francis points out that his proposal would result in around $6.5-million in spending reductions, but says more savings could still be found.
"If we're able to reduce the Operating Budget to $15-million, then there might be some opportunities within that $15-million to reduce it even further by off-setting some one-time capital funding for some one-time operating funding. That might take you to $10-million and now you're at 2 per cent or 2.5 percent, which I think is better than 5 per cent," he says.
When the proposed 2023 Budget was first released it included a 5.23 per cent tax increase for ratepayers.
The Operating Budget Review Committee (OBRC), chaired by Francis, went over the document in late January and found $2.8-million in saving measures to bringing the proposed increase down to 4.59 per cent.
The city released an updated 2023 municipal budget in mid-March and it included a proposed tax levy increase of 5.02 per cent due to inflation and additional cost pressures.
Windsor City Council is scheduled to meet Monday, April 3, at 10 a.m. to consider the 2023 operating and capital budgets.