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Windsor property owners will still face their highest tax increase in decades next year, but they won’t be hit as hard as previously thought.
On Wednesday, senior city hall administrators said they’d whittled the 2025 tax hike down to 7.4 per cent from the nearly 13 per cent — almost $62.3 million — that Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens publicly warned about last month.
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“We are down to 7.4 per cent, primarily due to reviews of those preliminary estimates — they were very high level,” Janice Guthrie, city treasurer and chief financial officer, told reporters following an operating budget review committee meeting.
“We’ve taken the time now, we’ve gone into the issues, we’ve revised some of those numbers. We’ve also taken a look at some revenue options. We’ve added additional revenue opportunities.”
Roughly $8 million in service enhancements suggested by various city departments was included in the higher budget increase projected in early September.
Guthrie said administration has reduced those service enhancements to just over $1 million.
“We always look to improve services, but of course, that comes at a cost,” Guthrie said.
“Cumulatively, the number is coming down. We’d like to continue to do our review and continue to drop this even further.”
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Three operating budget review committees composed of city councillors have met and requested additional information from city staff, chief administrative officer Joe Mancina said. That information may help them identify opportunities for savings.
“We’re still getting through that process,” Mancina said. “At the culmination of that, both through public session and in-camera sessions, the committees will make decisions.”
Those decisions will help to formulate the mayor’s budget, which will go to city council for consideration in the new year, Mancina said.
More to come.
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