LIVE: Windsor council saves tunnel bus in 2025 budget debate

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Follow Windsor Star reporter Taylor Campbell’s live blog below for up-to-the-minute coverage of Windsor city council’s meeting on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Today, city council will discuss Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens’s proposed 2025 budget.

12:05 p.m. — The meeting has begun. The regular agenda is available here, the consolidated agenda here, and the final consolidated here.

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Mayor Drew Dilkens asks if a few items from the regular council agenda — not the budget — can be moved to the consent agenda, to expedite the meeting. Items 10.3, 10.5, 10.7, 10.8, 10.10, 10.11, and 10.12 are now on the consent agenda.

Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis attempts to refer item 10.13 regarding eliminating the school bus extra program back to administration for further consultation with school boards. City clerk Steve Vlachodimos indicates the item has to be dealt with as part of budget deliberations because it’s part of the mayor’s proposed budget.

12:13 p.m. — On to item 10.9 – Mayoral Direction MD 43-2024 – Hybrid Work Program & Procedure Research & Report.

Patrick Murchison, president of CUPE, appears before council on behalf of the city’s indoor workers. He asks that the mayor reconsider reducing work-from-home days from two to one.

“People are planning on looking at other jobs to have flexibility,” he says.

12:18 p.m. — Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie asks admin about the risk to employee retention that this change poses.

City CAO Joe Mancina says work from home is an element that helps with attracting employees. However, employers have been drawing employees back to the workplace.

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“I think the landscape has changed over the last couple of years,” Mancina says.

12:21 p.m. — Dilkens says that, as Strengthen the Core was being developed, he was “trying to square the circle.” Not having the city, one of the biggest employers downtown, bringing people back to work downtown, “weakens” the core, he says.

“I regret that I actually didn’t do this sooner,” he says.

Dilkens says he sometimes has a hard time getting ahold of staff when they are not working from their desks at city hall. He’s concerned developers and other “customers of the city” are also having a hard time reaching staff.

Mancina says the work-from-home policy applies to 527 out of around 3,200 city employees, about 16 per cent.

“We create that essence of inequality, I guess, among the different working groups. We certainly have heard that,” he says.”

12:27 p.m. — Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak asks what comparable municipalities are doing regarding work-from-home policies.

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Dana Paladino, commissioner of corporate services, says some form of work from home is allowed by the “vast majority” of municipalities admin looked at. But it “seems to be the trend” where municipalities are reducing work-from-home days.

Kaschak refers to a column in the Financial Post by Howard Levitt that says 2025 will be the return to in-office work. He does not note that Howard Levitt is the employment lawyer representing fired City of Windsor engineer Chris Nepszy in a lawsuit against the city.

12:33 p.m. — Kieran McKenzie calls the mayoral decision a “step backwards,” one that makes the challenge of recruitment and retention more challenging for the city. He recommends against proceeding with the mayor’s direction.

“Given the fact that this has the potential to do more harm than good,” he says, he believes the city should maintain its existing policy that allows eligible employees to work from home two days per week.

Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac opposes the motion. She says she does not support the total elimination of work-from-home days, but she does support administration in reassessing the policy. She says she’ll have a subsequent motion if Kieran McKenzie’s motion fails.

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Kieran McKenzie’s motion does not pass.

Gignac moves the recommendation and directs admin to report back annually on the impact of the change and the work-from-home policy. That motion passes.

12:38 p.m. — On 11.4 – Asylum Claimants and Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP) Funding Update.

Here’s Windsor Star reporter Trevor Wilhelm’s coverage of the issue. Last week, Mayor Dilkens and Andrew Daher, the city’s commissioner of human and health services, said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently announced that it wants provinces and municipalities to cover more of the costs associated with supporting refugee claimants. By 2027, Windsor would be on the hook for 100 per cent of costs for claimants arriving in the city, Dilkens said last Wednesday.

Mike Morency, executive director of Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre, appears before council today and asks that council submit a conditional application for federal funding in partnership with Matthew House.

“The federal government says housing and healthcare are provincial responsibilities. The province says X, Y, Z are municipal responsibility. Meanwhile, Matthew House has just been doing the work for 22 years and not asking anybody to pay for it,” Morency says.

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“We’re not asking for ongoing payment of anything. Now, we’re asking for some one-time cost to be able to take advantage of this grant to increase sustainability.”

Under its proposal, Matthew House would be able to purchase the facilities it currently leases, freeing up cash to hire more staff and shelter more refugee claimants, Morency says.

Over its 22 years, Matthew House has assisted 2,379 refugee claimants who lived in its facilities, he says. It’s provided support to another 11,000 who were able to live with family or friends.

Matthew House has never received operational funding from any level of government, Morency says.

“These people are coming to the City of Windsor. We in this room have a vested interest in seeing them very quickly become self-sufficient contributing members of our community, no matter where we are on the budgetary spectrum.”

1:07 p.m. — Coun. Kieran McKenzie asks about the new IHAP program guidelines.

Daher says there now needs to be an agreement between the IRCC and either the city or the province. Daher hasn’t heard from the province.

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“By default, if we’re going to apply, it would be on the backs of the municipality. We’ve been very clear to say that, as a municipality, this is not our jurisdiction. We do not have funding.”

1:17 p.m. —  Gignac asks about the requirement for support services.

Daher says that’s correct. In addition to housing and feeding refugee claimants, it’s also about getting them acclimated to society and working.

Regarding the application with Matthew House: “Our concern is not only on the financial side, but it’s also on the agreement side,” Daher says. “If for whatever reason, we’re short any dollars, or there’s any concern about municipalities, that’s another risk that council would have to weigh.”

Kieran McKenzie moves the staff report’s recommendation and asks that administration be directed to engage with the province to support the application.

“The province needs to be a part of this. I don’t like the changes that the feds have done,” McKenzie says. “I think it’s another way to download costs to the municipality.

“It’s not a question of its worthiness to be supported.”

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1:23 p.m. — Ward 10 Coun. Jim Morrison notes that this application has to be submitted by Jan. 31, and that a provincial election will be called this week. He says he can’t support the notion.

“I think it’s an unrealistic addition to the motion — if we had six months to deal with this, I would be reaching out and putting pressure on the province and our MPPs.”

Gignac says she can’t support the motion, either. The federal government is “responsible to make sure that when they accept these people, vulnerable people, that there are programs in place.

“I would love to be able to say to you, ‘yeah, we’re going to do battle for you,’” she says to Morency. “But we can’t even do battle for ourselves. It has become so frightening in terms of what the responsibilities will be.”

1:29 p.m. — Dilkens chimes in to tell Gignac and Morrison that McKenzie’s motion to follow the staff recommendation means no financial responsibility for the municipality, with the addition of a simple letter to the province.

Both Gignac and Morrison say they understand that, but they don’t think the letter to the province will be effective, so they remain opposed.

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1:31 p.m. — Dilkens says the federal government’s proposal to have municipalities shoulder costs associated with refugee claimants appears “poorly planned and not well thought out.” He calls the proposal “an absolute disaster.”

Gignac says she doesn’t believe it’s the city’s job to ask the province to partner with the feds on supporting refugees.

McKenzie’s motion fails. Gignac puts forward a motion to proceed with these staff recommendation, without advocating to the province. That motion is successful.

1:41 p.m. — On to 11.3 – Sandpoint Beach – Approval of the Masterplan

Ward 7 Coun. Angelo Marignani moves the adoption of the master plan. That carries.

1:45 p.m. — 10.4 – 2025 Stormwater and Wastewater Budget

Council approved changes to the stormwater and wastewater budgets in October. Read the Star’s coverage here.

Gignac moves the administrative recommendation to endorse that budget.

1:56 p.m. — On 10.6 – Municipal Accommodation Tax Program Update

Admin recommends that council approve an increase to the municipal accommodation tax from four per cent to six per cent. The City of Windsor and Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island receive funding from the tax.

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The increase would bring in an additional $6 million over ten years, says city CFO and treasurer Janice Guthrie.

“We don’t believe a two-per-cent increase is going to be a deterrent to people (not coming) to the City of Windsor,” Guthrie says.

The staff recommendation carries.

2:08 p.m. — 10.1 – 2025 Operating Budget Report

Guthrie is giving a presentation about city finances. The city’s debt to asset ratio is low, its credit rating is AA+, and it has “healthy reserves” to invest in “key capital projects” without the need to take on debt, she says.

2:14 p.m. — “The 2025 budget is based upon investment growth and sustainability,” Guthrie says. “The city is expected in the next five to 10 years to benefit from unprecedented growth.”

The proposed budget continues “fiscal constraint until such time as additional revenue in the form of property taxes, development and permitting fees, in addition to other non-tax-related revenues can be realized.”

2:19 p.m. — The 2.99 per cent levy increase “was only achieved by way of reduction to city operating departments of $3.5 million, or 7.3 per cent, Guthrie says.

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For the average residential property owner, the proposed levy increase will represent approximately $99 in additional property taxes.

Guthrie says the 2025 budget includes $24.2 million in expenditure increases/revenue decreases. That includes $12.1 million in labour contracts and fringe benefits; $5.5 million in contractual and inflationary pressures; $2.7 million in revenue reductions; $2.4 million to maintain existing service levels; and $1.5 million in service enhancements.

2:26 p.m. — The 10-year capital budget includes $856.9 million for roads; $485.2 million for sewers; $186.2 million for parks and recreation; $184.7 million for corporate property infrastructure; $182 million for transportation; $151.5 million for agencies, boards and committees; $147.2 million for community and economic development; $46.2 million for corporate technology; and $4.8 million for capital reserve replenishment.

2:32 p.m. — Now, Jelena Payne, commissioner of economic development, is presenting on the 2025 transit service plan and school bus extras.

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Read the Star’s coverage of the proposed elimination of the tunnel bus and the secondary school bus extra program here and here.

Payne says students who live within two kilometres of a bus route and use the extra program could be walking, biking, or taking regular transit to school. She reiterates the budget’s proposal to add nearly 15,000 service hours to the regular transit system by eliminating school bus extras.

“The vision of the (transit) master plan was to eliminate specialty services and create and equitable, fair, robust transit service for all residents,” Payne says.

“I want to assure council that extensive research, modeling, and mapping was completed in the development of this budget issue.”

2:39 p.m. — “Administration is committed to working with the affected school boards to share information in order to help the school boards and their students prepare for the upcoming school year,” Payne said.

2:41 p.m. — Dilkens is now opening the floor for council to discuss any items in the budget that they’d like to discuss and amend.

Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante asks about the repeat offender revenue reduction on page 18 of the executive summary. It has a $57,500 impact on the levy.

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Craig Robertson, manager of licensing and enforcement, says its a “good news story,” because fewer property owners are repeatedly failing to maintain their properties. The fee was meant to be a deterrent and to encourage people to keep their yards clean.

Morrison asks if the city has a list of property owners that “are always offending.”

Dilkens interrupts to say this is a housekeeping matter meant to rightsize the budget. He wants council to focus on the budget. Councillors drop the issue.

2:54 p.m. — Coun. Kaschak asks about secondary school extras, specifically about how long might take a student to get to St. Joseph’s Catholic High School from a specific neighbourhood using regular transit. Admin says it would take the student an additional 20 to 25 minutes on top of however long it takes them to get to school on an extra bus.

Kaschak asks if the English public (GECDSB) or English Catholic (WECDSB) pay into the school bus extra program. Payne says they do not. She says the school boards pay for bus passes for students who live within specific boundaries.

Kaschak asks about school bus extra programs in other municipalities. Stephan Habrun, acting executive director of Transit Windsor, says none of Windsor’s peer municipalities have similar programs.

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3:06 p.m. — Morrison asks about a timeline for eliminating extras.

Payne says, if approved, the actual implementation would take place Sept. 2025. Staff would begin mapping and preparing for the change immediately.

Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis asks about traffic congestion and parking issues around Vincent Massey Secondary School. Bill Kralovensky, co-ordinator of parking services, says he anticipates more parents would drive kids to school if the extra program is eliminated.

3:15 p.m. — Francis wants a “common middle ground” rather than an “all or nothing” elimination of the extra program. He’s concerned about hundreds of students waiting for regular city buses around Massey and Holy Names.

Guthrie: “At this point, it’s not about deferring this or changing it. There would be an amendment needed to the budget to direct administration.”

Francis clarifies that he’s seeking status quo – removing the budget recommendation on the topic, and maintaining school bus extras without the associated transit service enhancements. He wants more consultation with the school boards first.

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Before the motion goes to a vote, Morrison has questions. He asks about frequency increases to the Dominion 5. Habrun says the bus would come every 15 minutes at peak service time.

Morrison asks if school bus extras accommodate students who participate in extra-curricular activities. Payne says no, those students have to find their own way to and from school.

3:37 p.m. — Francis puts forward a motion to amend the budget to maintain the status quo with school bus extras to provide more time for further discussions.

“We have a bit more time,” Francis says. “It can be the final one (plan) that we submit, but I would like to know a more phased approach before we come to a final decision.”

Gignac: “The only answer is if we were able to recoup the costs 100 per cent for the offering of this particular service… I know school budgets are as challenged as municipal budgets, but they do have a budget for transportation.” She says she can’t support the motion.

3:42 p.m. — Kieran McKenzie: “I can’t help but feel that there are some folks that will be deeply impacted that we haven’t considered.”

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He wants more collaboration with the school boards. He thinks the elimination of school board extras may impact the “academic outcomes” for children living in his ward.

“I think we can get to a better place than we are right now.”

Costante says it’s always a fight to see the Transit Master Plan implemented (eliminating school bus extras is a master plan recommendation).

“This was always part of a transparent public process,” Costante says.

He says the proposed service enhancements that would result from the elimination of school bus extras “benefits the entire system.” The best way to combat congestion, he says, “is a robust transit system.”

He opposes the amendment.

The motion fails. Voting in favour were Francis, Ward 7 Coun. Angelo Marignani, Kaschak, and Kieran McKenzie. Voting against were Costante, Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino, Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie, Ward 5 Coun. Ed Sleiman, Gignac, Morrison, and Dilkens.

4:01 p.m. — Council is discussing extending enforceable paid parking hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Kaschak has a motion to extend enforceable hours to 7 p.m.

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“I think one hours a good way to go,” he says. “It’s a way to move forward with a nominal increase, but not at that three-hour rate.”

Agostino: “Until we modernize our parking, we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing — put a bandaid on the bleeding and hope it stops… The true fix to this is to modernize our parking in the downtown core and throughout our city. That’s where the solutions from other municipalities have come from.”

Francis and Costante both say they cannot support the motion.

Costante: “If we’re going to do a modernization, we do it right from the beginning,” without doing incremental changes.

4:16 p.m. — On to the tunnel bus. The mayor’s budget proposes killing the cross-border transit service to save roughly $1.4 million in annual operating costs. Read the Star’s coverage of the issue here. The crux of the issue is a change to federal labour laws that gives federally-regulated employees 10 paid sick days per year as of late 2022. Because of the tunnel bus, all Transit Windsor employees fall under the scope of the federal regulation.

Payne says the city did “a lot of modelling” on various scenarios — fare, ridership, etc — to try to close the funding gap on the tunnel bus. But “there was nothing.”

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Windsor has the only transit system in Canada that operates a cross-border bus.

4:24 p.m. — Gignac asks if anything precludes a private business from operating a cross-border bus service. Payne says there are private operators that carry licences to offer the service.

Gignac asks about how eliminating the tunnel bus might enhance the regular transit system. Admin says staff and one bus would be redeployed.

4:31 p.m. — Kieran McKenzie asks to what extent the elimination of the tunnel bus might have a negative impact on economic development opportunities.

Admin says there are no concerns from an economic development standpoint. If there was a big event in Detroit, they might look into a private shuttle service.

4:53 p.m. — Councillors are asking a lot of questions about how the tunnel bus system might be reworked so it costs less money, including increasing fares and decreasing stops. There seems to be a lack of understanding about the root of the issue: federally mandated sick days introduced only a few years ago that Transit Windsor employees qualify for because of the tunnel bus.

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5:00 p.m. — Coun. Agostino puts forward a motion to increase the regular tunnel bus fare to $15 and the special events bus to $25. The outstanding cost will be funded through the levy.

Dilkens asks about how that would work, when riders could strategically take the regular tunnel bus to save money.

Agostino suggests that the regular tunnel bus wouldn’t operate at the same time as the special events bus.

“There’s two different unique customers here,” Agostino says. “It’s a very small amount of people that use the tunnel bus on a day-to-day service, but we know that getting rid of that day-to-day service is not going to do us any better.

“Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not going to do us any good, because it’s not coming back.”

Mark McKenzie is opposed. He wants to see $25 fare for both the regular tunnel bus and the special events bus.

Kieran McKenzie calls eliminating the tunnel bus “the biggest mistake in this book,” gesturing to the budget.

“The service is starting to rebound. It’s coming back. 100,000 people took that bus just a few years ago — more importantly, I think wrapped up in that bus is part of our identity as a community.

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“I can’t more strongly disagree with what’s being proposed.”

5:09 p.m. — Gignac opposes the motion.

The federally legislated sick days have “just been the nail in the coffin,” she says. She notes that MP Irek Kusemierczyk (L — Windsor-Tecumseh) has been speaking out in support of the tunnel bus, something she calls “really rich” when federal legislation “killed” it.

She says it will take a lot to convince her that the tunnel bus is an important component of economic development, considering it brings many people to Detroit, but few Americans use it to visit Windsor.

Morrison proposes a friendly amendment to bring the fare to $20. Agostino accepts the friendly.

5:18 p.m. — Costante supports the motion.

“This is a conscious choice of priorities,” Costante says. He says the tunnel bus service aligns with Windsor’s Strengthen the Core plan to get more people living, working, and spending time downtown.

Kaschak says he supports the motion.

“This is a historic piece of Windsor. It’s a fabric of the community. It’s really an iconic Windsor item — but we have to find ways to increase some revenues and increase some ridership.”

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5:25 p.m. — Francis says he’s “not ready to jettison the tunnel bus.”

“This is literally, you could argue, probably the only formal link we have with the City of Detroit.

“It’s a unique factor that no other city in the country has. I’m not ready to give that up at this time.”

Mark McKenzie says he doesn’t want to see the tunnel bus go, “but I also believe that the users who are using the tunnel bus and the special events bus should be the ones” who pay for it.

“I don’t think the taxpayer of Windsor, who doesn’t ever use the tunnel bus or the special events bus, should be subsidizing it.”

5:29 p.m. — Dilkens: “I doubt any of us would be having this discussion today but for the federal government’s legislative change.” Only a few years ago, he says, the tunnel bus was breaking even.

“I do not accept the responsibility for even having to bring this.

“This is definitely an extra service. It is not a core service that the municipality offers — it’s about how do you rationalize this in a business sense and making the dollars and cents make sense.”

He does not support the motion

The motion carries, saving the tunnel bus and increasing fares to $20 one way. Here’s the vote breakdown: in favour were Francis, Costante, Agostino, Marignani, Kaschak, Kieran McKenzie, and Morrison. Opposed were Mark McKenzie, Sleiman, Gignac, and Mayor Dilkens.

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5:48 p.m. — Council is now discussing the capital budget.

Francis asks about additional funding identified.

Admin says it comes from an increase in grant funding, more funding gained through changes to the sewer surcharge fee, and changes to development charges.

5:53 p.m. — Back to the operating budget. Mark McKenzie proposes increasing parking ticket fines by 12 per cent instead of the recommended 11 per cent to bring in more revenue.

5:58 p.m. — Morrison makes a motion to accept the operating and capital budgets with the amendments brought forward. He also puts forward a motion to truncate the rest of council’s amendment period, which would otherwise expire on Monday. Both pass.

The mayor will have 10 days to veto any council amendments, if he wants to.

The levy impact is roughly 3.1 per cent.

6:03 p.m. — Meeting ends.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

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