Road widening, flood prevention: A look at Windsor's 3.3 per cent proposed tax increase

Media got a sneak peek at Windsor's 2019 budget proposal Wednesday.

Mayor Drew Dilkens, along with Chief Administrative Officer Onorio Colucci and Chief Financial Officer Joe Mancina presented the proposed budget. City councillors will have access to the document on Friday and it will be released to the public on Monday (March 11, 2019).

Dilkens spoke about additions and increases to the budget, not mentioning any cuts or layoffs planned.

The municipal tax levy and a capital funding budget for flood mitigation are high on the priority list for the upcoming budget deliberations.

3.3 per cent increase

As it stands in the proposed budget, the average home owner can expect to pay about $90 more a year, based on a $150,000 assessed home value.

A 3.3 per cent increase is proposed for the municipal tax levy in the 2019 budget, but Dilkens said he expects it to shake out to be less after council discusses.

The 2019 recommended levy is $416 million, the majority of which goes to emergency services. The tax rate from 2008 to 2018 decreased for many years, before increasing slightly in the last few years.

The 2018 levy was $404 million. The 2008 levy was $412 million. Dilkens called that a cumulative savings of almost $660 million.

"It's really important for the residents to understand the value that they are receiving because of the work that we've done since 2008, holding the line on taxes and keeping the tax rate very modest," said Dilkens.

According toDilkens, Windsor's property and water taxesare below average in comparison to the provincial average. Sewer taxes are above the provincial average. A seven-year recommended plan includes $845 million on the capital side.

Of the 3.3 per cent proposed increase, 1.6per cent is on the city side what Dilkens describes as the pool they have control over.

Almost two per cent 1.7 per cent is on the "ABC" side of things, covering agencies, boards and commissions. This includes increases from Windsor Public Library and the Windsor Essex County Health Unit.

The City side of the budget includes new money to widen Banwell, Dominion and Provincial Roads. The ongoing widening of Cabana Road is also included, expecting to be completed in another seven or eight years.

Re-branding the city

A chunk of the proposed budget is set aside to re-brand the City's image but not for new stationary or a new logo, said the mayor.

Dilkens said in his talks with companies in Windsor-Essex, he's learned that specialized businesses like computer software development have job openings they can't fill. Rebrandingwill help attract talent to the city to fill these jobs.

"It's not about new jobs," said Dilkens. "It's about people to fill those jobs."

According to Dilkens, bothQuicken Loans and AAR have both expressed concerns about filling open positions.

"This is not something new," said Dilkens, who said he's held off on bringing re-branding forward for the last four years. "Times are good in Windsor right now."

Outreach worker, emergency shelter services

The proposed budget has a line to make a pilot outreach services worker position permanent.

One-time funding was approved last year for the position.

There is also a proposed $500,000 one-time funding requestset aside for emergency shelter services.

"No one in Windsor should have to sleep on the street," said Dilkens.

Flooding mitigation

"Everyone is Windsor is well aware of the flooding issues that we've had," said Dilkens. The first piece of the sewer master plan is available now, with the full plan expected by the end of 2019.

The City of Windsor has applied for federal grant money to help with flood mitigation.

"We need to make greater investments," said Dilkens. The flooding mitigation plan suggests adding $9.5 million to the pot, bringing the total amount spent on funding to $31.6 million.

"What would this be used for? It would fund basement flooding subsidy programs, funds the sewer master plan implementation," said Dilkens. "We're not going to correct this in one year."

Dilkens said the plan will help give Windsorites a "fighting chance" to deal with flooding.

ABCs: police, health unit, ambulances

A substantial amount of the increase comes from the agencies, boards and commissions connected to the City of Windsor.

Who's asking for what?

• Windsor Police Services: $5.5 million
• Windsor-Essex community housing: $469,000
• Land ambulance: $200,000
• Windsor-Essex County Health Unit: $150,000
• Handi-Transit: $81,000
• Windsor Symphony; $25,000

Some of these asks mean a five per cent or higher increase in their budgets, as is the case for Windsor Police Services and WECHU.

Not in the budget plan ... yet

An economic diversification plan and a plan for tree trimming are not laid out in the 2019 budget proposal.

Tree trimming was one of the top calls to 311 in 2018, according to the city's data.

"We've set, behind the scenes, a policy that calls for a seven-year plan for tree-trimming but we have a backlog we have to catch up on," said Dilkens.

Dilkenssaid he's met with six citycouncillorsso far abouteconomic diversification. Once he speaks to allcouncillors, he expects to solidify a plan.

The budget will be debated sometime in April.