Chatham-Kent residents are being given the chance to provide their input on this year’s municipal budget.
Public consultations on the proposed budget for 2022 will be live-streamed through Facebook and YouTube on Wednesday from 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. and on Thursday from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. Members of the public will be able to speak as a delegate and submit questions about the budget.
The proposed budget, which includes a 4.74 per cent tax increase, was presented to CK council last week.
At the current proposed rate, the average Chatham-Kent homeowner can expect a property tax increase of 1.70 per cent, which could cost an additional $142 per year.
“It’s a little bit high still, but better than it could have been with the way things were looking a few months ago,” said CK Councillor and Budget Chair Brock McGregor. “We had some good announcements as far as alternate funding sources for a few things, so that’s been helpful. And there’s been funding to offset some of the COVID-19 costs, which has made this a little bit more manageable.”
While the tax increase will likely see a reduction during budget deliberations next week, McGregor said inflation will pose the biggest challenge.
“We knew the starting point would be pretty high when we were looking at the inflationary pressures that people are feeling in every sector and in everyday life. That impacts the costs of doing business as a municipality, as well,” he said. “We’re looking at opportunities all the time to try and offset those costs and get that number down. But at the same time, we hear the message loud and clear from the community that there’s not a lot of apatite for a reduction of services. No one is really interested in seeing fewer snowplows on the road, or garbage pick-up less often, or fewer hours at the arenas once they’re opened. So there’s a goal to try and maintain services and try and make services better.”
The live stream of the public consultation meetings can be found on the municipality’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Questions can also be submitted in advance by clicking here.
CK councillors will begin budget deliberations on January 26.