Like many municipalities and cities across Ontario, Chatham-Kent is looking at a possible significant property tax increase due to inflationary pressures.
The 2023 draft budget presented to Chatham-Kent council Wednesday night includes a proposed tax hike of 6.35%.
Budget chair Brock McGregor said with inflation numbers rising in 2022, it was apparent that there would be a significant increase in this year’s budget.
“We give direction in the spring for administration to come up with the proposed budget, which typically we set at inflation plus the 1.5% for the asset management plan,” McGregor explains. “Watching that inflation number go up, you can kind of do the math in your head and see where we were headed, and actually we’re starting lower than that, which is helpful. But still when we’re used to these 1.5, 2, 3% budget increases, it is a bit of a startling number to start at, certainly.”
This works out to around a $200 annual increase for the average taxpayer with a home valued at $173,100, which is based on assessments from January 2016 due a provincial reassessment freeze.
A large part of why the increase is due to infrastructure costs, as it is responsible for 58% of the recommended tax increase.
Chatham-Kent Chief Financial Officer Gord Quinton told council during the draft budget that council would need to spend $124 million annually to fully maintain all of its assets and in the 2023 budget it is spending $62 million.
“Put another way, we can only accomplish about half of the rebuilds and infrastructure improvements that we should be doing,” Quinton said. “By not doing maintenance and upkeep required, a community’s infrastructure will eventually crumble and will eventually start to fail and none of us want that in our community.”
Some of the larger projects that the municipality is planning on spending this year include spending $1.5 million on Wallaceburg’s Lou Stonehouse walking bridge, $4.1 million on road rehabilitation on Dufferin Ave. and $4.5 million on vehicle and equipment replacement.
The proposed budget maintains all current levels of public services with no closures or cuts to service.
The next step in the budget process is a pair of Facebook Live events being held online to garner public feedback. They will take place on Chatham-Kent’s Facebook page on January 18 at noon and January 19 at 7 p.m.
Budget deliberations will take place in the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre on January 25, 26 and 31. If needed, additional meetings will take place on February 1 and 2.
