Chatham-Kent administration is advising council not to move forward with a list of departmental budget cuts outlined in an upcoming information report, which has been cited as impractical.
During an October 7 meeting, council approved a motion brought forward by Councillor Doyle for staff to draft a report that would look at ways to cut certain departmental budgets by 7.5 per cent collectively. Those budgets included the chief administrative office, corporate services, development services, financial, budget, information technology and transformation, fire and emergency services, health and human services, and infrastructure and engineering.
Programs or employees fully funded by upper levels of government were excluded, along with police services, EMS, and Riverview Gardens.
The report, coming to council during a budget meeting on Wednesday, includes 48 possible cuts to services within the municipality. Some of those cuts include the elimination of rural curbside garbage collection, converting the moveable bridges in Wallaceburg to fixed structures, selling the John D. Bradley Convention Centre, closing five fire stations within CK, reducing hours at municipal centres in Dresden, Ridgetown and Tilbury, and close smaller library branches in Highgate, Merlin, Bothwell, Wheatley and Thamesville.
Adminstration has stressed that every item on the list of service cuts is not recommended. CK staff has also noted in the report that the listed cuts do not align with council’s Strategic Directions.
“Having a motion passed that simply requires reductions to every department, with selected exclusions, does not take into consideration council’s own strategic directions,” administration said in its report. “It concerns the community when cuts for service appear in an information report with no detailed context, evaluation, or community consultation, and it creates concern amongst front-line staff as they question if their service is on a cut list; it reduces productivity and morale of staff and negatively impacts the community.”
Administration pointed out that recommendations to council are typically preceded by extensive study through service reviews, master plan recommendations, community consultation and review of best practices. However, the list of service cuts in this report did not involve any of these practices.
According to the report, the proposed tax increase for 2025 is 6.96 per cent, which accounts for a 1.31 per cent increase in additional spending but a 2.52 per cent decrease through efficiencies and revenue.
Tonight’s draft budget presentation will begin at 6 o’clock.
Community input sessions will be held virtually next Wednesday and Thursday during a live-streamed event on the Municipality of Chatham-Kent Facebook page.
Budget deliberations are set to begin on Tuesday, November 26.
All budget meetings will be held in person in Council Chambers at the Civic Centre in Chatham, and live-streamed on YourTV CK’s YouTube Channel.