Members of Chatham-Kent Council won’t be making any further decisions about the allocation of ward funding, at least not during the current term.
In 2022, a 10-year Community Support Agreement was signed between the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and Hydro One. The agreement provides funds for investment in recreational and cultural assets in communities across Chatham-Kent.
Currently, councillors receive $25,000 a year for ward projects. With the number of councillors going from 17 to 14 in the next term, administration recommended allocating the $75,000 surplus to the Hydro One Community Benefit Reserve to help cover the lifecycle costs of culture and recreation projects funded through the Councillor Ward Funding program.
Ward Five representative Aaron Hall proposed moving the decision to the next term of council.
“They are going to be the new council that are going to have the new boundaries, going to have the new composition. They are going to be living that,” said Hall.
“This council is not going to be doing that. We decided to implement it, but the new term of council will have this decision to make.”
The motion passed 14 to 3, with councillors Lauren Anderson, Anthony Ceccacci, and Trevor Thompson voting against.
Council also voted against administration’s proposed hybrid approach for the Hydro One Councillor Ward Funding program, which would have split the surplus between culture and recreation projects identified in municipal master plans and councillor- and mayor-supported community projects managed through an annual intake process.
In a 16 to 1 vote, council chose to keep the current model, which gives councillors and the mayor discretionary funding to support community projects, but will switch to a quarterly intake process starting in 2027.
