The 2023 draft budget has been presented to Chatham-Kent council with a proposed tax hike of 6.35%.
It’s merely a starting off point, but compared to previous years, it’s a significantly higher increase. Looking forward, high increases in property tax may become the norm.
In a forecast exercise, Chatham-Kent administration created budget forecasts for years 2024 through to 2027.
In order to maintain existing services and meet council’s strategic priorities the base budget is forecasted to have an tax rate increase of between six and seven percent every year for the next four years. A big reason for the projected increases is partly due to funding capital assets.
The forecast is a conservative projection of what Chatham-Kent is estimating for budget increase over the next four years, although there are many unknowns such as changes in provincial funding.
As the municipality moves forward, they will look at building a rate stabilization reserve to mitigate any significant events that affect the budget in future years.
