The 2023 draft budget will be presented to Chatham-Kent council this evening.
The capital works budget will likely include a number of large-scale infrastructure upgrades and repairs to such things as area roads, trails and municipal buildings. Shoreline repairs could be a priority this year as well.
One thing to watch for during budget deliberations is if council will set aside money to move forward with its plans to possibly turn the privately-owned and mostly vacant Downtown Chatham Centre into a municipal hub that could possibly include a new city hall, a public library, a museum, and cultural centre.
Last year the Chatham-Kent police budget had an increase of 4.4 per cent, after eight years of modest increases around 2 per cent. Yesterday, Sarnia approved an 11.5 per cent increase in their police budget for this year.
Meantime, Chatham-Kent councillors have already heard from the public regarding upcoming deliberations.
The municipality conducted a survey last October to find out what residents wanted to see in the 2023 budget session.
The majority of survey recipients wanted Chatham-Kent to consider issuing debt on both new capital builds and lifecycle replacement of assets. Respondents were also heavily in favour of continuing to spend $100,000 a year to assist with family physician recruitment in Chatham-Kent.
An area where respondents were not happy with is the level of service provided by public works on road maintenance.
Respondents were split almost 50/50 on whether they would be willing to help maintain municipal property outside their homes to avoid increased costs in property taxes.
The majority of those who filled out the survey felt that affordable housing was an important issue, although a large majority don’t want to increase their taxes to provide more affordable housing options in Chatham-Kent.
There was also a strong response to the question about free internet wi-fi at area arenas, with most people saying that it’s not a very high priority.
The survey respondents were also not in favour of increasing taxes to pay for increased public art.
According to the survey results, the majority of people who filled out the survey were over the age of 55.
The municipality will host two online public consultations on the Chatham-Kent Facebook page. The live feeds will take place at noon on January 18 and January 19 at 7 p.m.
Budget deliberations will begin on January 25.
