The 2025 operating and capital budgets have been approved in principle and Amherstburg taxpayers face a 5.12 per cent increase.
After a five-hour meeting Monday night and a full day of budget deliberations Tuesday, town council approved the budget in principle with Mayor Michael Prue adding there could be some changes to that number if new revenue comes in.
The 5.12 per cent increase translates into an increase of $144.78 per $250,000 or $57.90 per $100,000 per year.
The total operating budget is over $61.8 million, with chief financial officer/treasurer Tracy Prince stating the town “can estimate that it would be a net $57,400 reduction on total collectible tax levy”. She added “we have not completed all the adjustments into the spreadsheet.”
The budget is expected to be formally approved in January.
Votes to approve both the capital and operating budgets were done separately with both passing in 6-1 votes. Prue, Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb, Councillor Don McArthur, Councillor Molly Allaire, Councillor Linden Crain and Councillor Peter Courtney while Councillor Diane Pouget was opposed.
“It was very tough,” Courtney said of the budget talks. “It was very tough to balance needs versus wants.”
Courtney credited administration for coming in with the 5.3 per cent starting point but admitted he would have liked to have seen more cuts.
“I was hoping for bigger reductions,” he said. “It was very tough to get everyone on council to find ways to make cuts. It didn’t happen.”
Courtney did credit his fellow council members for doing what they could. He said they operate as a team and did what they could during the two days of deliberations.
Entering budget deliberations, the mayor added he had a goal of coming it at around 4.5 per cent or less, but added council did its best.
“It is a very tough budget. We cut what we could,” he said. “The rest has to stand.”
Other local municipalities with OPP policing got help from the province, Prue said, while a reduction in Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund grant money hit the town to the tune of 1.19 per cent. Other costs are “enormous,” he added, citing inflation and paying the construction index rate among other factors.
“We’re getting hammered,” he said. “We dealt with what we control.”
Prue added it was one of the hardest budget processes he has been through in his municipal career.
MORE BUDGET COVERAGE TO COME...
By Ron Giofu
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