C-K council passes 5.64% tax hike

By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com

In about seven hours’ time, over three nights, the budget committee of Chatham-Kent council appeared to run out of gas, and ideas, and passed a 5.64-per-cent tax increase for this year.

It was far from unanimous, narrowly going through in a 9-8 vote.

The three nights were a roller coaster ride of sorts, at least in terms of the proposed increase. Fol- lowing a little over two hours of deliberations on the opening night, the initial 6.35-per-cent proposed increase had been trimmed to 5.58. The committee trimmed one third off anticipated inflationary expenditure needs for infrastructure projects. However, last week, the tax hike went in the other direction, climbing to 5.61 per cent after the second night, and to 5.64 following the third.

The committee reached that point Feb. 1 after two hours of deliberations that night, took a 15-minute break, and appeared set to return for additional discussion. That didn’t happen.

Rookie Coun. Lauren Anderson made an immediate motion to approve the budget at that point, and eight other councillors agreed.

Budget chair Brock McGregor said this year was not an easy process.

“Even after reviewing the initial draft budget, it was pretty clear what the challenges were,” he said. “There were significant inflationary pressures, pressures to fix our aging infrastructure, and, again, a reduction in our provincial funding.”

With lower transfer payments from the province, the local ratepayer will feel it in their property taxes.

“There wasn’t a lot of discretionary room. We found a few areas where we could get some savings, but at the end of the day, it was a number higher than we were used to,” McGregor said. One area that caused some confusion and consternation was a section in the budget binder for committee members entitled “Items Not Recommended” by administration. In many cases, included on this list were items the previous council had directed to the 2023 budget process and deemed important.

CFO Gord Quinton said in such a difficult financial year, administration could not recommend the items, but stressed council could certainly bring the issues back into the budget.

“Perhaps we chose a poor title in ‘Not Recommended,’” Quinton said. “They really become council decisions. They are things we know council feels passionate about, but we really feel it should be council’s decision to add them to the budget.”

CAO Michael Duben suggested a better title might have been “Maybe Consider in a Better Year.”

McGregor said in the past, these items would have just been included in the draft budget, resulting in a higher initial starting point. The committee would have pulled items from this area, whereas this year, they added items back into the budget.

A key area where the committee ultimately added $120,000 in spending was to help service parks, cemeteries and trails.

The previous council had directed administration to add nearly $250,000 to this area, but the item fell into the “not recommended” list.

The committee went into detailed discussion with Rob Pollock, director of parks, recreation and cemeteries, over bringing elements back into the budget to increase spending for cemeteries, trails and parks.

Pollock discussed how all facets have seen increased use since the start of the pandemic. In cemeteries, people use them as parks, coming to walk, walk their dogs or go for a run.

He added usage of trails and parks were up as well, and that they all were important due to the collective increase in usage.

The committee also identified the need to give the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance $4.5 million over five years to help rebuild the Wallaceburg hospital. That amount is half the public portion of funding the CKHA needs for the rebuild.

The project did not impact the budget.