Over half of the in-camera items within the 2026 proposed budget have been moved to the public document.
As part of the proposed zero per cent budget, city administration had included 54 in-camera items for council deliberation, stating it was due to exercising caution when it came to addition, subtractions, or reorganization related to staffing matters.
The city stated Tuesday evening that 29 of the 54 items have been moved to the public document.
After city council received the proposed budget documents on Dec. 29, Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens directed administration to conduct an additional review of the items listed as in-camera to determine whether they could be moved to the public document.
Engage Windsor requested the Ontario Ombudsman to review the city's decision to withhold 54 budget items from the public, totalling over $9.5-million in cuts. Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens has stated this review happened prior to Engage Windsor speaking out.
Of the 29 items that have been moved to the public document, many of them include reductions to vacant positions, changes to staff compliment, and the addition of staff over a range of departments, such as Public Works, Transit Windsor, Parks and Rec, Engineering, and others.
Dilkens says administration places items that they believe should be in-camera.
"You then had a number of city councillors who were complaining about transparency, and I said to administration, 'go back, if there's more items we can move to the public agenda, please do so'. We've got nothing to hide, we're proud of this zero per cent budget, and willing to debate all of the ideas that are included in the budget, and all of the items. And so what you'll see, of the 29 items, is really, very anticlimactic."
He says there are some staff additions being proposed in the 2026 budget.
"They're predicated on the fact that council has to also make some cuts to fund those new positions. And so, this is an exercise where in the interest in trying to make sure that council had control of their agenda - as they always do - the administration thought, 'well, if we're cutting positions and they're attached to adding positions, maybe we should let council decide that in-camera', and so that's really the approach that they took."
Dilkens says this review happened prior to Engage Windsor speaking out.
"The discussions internally had happened when city councillors started suggesting that items should be in public session, and of course, it's an election year, right? In normal times, if councillors have a concern about an item that's in-camera, they call the clerk, they call the city solicitor, they call the city manager, or myself, to have that conversation... that didn't happen at all this time, they just went strictly to the media because it's an election year."
The 25 budget items that remain in-camera will be discussed behind closed doors during a meeting on Jan. 26.
A public meeting is set for Jan. 12.
The updated budget documents will be available on the city website by noon Wednesday.
The 29 in-camera items being moved to the public document are listed below: