Amherstburg is facing a budget crunch if Bill 148 is passed as is by the Ontario government.
The 2018 town budget will have to include another $1.6-million in costs and administration is blaming Ontario's Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act.
The proposed bill would implement new labour laws like equal pay for equal work, two minimum wage increases as well as other provisions around overtime, vacation days and scheduling.
Town Treasurer Justin Rousseau adds the town is expecting Bill 148 to add another $275,000 in cost in 2019.
Rousseau says what is really costing the town this year is how the legislation deals with on-call firefighters.
"That piece would have a $1.4-million impact to the way we deliver fire services here in the Town of Amherstburg if the legislation goes through as currently proposed," says Rousseau.
19 delegations scheduled to speak before the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. July 14, 2017
Amherstburg taxpayers aren't expected to feel the full brunt of the changes.
Rousseau expects the town to dip into reserves to help smooth out the impact.
"To impact your residents all in one year is very difficult for the taxpayer, so we have to draw on some reserves to mitigate that strategy down if the legislation passes — so it makes the budget challenging," says Rousseau.
According to Rousseau, the province has tried to ease municipal concerns stressing municipalities won't feel the impacts of Bill 148, but says the finance department in Amherstburg needs to plan for the worst case scenario.
"Until the bill is finalized, the municipality is left in a situation where we must make provisions and use mitigating strategies to deal with that in our budget preparation for 2018," says Rousseau.
On Monday, council approved a tax hike cap of 2% for the 2018 budget. A draft document will be presented to council on November 6.