The County of Essex will begin overseeing some programs under a joint poverty-reduction strategy following funding cuts by the City of Windsor.
County council voted Wednesday night to administer two programs under Pathway to Potential (P2P) exclusively for county residents.
Previously, the city and county shared costs for a city staff member who oversaw administration of the program.
According to a county report, the city eliminated three administrative positions supporting P2P and removed tax levy funding for certain aspects of the program.
After June 30, the city will no longer provide oversight or data collection for the county's portion of the P2P Affordable Pass Program or Recreation Assistance Program. A city staff member will continue overseeing the programs for Windsor residents.
County staff said the change is not expected to have a significant financial impact on the county’s budget, with responsibilities delegated to existing employees.
Kingsville mayor Dennis Rogers says the city approving a 0 per cent tax increase in 2026 has consequences.
"At this day and age, there's a lot of our residents that utilize these resources, but I think the point is... what I hope is our county residents are paying attention. When you freeze a tax rate, you melt your services."
LaSalle deputy mayor Michael Akpata says there's concern over whether further changes could follow.
"As we're able to pick up the pieces that are left for us, what is to stop our partner from saying, 'I will keep handing more things to you because you seem to have the ability to do it?'."
County CAO Sandra Zwiers says she will continue to work with the city's CAO to ensure conversations are proactive.
"And that I'm aware of the potential for loss of service to the county for services that the city is providing before the cuts get made, so that we can have a bit more of a dialogue, and a discussion around the impacts, and whether in fact the county can pick up services that the city will no longer provide to us."
The city and county adopted a renewed five-year P2P strategy in 2024 aimed at reducing poverty and supporting residents with low incomes.
As the county assumes oversight of some programming, councillors asked about improving awareness of community resources and potentially raising income thresholds to make P2P more accessible to families in need.
Under the city-county agreement, Windsor will continue overseeing the Neighbourhoods Program within P2P, though a staff report said the city is open to the county assuming administration in the future.
-with files from CTV Windsor's Robert Lothian