Mayoral Candidate Chris Holt believes the City of Windsor is losing out on millions of dollars due to poor investment decisions of the past.
Holt held his first announcement of the campaign season in his own backyard, and says the dollars the city is missing out on could go directly to fund amenities for residents across Windsor.
He gave some financial details, outlining how the City of Windsor currently has $333-million in bank accounts that earn less than one per cent a year. Holt says had money been invested prudently, the City would have earned an additional $5 to $9-million each year.
His proposed solution is to invest the City's reserves in ONE Investment, a non-profit corporation founded by LAS and CHUMS, a subsidiary of the Municipal Finance Officers Association of Ontario.
Holt says everything they hear around the council table is 'that would be nice, but we need the money' whether it's a splash pad, whether it's to fix Lanspeary pool or to fix bike lanes on a street.
"We hear the Mayor saying that would be nice, move it to budget, don't get your hopes up because of competing priorities. That type of thing. So what we hear now is that this Mayor, through a conscience decision, has kept $6-million to $9-million out of our city budget that could've been yes' to a lot of those councillors asking for amenities around the table."
Since launching his campaign last week, Holt says it's been crazy and it's obvious to him that people are hungry for change.
"The amount of support that has come my way whether it's financial or volunteers, what have you, frankly it's overwhelming. I thought it was busy running in one ward, I'm running in ten wards now and you need ten times the resources, ten times the human resources and financial resources. It's heartwarming to hear the word hope attributed to your campaign," Holt said.
He had been wondering about increasing revenues instead of always looking at zero tax increases and holding the line.
Holt says the idea for the City to invest reserve funds came about after a discussion with the former CAO, after learning that rules surrounding that had recently changed.
"It didn't take a lot of investigation on my part. Every year the investment policy comes before council, and we've questioned it in the past. Councillor Morrison was asking why are we investing so much in credit unions, Councillor McKenzie asked about green investment strategies, those type of things. We've always been looking at doing better," he stated.
Holt says cities like Markham and Whitby have successfully utilized ONE Investment to earn millions on the interest of their taxpayers' hard-earned dollars, which is why he's making it a foundational plank of his platform.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens responded Tuesday afternoon to the statements that Councillor Chris Holt made.
He says Holt's proposal could end up costing the city more money.
"Councillor Holt's proposed scheme would actually end up costing City taxpayers more money, and he's voted against this risky and radical approach in the past. The reason City Administration has traditionally opted against the kind of risky and radical investment approach that Councillor Holt is now advocating is because the City self-funds its annual capital plan."
Dilkens adds that the investment strategy is updated yearly. He says Holt was in favour of the motion in past years.
"City Administration annually updates City Council on this investment strategy. City Council has unanimously endorsed the existing investment framework. In fact, in 2020, Councillor Holt seconded the motion at Council which endorsed the existing investment strategy."
Dilkens adds that he can't opt to invest the sums he is proposing without simultaneously going into debt to pay for the annual municipal capital investments.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi