Windsor Council is in deliberations to set the 2017 budget for the city.
At the outset the draft document includes a 2.7% increase to raise the needed $390-million in property tax revenue to maintain services.
That translates to a hike of $74 for a house assessed at $150,000.
Treasurer Joe Mancina gave an overview powerpoint presentation of the budget setting out the challenges council faces.
There are dozens of delegations making submissions on a variety of items in the budget, estimated to take 240 minutes. (about 4 hours)
Kirk Wittal is CEO of Community Housing Corporation and explains the capital amount they receive is only enough to keep basics like roof and fire safety intact, not the quality of life items.
"I have kitchens in some of my buildings that don't even have upper cabinets they're the original buildings and kitchens from 40 years ago," says Wittal. "I don't want to give the idea things are going to be falling off the wall, but I'm also dealing with single pane windows from the buildings when they were built in 1973."
AM800's Zander Broeckel is reporting live from city hall:
Tweets by zbroeckel800Nancy Panchesan of the Save Ojibway group is urging the city to access provincial funds to do an Environment Assessment to close Matchette Rd.
"Please designate existing funds to begin the lengthy EA process for Matchette Road's closure further to request administration to apply for grants available for species connectivity projects so this project does not bring additional costs to taxpayers," says Panchesan.
Sarah Cipkar of the Downtown Collective supports the bulk waste pickup idea, but requests a few adjustments for downtown residents.
"I would like to suggest some sort of subsidized options for the neighbourhoods where this is a more acute problem," says Cipkar. "The group who is very present in our neighbourhood as well as several others here we have a lot of direct contact with residents and we would be willing to partner with you on this issue. Perhaps you'd be willing to provide extra vouchers to clean up the neighbourhood as needed."
Mayor Drew Dilkens suggested at the outset the budget could be completed by about 11pm.