Mayor Drew Dilkens is calling a hiring freeze at the City of Windsor "the responsible thing to do," with very challenging budget deliberations looming.
Dilkens announced Thursday that a corporate hiring freeze for all permanent full-time positions at the City of Windsor is in effect immediately.
The hiring freeze will not impact essential services like police and fire.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says as council moves into the various budget committees, they want to make sure they're not adding more pressure along the way.
Earlier this week, Dilkens appointed ten members of council to three different committees to search for operational and service-level savings in the city's operating budget for next year, which could include the highest tax increase in 20 years.
One committee will examine elements under the corporate and community services umbrella; the next will focus on economic development and engineering; and the third will examine services under finance and social services.
Dilkens says the freeze allows a sober second thought around some of the positions they may be able to delay for the purpose of finding efficiency.
"It's the most responsible thing to do because we're hoping not to have to let people go at the City of Windsor; that's not the preferred approach," he says. "Certainly one way to make sure that doesn't happen is to have a vacant position when people leave or they retire."
Dilkens says the existing openings will be reviewed by the chief administrative officer.
"I think the CAO needs to look at those positions and look at whether we can pause that hiring or whether it is operationally mandatory or necessary, and where the CAO feels it is imperative that we hire, he will have the authority to do that," he says.
The mayor must present the proposed budget by Feb. 1, 2025, under Ontario's Strong Mayor Powers, at which point council will have 30 days to review and make any recommendations for change.
The 2024 budget was passed with a 3.91 percent property tax increase; however, the tax rate was increased to 4.61 percent in May 2024 after the mayor reopened the budget as $3.2 million more in spending was approved to support the Strengthen the Core—Downtown Windsor Revitalization plan.