More than 50 residents gained a little more clarity when it comes to Windsor's 2019 budget Friday night.
The Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative hosted a round table discussion and Q&A session at the Life After 50 Centre on McEwan Ave. and Wyandotte St. W.
Looks like more than 50 people turned out for Life Over 50’s public meeting to discuss the @CityWindsorON’s 2019 Budget. @AM800News #cklw pic.twitter.com/ZG3ftrFzdI
— Gord Bacon (@baconAM800) March 22, 2019
Windsor's 2019 draft budget shows an increase of 3.3% for ratepayers — that's an extra $90 per year on a home assessed at $150,000.
The goal of the meeting is to explain what that extra money is going towards and what it means. That's according to Community Development Coordinator Sarah Cipkar.
Cipkar facilitated the meeting that brought community leaders together with council members and says the session was designed to demystify the budget.
"It's really difficult for an average resident to understand what's recommended, what's capital, what's operating, what are all the implications of a $650-million budget, what does that look like," she says. "We try to make things super simple. What's an item you care about, your parks being well maintained? There's a parks maintenance program that we're trying to push through. That's kind of how we approach things. How can we distill this down so that even the most basic kind of thing is easy for residents to understand?"
Anthony Sheremetta is one of the community leaders Cipkar eluded too; he's lived in Ward 3 for close to 20-years.
"What I'm appreciating about it so far is that when there is not clarity, we do have the space in which we can try to get a better understanding. The people are readily available to answer our questions and they're very intuitive to the needs and demands of the public,"
He says the attendance at the meeting is promising.
"It's really showing me there's a lot of community involved at a very personal level trying to get these things into action so people have a more confident and healthy environment to focus their efforts and get further in life, as it were," he says.
Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante, Ward 3 Councillor Rino Bortolin, and Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt were also on hand to answer questions and gather feedback.
Sheremetta tells AM800 News the give and take with council members and organizers is beneficial.
"On my behalf anyways, I think, judging by the looks on some of the faces of some of the council members, I believe it's also productive on their side of the table as well," added Sheremetta.
Cipkar says the same topics came up in discussion groups.
"Alleys are still a major concern for a lot of our residents. The other issue would be bulk item pick-up, parks, recreation and culture. We identified about five priorities, among a few others as well," says Cipkar.
She says the hope is those in attendance can advocate for their neighbours when budget deliberations begin on April 1.