The Town of Amherstburg is proposing a 5.3 per cent tax increase for 2025.
Council met on Monday evening for a special meeting to table the proposed budget.
This would mean residents would pay, if approved, approximately $150 per year to the average home valued at $250,000 based on the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessment.
The increase is due items such as contractual salary obligations which is $592,000, a 1.77 per cent increase in the police contract with Windsor Police or approximately $565,000, a 1.6 per cent increase in the asset management plan, and new debt of $225,000 for the new fire hall at the Libro Centre.
Town administration has also laid out an option for council to cut some services provided, such as closing the Libro Centre on holiday's, a cut back on the tree planting program, potential cutbacks to tree maintenance, among others.
Chris Gibb, Amherstburg's deputy mayor, says he was pleasantly surprised by the proposed budget.
"This is lower than anything else that's been proposed by the neighbouring municipalities. I'm a property tax payer as well, I don't want to say anyone wants to pay more in tax, but pleasantly surprised when I look at what a lot of the neighbouring municipalities are proposing."
He says every municipality is facing the pressure this year.
"The cost of building roads, there's a lot of pressure there, the cost of policing continues to creep up while we do have a contract with Windsor Police. And then there's also contract negotiations, we're in the middle of some contract negotiations with some of our unionized employees, so there's always some pressure there."
Gibb says he likes the idea of looking at service reductions.
"A little less spending on our tree program, some tree maintenance service level cuts, winter control cuts that may be in order. So, it was very refreshing to see administration offer some service cuts that council may decide to take advantage of to lower this tax rate even further."
A survey is available starting today on the Talk the Burg website for residents to have their say on the proposed budget. The survey is open until Dec. 2.
Residents can also attend an open house on Saturday, Nov. 23, to discuss the budget with the Town's senior management team. The open house will be held at the Libro Centre from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Council will officially begin budget deliberations on Dec. 10.
Last year, council approved a 6.44 per cent tax increase for 2024.