Municipalities across the region have been busy preparing 2025 draft budget proposals before deliberations begin this fall.
At the last meeting of Tecumseh council, administration tabled a draft budget that projected a six per cent tax increase for 2025.
Mayor Gary McNamara says budgets are challenging due to the unpredictable nature of them.
"They basically identified areas, inflation, policing costs, and there's some uncontrollables certainly at play in that role."
He says Tecumseh has more flexibility over other municipalities, thanks in part to the lifecycle program, which since 2004, has allocated funds to be used for capital asset replacement.
"I'm so happy that we did that twenty years ago, because you can see from surrounding communities now it's trying to figure where to really make these substantive cuts because the reserve funds aren't there to help off set some of the huge increases that are facing us."
McNamara believes council can whittle down the projected increase and invites residents to get involved in the budget process.
"We have what we call Placespeak where you can actually write in or send your requests, what you think is important for you as a town resident and what your wants and needs are, and then we take all of that information as well and we look to see if it makes sense to move forward on some of those recommendations."
A 4.25 per cent tax levy increase was approved for the 2024 budget back in January, down from the initial proposed 5.55 per cent increase.
The City of Windsor recently announced a projected 12.9 per cent tax hike for 2025.