With the City of Windsor's 2022 budget deliberations less than two weeks away, Fred Francis is calling on council to hold the line on taxes.
The Ward 1 councillor says, for the second year in a row, the COVID-19 pandemic is putting major financial pressure on many residents and he believes any tax increase would be irresponsible.
The 2022 draft budget calls for a 1.99% tax hike or $59 on the average home assessed at $163,000.
Francis says the community needs some help right now.
"To ask people, at this point, to kind of dig deeper into their pockets, from the city side of things, to pay more taxes, I think is highly irresponsible because they're already paying more and digging deeper into their pockets for all their other day to day expenses."
He says he'll be lobbying his fellow councillors.
"I know 0% is not popular with a lot of the people on council. So my work is cut out for me. I'm going to do my best to talk to my colleagues and try to convince them now is not the time to increase taxes needlessly."
Francis says inflation is putting major pressure on the city's books as well as the entire community.
"Inflation being at a 20 year high, when you look at the budget, you're startled based on how much more we're paying on gasoline just for the city's fleet. Insurance premiums are up. A lot of your typical day to day expenses are up," he said.
The city's 2022 budget deliberations get underway on December 13.
Council held the line in 2021 with a 0% tax increase.