Another drop in Windsor's estimated tax increase for 2025.
Speaking on AM800's 'Mornings with Mike & Meg', Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens says the proposed increase now stands in the six per cent range.
He says the decrease comes as city councillors and administration continue to review the budget for savings.
In September, the mayor said the city was looking at a 12.9 per cent increase but that number was reduced last month to 7.37 per cent.
Dilkens says reviewing the budget is a lot of work.
"Which is why we set up three different committees of city councillors," says Dilkens. "They're all engaged and going through the budget line by line looking for savings, looking for areas where they can find more efficiency."
He says property taxes were never going to go up 12.9 per cent but he wanted to let the community know the starting point.
"That was the pressure that was really unusual and that's why I brought it forward and said this is different than almost any other year and so the admin has been doing their work," he says. "They've managed to basically cut that in more than half. So we're down in the six per cent range right now and that's before you consider any of the work that city council is doing or that I will do."
Dilkens says there is still a lot more work to do.
"There's still more room to push," says Dilkens. "So we got to get everyone on board here and we'll get all the issues in front of city council as a whole for a good deliberation but I'm confident we're moving in the right direction and bringing that number down to a campaign commitment that I made, which was at or below the rate of inflation."
The mayor did not reveal how the budget was reduced to the six per cent range.
He did say the savings are 'sensible adjustments' that he feels city council will accept.
Three different committees of council are examining the proposed 2025 operating budget in the search for savings.
Dilkens 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.
