'Absolutely unacceptable': Dilkens on projected 12.9% tax increase

Windsor’s projected tax increase for 2025 is estimated at 12.9 per cent, a number Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says must come down.

"City council through the budget committees will be looking at all areas of the organization," said Dilkens to AM800 News. "The administration will be doing their regular work as they do to bring budget documents to city council as they've done every year for 20 years and together we're going to find a pathway to do this."

Last week, the mayor appointed city councillors to three different committees to search for operational and service-level savings in the city's operating budget for next year.

He says the projected increase is 'absolutely unacceptable.'

During a news conference on Tuesday, Dilkens, CAO Joe Mancina, and city treasurer Janice Guthrie explained that the total 2025 preliminary budget pressures, without considered reductions, of $62,578,206.

“The preliminary 2025 budgetary pressures impacting the overall tax levy are considered extraordinary this year. A detailed review and refinement of each of the pressures by senior administration will be taking place in conjunction with the Budget Committee operational and service-level reviews. I remain optimistic that, collectively, we can present a 2025 City Budget that mitigates current pressures while delivering the services valued by residents,” said Guthrie.

This projected tax levy increase is driven primarily by factors that are outside of the corporation’s control, including contractual obligations (4.28 per cent), legislated requirements (1.11 per cent), and inflationary pressures (0.94 per cent). Collectively, these three items represent a 6.33 per cent or $30,691,270 total increase to the levy.

This does not include contractual and other increased costs to the City from the Agencies, Boards, Commissions and Committees (ABCs), which have been projected by administration to represent an additional 2.09 per cent or $10,130,501 increase to the total tax levy.

In 2024, the budget was passed with a 3.91 per cent property tax increase; however, the tax rate was increased 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.