Windsor councillor raises concerns over one-time funding in proposed 2025 budget

A Windsor councillor is warning the city’s reliance on one-time funding in the proposed 2025 budget could create financial challenges in future years, putting long-term sustainability at risk.

The proposed budget includes $14.5 million in new spending and a 2.99 per cent tax increase.

However, an additional $6.35 million in spending, not included in the tax hike, is set to come from one-time funding — a move that has Coun. Fred Francis concerned about the city’s financial strategy.

“If you don't have a full-time, sustainable funding source, next year and beyond, you’ve got to pay for it somehow — either through increased taxes, drawing on reserves, or taking on debt — all things we don’t want to do,” said the city councillor for Ward 1.

Of the $14.5 million in new spending, a significant portion — $6.84 million — comes from the asset management plan (AMP) tax.

The AMP tax funds infrastructure projects such as road repairs and city assets.

Francis has referred to the AMP tax as a “double tax,” saying residents already pay taxes for roads and capital projects.

He is proposing the removal of the AMP tax, which would cut the overall tax hike in half — from 2.99 per cent to 1.58 per cent.

Francis acknowledged that doing away with collecting AMP taxes would likely result in the capital tax levy being raised. But, he added, there would be a net benefit to taxpayers.

“That would bring in less money for capital, but it would allow us to focus the capital budget on priorities — rather than legacy projects or big-ticket items like the ice rink or the trolley project,” Francis said.

Details surrounding some uses of one-time funding remain undisclosed because some items in the budget are designated as "in-camera.”

Other allocations, however, have been made public.

For example, $66,000 in one-time funding has been earmarked to pay for security at the H4 emergency shelter.

An additional $168,000 would support a rent supplement program.

“We know that, over time, we will be able to connect them into some type of alternative options. But it wouldn't be fiscally prudent to annualize it,” said Windsor's commissioner of human and health services Andrew Daher. "So that's why we put forward the one-time dollars."

He added one-time funding requests in his department stem from unique circumstances and are subject to review in future budgets.

Daher added that his department has a contingency plan in place if expected recoveries for 2025 do not materialize.

“We’ve noted within the budget issue that we'll bring them forward as part of the 2026 operating budget,” he said.

Residents can raise concerns about the proposed budget during a public consultation on Jan. 13. Budget deliberations are scheduled for Jan. 27.