Windsor passes 2022 budget increase despite heated debate over transit

Windsor, Ont. -

Windsor city council passed the 2022 budget Monday night, and your taxes are going up.

Council settled on an increase of 1.86 per cent, which will cost the average taxpayer an additional $56.

In the capital budget, council approved spending $47 million on roads and sewers, along with roughly $9 million for playground upgrades and $16 million to subsidize transit operations in 2022 alone.

But the theme of the night was austerity, as pandemic pressures continue to hang over the city.

With roughly $25 million in unfunded liabilities due to losses from the city’s annual casino dividend, tunnel and airport losses along with reduced transit ridership, the city has no assurances from upper levels of government that any money will flow to the city to cover that short-fall.

“People want to see a low tax rate. They are having a lot of pain right now financially, especially people on a fixed income, we hear you. We hear you,” said Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens at the conclusion of debate on the operating budget. “This is a reasonable, compromised budget for both sides, I believe, trying to deal with the issues in front of us, and I appreciate the spirit of which the majority of council has worked through these issues in trying to get to this particular point."

Council voted 9-2 in favour of both the capital and operating budgets, with councillors Chris Holt and Rino Bortolin opposing.

One of the main reasons why they voted against it, they say, is a lack of vision for the future of transit.

During discussions regarding service changes in lieu of a new route, council voted to adjust service on the Central 3 bus line to make stops at the new Lancer Centre with bus service on Sunday.

The adjustment comes at an added cost of about $75,000 and also comes with reduced frequency.

Transit Windsor’s executive director Tyson Cragg says busses will roll by stops every 30 minutes, instead of every 22 minutes to make up for the added distance travelled.

Ward 3 Councillor Bortolin calls it a missed opportunity to build a better community.

“We’re never going to have people move to transit,” said Bortolin, who points to other communities of similar size which invest double the amount as Windsor in transit services.

Bortolin argues the city should instead be moving forward with the recommendations in the Transit Master Plan, advocating for the new 418x route, an east-west express line that would cost $1 million annually to operate.

“We keep talking about ‘now isn’t the time.’ We’ve heard that so often that we’re now at the bottom of the province in how much we fund our transit system,” Bortolin said, calling it a quality of life issue that affects thousands of residents.

His comments were echoed by Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt who says spending hundreds of millions of dollars building roads shouldn’t be the answer — but making transit better should be.

“It makes no business sense whatsoever that we’re ok with this,” Holt said. “So I’m on team 418x. Proud. Not just for its delivering service to the Lancer Centre, but for the fact that it will actually build our bus infrastructure.”

But council balked at that proposal.

“I enjoy a good fairy tale as well as anybody,” said Ward 6 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac. “But when I look at the addition of 15 staff, six busses being purchased, a million dollars operationally in a time when the CFO has warned us at least three times during a conversation today that we have a $25 million anvil hanging over our heads.”

A majority of others around the table shared those worries about the financial pressures caused by COVID.

“You’re darn right we’re going to do everything we can that I’m not adding an undue burden,” said Mayor Dilkens. “By adding this route this year, you’re saying to taxpayers, you’re now going to subsidize this route.”

Windsor is investing $16.3 million to subsidize transit in 2022 with six new busses being added to the aging fleet.

Dilkens says most people in Windsor appreciate being able to cross the city in a car in 15 minutes – and that’s why maintaining roads is a priority.

“Councillor Holt, you’re on team 418x, I’m on team Windsor,” said Dilkens. “And I want to be sure in regards to being the automotive capital of Canada that we’re doing all we can to support the automotive industry, and I don’t shy away from that.”

“I think that’s what people here want.”