Following about six hours of work over two nights, the budget committee of Chatham-Kent council settled on a 2025 tax increase of 4.99 per cent.
That number, according to Steve Brown, director of budget and performance services, represents an increase in taxes to the average Chatham-Kent home of $176.
Of the 4.99 per cent increase, he said 1.88 of that figure goes to maintain existing services, 0.76 is earmarked for infrastructure, and the remaining 2.35 addresses social issues, including the local homeless problems.
The first night saw trimming of 0.85 per cent off the tax ask over four hours of deliberation, targeting lifecycle inflation funding and gravel road resurfacing.
The second night was more about failed attempts at cuts than successful savings.
North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville failed in an attempt to drop the tax ask by another 0.5 per cent for 2025, which would have been accomplished by pulling $1.025 million from four different reserves to fuel the budget.
It sparked an hour of debate between councillors, along with explanations from administration.
Gord Quinton, chief financial officer for the municipality, set the stage by repeating something he seemingly has to utter annually – that taking funds designed for one-time funding and using it to cut a tax increase for one year puts pressure on future budgets, as that tax reduction was only addressed for the immediate year, but looms for future years.
“In general, we always caution taking one-time money out of reserves to pay down our tax asks,” he said. “You can take $1.025 million to put against the tax ask. It will mean you have a higher percentage to go up next year.”
Brown said the motion, had it passed, along with already-made reductions in lifecycle funding from the previous night, would have added nearly two per cent onto the tax ask next year.
West Kent Coun, Melissa Harrigan opposed Jubenville’s motion.
“That makes our jobs next year that much more challenging,” she said.
Chatham Coun. Marjorie Crew was even more blunt.
“This is not a good use. I used to do this,” she said of her early days on council. “I tried that. I learned a lot. This is not good budgeting. I can’t support this.”
South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle, with a friendly amendment from his fellow South Kent representative Anthony Ceccacci, successfully pulled $500,000 out of two reserves to help fuel physician recruitment with $250,000 and cut the tax ask by $250,000.
That dropped the proposed tax increase to 4.99 per cent from 5.11 at the end of the first night
But Doyle’s attempt to reduce funding to four tech reserve funds by a combined $150,000 for 2025 failed, and the committee quickly followed by passing the budget.
The previous night saw the committee reduce the proposed increase from the 5.96 per cent starting point to 5.11.
The meat of the cuts on Nov. 26 related to a shift of $1.65 million out of funds to resurface gravel roads, and a little more than $1 million in inflation-covering cash to fuel lifecycle funds.
The gravel roads fund reduction saw $1 million shift into the resurfacing program, doubling that budget, meaning the transition of gravel roads to paved ones will proceed twice as quickly.
The remaining $650,000 was used to lower the 2025 tax increase.
Edward Soldo, general manager of infrastructure and engineering, said the move would allow more roads to be converted to paved surfaces, which would reduce the need for constant gravel grading.
The historic habit of Chatham-Kent council to pull funds out of lifecycle commitments continued that night, with Ceccacci’s successful ask to yank $1.04 million from next year’s increase in the form of a reduction in tax-funded lifecycle spending to keep up with inflation.
Quinton told council the move would impact future budgets, as it would not be a one-time issue.
