Windsor council will debate a 2022 budget that calls for a 1.99% tax hike, which translates into $ 59 more on the average $ 3,400 single-family home tax bill.

This is a standstill budget, with municipal service staff asked to come up with options to maintain service levels and options that would reduce the service budget by 10%.

This is what Council has asked staff to do throughout their tenure. The 2022 budget will be the last of this council, with municipal elections slated for October.

What does the council spend most of your property tax on?

The bulk of your tax bill, about 20 percent, will go towards the operating costs of the Windsor Police Department. The service is asking for a 1.58% increase in its budget. The major part of this sum will be used to cover the increase in the cost of wages and salaries.

The service’s annual operating budget is proposed at $ 95,415,506.

What’s the biggest addition to the annual operating budget?

City staff want city council to spend over $ 1 million per year running a new emergency shelter for women and families, continuously hiring additional housing support workers, and covering operating costs new housing units with support services.

The money is distributed among budget items totaling $ 1.3 million. Senior levels of government have contributed to the capital costs of shelters and supportive housing, but the ministry’s current budget cannot cover the operating costs.

The shelter will open early next year with 32 female beds and 16 family rooms.

The city will create 49 new supportive housing units next year. Twenty of them are in an existing Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation building undergoing renovations, and 29 are in an office building that a community agency is converting into a transition space for those without. -shelter.

Last year, the city hired five housing support workers and two street workers with money from the federal and provincial governments. Staff say those jobs must now be funded from the municipal budget, as the money is expected to run out on April 1, 2022.

And these roads?

Road works are part of the capital budget which is a ten-year plan approved by council and reviewed at each budget session to see if any changes need to be made.

Twenty percent of Windsor’s road network is considered deficient. The city has budgeted $ 163 million for road repairs over 10 years.

Here are the roads planned for 2022 and 2023, in addition to projects already announced like the work in progress on Cabana Road and along the University Avenue corridor.

Road projects make up the bulk of Windsor’s $ 1.7 billion capital budget plan, totaling $ 509 million over 10 years.

Sewer work comes just behind with $ 453 million over 10 years.

Together, they represent 58 percent of the capital budget.

What to do with Transit Windsor’s operating budget?

In January 2020, the board approved an eight-year master plan for transit that included a major investment in the service to reimagine the way it was delivered.

Weeks later, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic struck and threw transit into turmoil.

Mayor Drew Dilkens has decided to shut down the service for weeks over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

When service returned and Transit Windsor began charging users for trips, ridership plummeted – a problem municipalities across Canada are facing.

Now, Transit Windsor wants a 4.82% increase in the annual operating budget to implement elements of the master plan, while proposing the following fare increases to offset the increased costs:

• Tunnel The bus fare would be $ 10 to cover the increasing operating costs of the tunnel put in place by Windsor-Detroit BorderLink.
• 2% annual increase in Transit Windsor rates.
• U-Pass increased from $ 72.17 per semester to $ 77.36.

The most significant cost increases for Transit Windsor are salary increases ($ 627,563) and the cost of fuel ($ 798,051).

Staff recommend that council permanently fund the 518X route, a pilot program saved in last year’s budget deliberations when St. Clair College pledged to cover half the costs.

Staff explained how the council could spend $ 1 million to implement a key part of the master plan by adding the 418X road connecting the Tecumseh Mall and the University’s Lancer Center, but the administration does not recommend that the advice to finance the road for the moment.