After a few last-minute changes on the third night of deliberations, Chatham-Kent councilors narrowly passed this year’s budget with a 5.64 per cent tax hike.
Wednesday night mostly involved a number of discussions related to relatively minor reductions or additions.
However, the budget committee also approved a $4.5 million funding request from Chatham-Kent Health Alliance for its Wallaceburg site redevelopment, which will be paid over time and come from reserves.
In January, staff proposed a 6.35 per cent tax hike, citing inflation, provincial downloading and infrastructure as the main reasons for the increase.
The 5.64 per cent final hike, which the budget committee passed by a 9-8 margin, works out to an approximately $178 increase on the average home.
Wallaceburg Coun. Aaron Hall entered the successful motion, approved unanimously, for the hospital funding.
As part of this commitment, the municipality will pay $900,000 over five years, with the money coming from the strategic development reserve.
South Kent County. Trevor Thompson entered a successful motion to commit $100,000 for physician recruitment and retention efforts, also to be allocated from reserves.
Last year’s tax hike was 2.79 per cent.
Chatham County. Brock McGregor, budget committee chair, said it was an especially challenging process this time, given cost pressures outside of council’s hands.
He said there had been much discussion on the issues and good debate around the horseshoe.
“I think we sharpened the pencil as well as we could, while still respecting the need for investment,” McGregor said after the meeting.
“I was happy to see (the hike) come down the way it did. I think everyone would like to see those numbers across Ontario lower. But the reality is inflation’s running quite high, and we’ve seen freezes in provincial funding and cuts in provincial funding.”
West Kent County. Lauren Anderson entered the motion to accept the budget, calling it a “really difficult year.” She added that delaying infrastructure issues wasn’t an option.
South Kent County. Anthony Ceccacci, who voted against the budget, wished there had been more debate, but admitted that cuts made to certain areas to reduce the tax impact could cause problems in the future.
“I was prepared to go a tiny bit more on some inflationary aspects,” he said.
This story will be updated.