Chatham-Kent residents are asking councillors to address a number of concerns as they debate the 2019 municipal budget.
The first of five community open houses was held in Tilbury on Tuesday night. Members of council and municipal staff presented the summary of the proposed 2019 budget and received suggestions from residents on how municipal dollars should be spent.
The proposed 2019 budget for Chatham-Kent includes a tax increase of up to 2.03 per cent, with one per cent of it going towards infrastructure.
The residents who attended the open house did not voice any frustration about items in the proposed budget, but many want to make sure that the municipality continues to fund recreational programs.
Tilbury resident David Drouillard organizes the Chatham-Kent district of the Ontario Senior Games Association, which provides "active living opportunities through physical and mental activities." According to Drouillard, the municipality used to provide $30,000 for the games. Drouillard said the 2018 budget didn't provide any funding, and this year's budget only allocates $5,000.
Drouillard said he believes Chatham-Kent faces the same challenge as all municipalities; finding ways to improve the quality of life across the area.
"I would encourage the council to consider that sort of vision and to work towards Chatham-Kent being known as one of the best places to live, work and play," said Drouillard.
Michael Renwick of Wheatley urged the councillors to look at how they can improve Wheatley arena and improve recreational programs across the municipality. It was revealed recently that Chatham-Kent arena usage is on the decline.
"Chatham-Kent is a great place to be," said Renwick. "I want to see growth, I want to see new families coming in. When we keep these things open and keep them running it brings new investment to town and to the municipality as a whole."
Renwick said he believes there are ways that the municipality can improve recreational programs without having to put allocate a large chunk of the budget towards it.
"I think that there are different ways that Chatham-Kent, especially with recreation and with rental fees, there are ways to boost income so that CK doesn't have to necessarily have to put so much money into recreational," said Renwick.
Although flooding isn't a budget item, residents in attendance made it clear that the municipality should be looking at ways to prevent flooding and improve storm sewers. The discussion became heated as many residents expressed their frustrations over how often they've dealt with flooding.
Phil Dozois lives on Laurentia Drive in Tilbury and said he's been flooded two times in five years. According to Dozois, surface water from a large 50-acre field near his house goes into residential sewers and overloads them, causing flooding in neighbourhood homes.
"All the water goes right into our sewers, I can even show you exactly where it comes in, and there's nothing we can do about it once our sewers fill," said Dozois.
Dozois echoed that many residents feel that the municipality needs a better system to reroute surface water away from homes.
"The amount of taxes that that street pays, most of that houses are over $4,000 a year, there are quite a few houses on that street. That's a lot of money and we're getting flooded," said Dozois.
Dozois said as far as the 2019 budget goes, there isn't anything that concerns him too much. He is, however, concerned about what the municipality will do to help residents with flooding in the future.
During the evening, residents were presented with a stormwater master plan that looks at how to improve the sewer systems going forward. However, according to the municipality, the plan could be over a year-long process. Although some residents were doubtful that sewer issues in the area will ever be resolved, Dozois said he believes council is going in the right direction and community open houses are a great opportunity for residents to provide feedback on municipal issues.
"There's not much we can do about it expect to voice our opinions, which we had a chance to do today. They listened, that's a start," Dozois said.
The next round of budget open houses will take place Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Blenheim at Blenheim District High School as well as in Wallaceburg at the municipal office. There will be a Facebook live question and answer period following the budget open house in Blenheim tonight as well, starting at 7 p.m. You can submit questions to CKmayor@chatham-kent.ca or through the Facebook Live feed at https://www.facebook.com/livewithben/.
The final open house will be in Chatham on Thursday at the Active Lifestyle Centre starting at 4 p.m.