Residents are getting the chance to have their voices heard when it comes to the 2020 Chatham-Kent budget.
Over a dozen residents gathered inside Tilbury Arena Tuesday evening for one the first budget community consultation meetings. Another meeting took place simultaneously in Thamesville.
Meetings are a chance for councillors and staff to answer questions from residents and get feedback. With a proposed tax increase of 4.99 per cent, there is lots of feedback to be heard.
One person in the audience called the proposed increase "absurd," and said it felt like taxpayers in Chatham-Kent were getting gouged.
Councillor Melissa Harrigan, who emceed the Tilbury meeting, acknowledged that there has been strong feedback over the possibility of a nearly five per cent increase.
"Generally speaking people are pretty upset about the 4.99 per cent," she said. "We've heard it tonight, we've been hearing it all over social media that that's just too high for people to stomach. Especially, people who are on a fixed income, they can't simply afford to have their taxes increase by that much."
Several people in attendance asked for more clarity and information about the provincial downloads, which account for 1.49 per cent of the tax increase in the draft budget. Provincial downloads occur when the Ontario government shifts sources of funding from the provincial income and sales tax onto municipal taxpayers. Chatham-Kent is having to factor in around $2.3 million worth of downloads into the 2020 budget including $898,000 from public health services and $244,000 from land ambulance services.
Harrigan said these downloads mean that council will really have to focus on prioritizing during the upcoming budget deliberations. She suggested that residents learn more about what items are being recommended in the budget and what they cost by viewing the draft budget online.
"When you look at the budget online, every number corresponds to a briefing note, which is a written explanation of what that item is. So you might see something like land ambulances, to really understand what that is, you need to read the briefing note about it. When you look at the role of say, the manager of drainage, to understand what they're doing you would need to read the briefing note," she explained. "It's those briefing notes that really help me decide and should help people decide if it's something worth spending dollars on."
Residents at the meeting brought up a variety of other topics including ward-specific infrastructure concerns about roads and bridges. According to Harrigan, councillors and municipal staff use the feedback from residents to help shape the discussions that will take place during budget deliberations.
"I wrote down everything I hear, I know municipal staff also write down the feedback that they're hearing. We take it to heart and we bring it to council," explained Harrigan.
Three more community open houses will take place this week at the following times and locations:
Wednesday, January 22, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
- Blenheim High School Cafeteria, 163 Chatham St. S, Blenheim
- Wallaceburg Municipal office, 786 Dufferin Ave., Wallaceburg
- Active Lifestyle Centre, 20 Merritt Ave., Chatham
"Any night of the budget session, you can go, you can sign up, you can give your deputation. You'll have five minutes to share with council what your ideas are," she said. "I would recommend, if people have really big ideas, to come early on the first couple of nights."
Budget deliberations will begin at 6 p.m. on January 28 at the Civic Centre in Chatham.