Lambton County's proposed 2023 budget amounts to nearly $265 million and calls for a 3.9 per cent hike in the amount to be raised through taxation.
County Treasurer Larry Palarchio said the budget continues to see investments in long-term care, affordable housing, technology and digitization and modernization of information systems.
He said the document represents an increase of $18 per $100,000 of residential assessment, not including municipal and education taxes.
"Where do we spend our $264.5 million--the county has several regulated programs led off by social services at 37.7 per cent, long-term care at 17.7 per cent, public health at 12.9, those three alone are approximately over 70 per cent of the gross expenditures," said Palarchio.
He said $2 million has been earmarked for affordable housing.
He told council the number of units in Lambton County is well below our comparators, clearly indicating that there's a need for investment in affordable housing units.
"We came up with a plan that basically said our ideal investment is $39 million over a 10 year period or $3.9 million annually," said Palarchio. "We have not been hitting those targets, but we think it's a reasonable approach to at least improve what's out there in affordable housing."
Lambton County budget deliberations are scheduled for Wednesday, March 1.