Windsor's mayor says residents should expect the city's seventh consecutive 0% increase in residential property taxes.
City council is expected to table the document tonight at its first meeting of the year, and Drew Dilkens hopes councillors will approve it at their January 19 meeting. That will give the public two weeks to go over the budget and provide input.
Dilkens admits keeping the residential tax increase at 0% gets harder with each passing year. He says that's the goal, but he can't promise there won't be an increase in the years to come.
"We have services that we are required to deliver," he says. "I think we're near the point where we're going to have to look at marginal increases, but the goal is not to raise taxes. The goal is to continue to find efficiencies, and that will be the goal as long as I'm here."
Once city council approves the budget, Dilkens plans to sit down with council and map out a 20-year plan for the city. "Where do want to be 20 years from now?" He adds, "once we figure out what kind of community we want to be, then we can start planning the elements that we need to put into place in order to achieve that long-term goal."
He says a number of other cities are also planning for the long-term including Windsor's sister city Gunsan in South Korea, Copenhagen in Denmark, and Calgary.