Chatham-Kent homeowners will need to dig a little deeper this year to cover their property taxes and water/wastewater bills.
The budget committee concluded deliberations Wednesday with a tax rate increase of 5.64 per cent, equal to about $178 more this year on the average home assessed at $173,700.
Going into deliberations, the municipality projected a tax increase of 6.35 per cent for 2023, which would have cost homeowners an additional $200 a year.
Politicians picked up right where they left off Tuesday night, reviewing items that municipal staff did not recommend including in this year's budget.
From that list, council added funding for a gravel roads study, cash for the maintenance of a new pump track, and $120,000 towards operating costs of the region's cemeteries, parks, and trails with $5,300 set aside for active cemetery washrooms.
Also on Wednesday, the committee agreed to give the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance $4.5 million over a five-year period to help rebuild the hospital in Wallaceburg.
Indwell requested $9.69 million in funding for supportive housing, but Chief Financial Officer Gord Quinton said funding was not needed this year as the issue is set to return to council in March.
The committee voted to take $100,000 away from the tax increase by pulling the money from assessment growth funds in order to lower the over all tax increase.
Ward 1 Councillor Lauren Anderson put forward the motion to adopt the 2023 budget, which the committee passed by a 9-8 vote.
Councillor and Budget Chair Brock McGregor thanked committee members for their work over the past couple of nights.
"This is certainly a learning process with the new format and as our first year here as a council together," said McGregor. "I think respectively debated a number of items and tackled what was really a challenging budget."
