Residents in Windsor will see a 0.9% increase in their property taxes this year.
Council whittled down the proposed 2.6% increase by eliminating requested staff positions from various departments and agencies.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says in the end, they have a very status quo budget.
"You have to come up with your number at the end of the day and I think the numbers that council came up with here today in respect to the operating budget make a lot of sense and they are very fair to the taxpayer," says Dilkens.
Some councillors, like Rino Bortolin, voiced disappointment over the lost opportunity to invest in programs and enhance services in the city.
"Penny wise, pound foolish, at the end of the day, we need to start looking at these as investments. If we care about the community they're investments in the community," says Bortolin.
Council decided to cut many new positions from the budget in order to get the increase below 1%. These positions included a full-time library employee dedicated to the technology hub, two fire prevention officers and a cultural initiative coordinator.
"This idea that adding staff is creating this big legacy cost, it's not a legacy cost it's an investment, it's an investment in the community," says Bortolin. "We approved over $300,000 for the Christmas lights without one question, without one concern about legacy costs or adding permanent positions or permanent costs to the levy and then we went through and took out $50,000 here and $60,000 there," says Bortolin.
Council will deliberate the capital budget at a meeting Tuesday at 1pm.
