Around $1.7 million has been removed from Chatham-Kent’s 2025 municipal budget.
CK’s council met on Monday for the first of what’s expected to be multiple budget meetings.
Councillor Anthony Ceccacci brought forward two motions, both of which were approved, that ended up lowering the proposed tax increase for 2025 from 5.96 per cent to 5.09 per cent.
The first motion changed the average time of topping up gravel roads from three years to four years. Roads that need urgent or more consistent work will still receive service; it just means the roads that were being worked on every three years will now wait an additional year.
The savings from this change is $1.65 million. Ceccacci’s motion had $1 million allocated to the Gravel Road Conversion Program, doubling its budget, and the remaining $650,000 used to lower the 2025 tax rate.
CK administration said waiting an additional year to work on certain roads would have very little impact. They also explained more gravel roads will be updated since the conversion program’s budget has doubled.
The only councillors to vote against the motion were Carmen McGregor, Rhonda Jubenville, Jamie McGrail, and John Wright
Ceccacci’s second motion removed around $1.04 million from the budget that was previously planned to cover inflation.
Gord Quinton, CK’s Chief Financial Officer, explained this means there will be less money to fund infrastructure projects. Edward Soldo, CK’s general manager of infrastructure and engineering services, also noted he doesn’t see many major projects being impacted.
Councillors Melissa Harrigan and Morena McDonald were the only ones against.
Most of the savings found through Ceccacci’s motions were nearly wiped out after McGregor asked for dust control services to be added back to the budget.
CK’s administration had removed the roughly $1.3 million cost due to its reported inefficiency and impacts on the environment. Removing dust services played a big part in the municipality getting the proposed tax increase to 5.96 per cent after being as high as 9.4 per cent during the year.
McGregor explained the lack of dust control would have a major impact on rural areas. CK’s administration stated the work done would practically be gone after the first rainfall, claiming the $1.3 million was doing little to help.
They also said other communities across Canada, including many in the prairies, have stopped offering the service.
Eleven councillors voted against bringing back the service. The ones who were in favour included McGregor, McGrail, Harrigan, Jubenville, McDonald, Wright, and Amy Finn.
CK’s council will meet for a second budget meeting on Wednesday starting at 6 p.m.