The board of the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority has approved in principle a 0% budget increase for the next two years.
The EWSWA administration recommended a 4.11% increase to the overall budget and an increase to the tipping fee.
The vote was split between City of Windsor board members and County of Essex board members.
Windsor Councillor Joanne Gignac put forward the motion because she believes the organization has enough in reserves to cover any deficits in the budget.
"If you kept it at zero until 2023, there would be a problem there would be a problem, I'm aware of that. But what I proposed and what passed does not harm that reserve that we agreed to," says Gignac.
If passed as presented the budget for the EWSWA would be around $23-million with each body paying just over $11-million. The budget projects a $1-million deficit if there is no increase to the rate. The deficit would be covered by the $12-million in reserves. If the board continually uses the reserve to cover budget deficits the reserve would be depleted in six years.
LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya says he is concerned they are putting future taxpayers in jeopardy of a large increase by not making modest increases now.
"It's so volatile, when you start talking about landfill issues and recycling cots and generation of revenues, things change year to year that impact the subsequent year's budget," says Gignac.
Antaya is also concerned about approving a budget for two years when a detailed budget was only provided for 2017.
The vote still needs County of Essex and City of Windsor approval. Antaya believes it won't pass at county council considering the two-year approval request.
