The board at the Windsor Essex County Health Unit passed a budget with a 1 per cent increase for 2026.
The 1 per cent increase represents an additional $72,902 split between the City of Windsor, County of Essex and Township of Pelee.
As part of budget deliberations, the board approved the creation of a reserve fund where any surplus dollars from the municipal contributions would be saved to mitigate future financial risks to the organization.
"We are trying to be very prudent with every single penny that we've had from both the ministry and the municipalities and we felt that this was a very responsible and conservative way to be able to do that, without putting additional pressures for the what-ifs," said CEO Ken Blanchette.
Blanchette said the reserve will be used when unexpected expenses arise like when an immunization fridge needs repairs or when dealing with an unexpected public health crisis like the measles outbreak.
The health unit is still waiting for the Ministry of Health to reimburse them for $600,000 of expenses incurred during the outbreak this summer.
The 2026 budget includes the addition of three full-time staff members in the areas of Comprehensive Health Promotion, Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction and Infectious Disease Prevention.
"We really identified the areas that had the highest level of need, that addressed the areas that had the biggest disparity within the community and also allocating that resource that's going to have the biggest impact," said Blanchette.
The 2026 budget still needs to be approved by the County of Essex, the Township of Pelee, and the City of Windsor.
