'hard decisions' — windsor finalizes 2025 budget with 2.98 per cent tax hike
windsor property owners can expect to pay 2.98 per cent...
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the city of windsor's 2025 municipal budget received final approval this week. windsor city hall is shown on april 11, 2024.
taylor campbell
/
windsor star
windsor property owners can expect to pay 2.98 per cent more in taxes this year.
following the end of mayor drew dilkens’s veto period last week — authority granted under ontario’s strong mayor legislation — council officially adopted the 2025 budget, which adds nearly $14.5 million in annual spending.
the operating budget now sits at nearly $500 million each year, with an additional $312.7 million in capital spending.
“i made a commitment to residents in 2022 when i knocked on their doors. i said we’d bring in the budget at or below the rate of inflation,” dilkens told reporters following a council meeting on monday.
“i take that responsibility very seriously, and that’s exactly what we did.”
perhaps the most significant change implemented in the mayor’s budget was the death of the tunnel bus to detroit. although the council majority voted to save the cross-border transit service during budget deliberations, dilkens vetoed council’s decision, resulting in an estimated $1.6 million trimmed from the city’s annual operating budget.
“as a mayor, you have to make hard decisions,” said dilkens. “you have to put things in the budget that are difficult, that create community conversations.
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“i don’t shy away from that. i never have. i never will.”
city hall hiring freeze lifted. windsor mayor drew dilkens is seen during a meeting of city council on monday, feb. 24, 2025.
taylor campbell
/
windsor star
with this year’s budget approved, dilkens this week lifted the hiring freeze he implemented in september using a mayoral decision in anticipation of significant budget pressures. at this point, he said, the city feels “comfortable moving forward, removing the hiring freeze, and allowing things to continue.”
during budget talks, council voted to extend parking meter enforcement from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and increase meter prices by $0.25, to $2.25.
council also agreed to eliminate the school bus ‘extra’ program — a dedicated transit windsor service that has brought paying high school students to and from schools for decades — and to reallocate those service hours to existing regular bus routes.
the budget adoption includes a $2.24-billion, 10-year capital budget. over the next decade, the city plans to spend $856.8 million on roads; $485.2 million on sewers; $186.2 million on parks and recreation; and $182 million on transportation.
this year, the city has committed to spend $312.7 million on capital projects. among them are work on an interchange at banwell road and e.c. row expressway ($22.5 million), upgrades at lauzon parkway and cabana road east ($34.2 million), extending lauzon parkway to highway 401 ($15 million), and provincial road and division road corridor upgrades ($14.6 million).
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for 2024, city council adopted a budget that raised taxes by 3.93 per cent. later that year, council agreed to raise property taxes by a further 0.7 per cent to fund strengthen the core, a series of initiatives to rejuvenate downtown that include a heightened police presence and extending hours at the city-run homelessness and housing help hub.
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