‘it’s jobs being created’ — essex county reverses vote, restores invest windsoressex funding
after a sometimes-agitated debate wednesday, essex coun...
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the invest windsoressex office in downtown windsor is shown on dec. 10, 2024. essex county council this week reversed an earlier budget-trimming decision to trim its contribution to the local economic development agency.
dan janisse
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windsor star
after a sometimes-agitated debate wednesday, essex county council voted 8-6 to reverse an earlier decision it made and restore full funding in 2025 to local economic development agency invest windsoressex.
the county will contribute $1,122,060 to invest windsoressex this year, the same amount it gave in 2024.
in december, county council voted to slash its contribution by 15 per cent, or $168,000, triggering an automatic similar 15 per cent per-capita city of windsor cut under the matching-funding formula the two political entities have under a joint agreement.
essex county warden hilda macdonald said during the meeting that windsor mayor drew dilkens had confirmed this week that he would request city council restore full funding if county council did likewise.
windsor contributed $1.37 million to invest windsoressex’s nearly $2.4-million budget last year.
amherstburg mayor michael prue argued the world had changed dramatically since the previous budget-cutting decision and that now was not the time to financially restrict the region’s ability to compete for new business.
“we’re going to suffer more than any place in canada,” prue said. “we need to find new jobs and opportunities. that comes from people who can go and beat the bushes.
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“the amount of dollars is such a small amount of money it behooves us to make sure this institution stays intact to ensure when investors are looking to invest, they choose us.”
by rescinding the cut, the county’s tax rate will rise 0.13 per cent to 3.61 per cent.
in addition to prue, those voting in favour of restoring funding were: tecumseh mayor gary mcnamara, tecumseh deputy mayor joe bachetti, amherstburg deputy mayor chris gibb, lasalle mayor crystal meloche, lasalle deputy mayor michael akpata, leamington mayor and county warden hilda macdonald and leamington deputy mayor larry verbeke.
opposed to the motion were: essex mayor sherry bondy, essex deputy mayor rob shepley, lakeshore mayor tracey bailey, lakeshore deputy mayor kirk walstedt, kingsville deputy mayor kimberly deyong and kingsville coun. tony gaffan, who was filling in for mayor dennis rogers.
essex county council is shown during 2024 budget deliberations at the essex county civic centre on jan. 10, 2024.
taylor campbell
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windsor star
from january 2023 until october 2024, invest windsoressex said it attracted six new plants worth $63.2 million to the county, creating 207 new jobs. combined totals for windsor and essex county were $832.2 million in new investments and 2,996 jobs.
windsor and essex county also added 41,000 people to their populations over the past two years.
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those pushing for the cuts expressed unhappiness over where the plants are landing, the need for more communication and a greater diversity in investments.
“it’s difficult because the county is mostly greenhouses, tourism and wineries and the city is automotive,” bondy said. “i feel like it’s a forced marriage.”
with emotions occasionally bubbling to the surface, several of those opposed to restoring funding said they wished they’d cut the budget further than 15 per cent.
“i haven’t heard what’s changed,” said deyong, who had originally proposed defunding the local economic development agency entirely.
“the warning was the survey (on county municipalities’ satisfaction with iwe) and the budget cut was the action,” she said. “they’re scrambling now because of the response to the cuts.”
mcnamara chastised his colleagues who favoured the cut for failing to raise the tough issues when iwe officials made their budget presentation to council last fall and highlighted the need for a more expansive vision for economic development.
“we’re in competition not only with southwestern ontario, but the whole province, country and whole world,” mcnamara said.
“i don’t know anybody here who has got a rolodex that they can call the president of toyota or somebody in europe.
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“we’ve had about ten to twelve billion of investment in our region. you may say it’s in windsor or here and there, but we all benefit from it. don’t kid yourself.
“it’s jobs being created by our people.”
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