The first week on budget deliberations have been wrapped up by Chatham-Kent council, and the tax impact sits at $3.44%.
During the three nights of deliberations, council tackled a list of potential service reductions across the community. Some were axed, while others remain. Council also heard presentations about infrastructure and by the Chatham-Kent Police Service during the week as well.
Communities in Bloom remains on chopping block
The Communities in Bloom program in Chatham-Kent is in serious jeopardy.
South Kent Coun. Karen Herman made an unsuccessful motion to remove the program from the service reduction list during Thursday night’s deliberations.
Reports say staff believes the cuts impact the formal competition, but there is funding available to continue beautification efforts across C-K.
Lynda Weese, the coordinator for the Dresden Horticultural Society, said she is fearful the cut would have a negative impact on volunteerism.
“We want to continue to be able to inspire our communities to look their very best,” Weese wrote on Facebook. “We fear our volunteers will fade away without the motivation of the program.”
Eliminating the program would result in a $76,891 annual savings.
Watch for more on this story.
Ridgetown Youth Centre and Bothwell Scout Hut saved
The communities of Ridgetown and Bothwell will be given one more year to improve usership and programming at two local facilities.
The Ridgetown Youth Centre and the Bothwell Scout Hut were removed from the chopping block on Thursday, after East Kent Coun. Steve Pinsonneault made a successful motion.
The closure of the Ridgetown building would have resulted in a $16,941 savings, while the Bothwell location would have saved taxpayers $11,727.
Staff will be working with user groups in the next year in order to work on making both facilities more sustainable.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure and engineering staff is proposing a .67% increase to their budget this year.
This would add to the already proposed .33% increase, for a total of 1%.
Chatham-Kent Police Services
The CKPS is proposing a $30.1 million budget for 2016, which falls within the realm of a 2% increase over the money spent in 2015. A total of 88% of the budget is for personnel.
Chief Gary Conn provided a presentation during the deliberations held on Wednesday. He said crime is going down, while calls for service are increasing.
Here are some items scrapped from the budget on Tuesday, which we have previously reported on:
Public works support for special events
Council removed the elimination of public works support for various community special events from the cuts list.
Staff had said this work, which includes installing banners, lights and traffic barriers for various events across Chatham-Kent, does not help the public works mandate to maintain roads, lights, water and waste water systems and pulls away public works resources from their main mandate.
Across Chatham-Kent, this move would have resulted in a $66,655 savings.
Bothwell Arena
The closure of the Bothwell Arena was removed from the list of cuts.
The Municipality is set to work with various groups in Bothwell over the next year in an attempt to increase programming and use. Closing the arena would have saved Chatham-Kent a total of $78,000.
Brunner Centre
The Thamesville building was removed from the list of cuts. Closing the centre would have saved $14,643.
Jaycee Pool
The outdoor pool facility in Chatham was removed from the list of cuts, the savings would have been $24,468.
Deliberations continue on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as needed next week.
