Municipal budget deliberations in Chatham-Kent are over a month away, but taxpayers may already be looking at a 1.5 per cent tax increase.
A report going to council Monday night outlines the "provincial downloads" being passed along to the Municipality of Chatham-Kent -- and they total $2.3 million.
According to the report, provincial downloads occur when the Ontario government shifts sources of funding from the provincial income and sales tax onto municipal taxpayers.
A large chunk of the downloads, a total of $898,000, comes from public health services. Additionally, child care and early year services are going from being 100 per cent to 80 per cent funded, equalling a download amount of $420,000. Meanwhile, there is also an $822,000 Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, the province's main general assistance grant to municipalities.
"Legal Services will investigate, in cooperation with the relevant departments, which of these downloaded services is mandatory and which are optional," stated the report.
With this information, the Chatham-Kent Budget Committee will now consider raising tax requirements by 1.5 per cent in order to maintain the same level of service.
