Some of the six Chatham-Kent councillors who voted against the 2020 budget say taxes are too high and more could have been done to shave them down further.
Councillors Doug Sulman and Michael Bondy said the tax increase of 2.97 per cent is above the inflation rate and could have been decreased by slashing staff numbers and spending. They added the tax rate compounds from year to year and puts future councils at a disadvantage because of the growing number.
Councillor Bondy claimed Chatham-Kent's tax rate is among the highest in Ontario and sometimes councillors have to say no to non-essential things such as bike lanes and arenas.
"Every time we pay for a nice to have project, something else doesn't get done. Your taxes go up and our taxes are strangling people," said Bondy.
Bondy said people are starting to call him Doctor No but he's OK with it because he's looking at the bigger fiscal picture.
"Roads are falling apart, roads aren't fun. Spending money on infrastructure, that's not exciting, it's not fun. Bike lanes are fun, arenas are fun but these things are incredibly costly," Bondy added.
Councillor Sulman said he was against hiring more staff when the population is not growing and would have liked to see the tax increase trimmed down to 2.25 per cent.
"Instead of starting with such a high number, give direction to staff that the right number is inflation and work hard on growth to bring in more assessment," said Sulman.
The tax increase is an additional $86 a year for a house assessed at $171,000.
The municipal budget started with a proposed 4.99 per cent tax hike two weeks ago.
