For the eighth year in a row Windsor City Councillors passed an operating budget with a zero percent tax levy increase.
Administration proposed a budget with a 1.43% hike but with a $500,000 cut to the Windsor Police Budget and the removal of a roads levy council was able to whittle the budget to a 0% increase.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says they were able to reach there goal without major compromises.
"There really are no service cuts. We're eliminating things that were to be considered add-ons, new services for the year, so the budget enhancement tool, inland water rescue for fire. Things that we've never done before that were being proposed as enhancements," says Dilkens.
Administration was also instructed to reduce the budget contingency and estimates for things like sick leave gratuity to find funds for other areas of the budget.
"You'll generally find that there's a lot of conservative estimates in the budget so with their help we were able to find those particular savings in order to offer them up to get the budget down to zero," says Dilkens.
Dilkens says he expects this to be the last year of the tax freeze as they 'cut pretty close to the bone' with the 2016 budget.
"We'll strive to hold the line like we have for a long, long time but at some point just with inflationary pressures we won't be able to do it. Knowing some of the cuts that we had to make today or where we had to go to find the savings, you can't go there year after year," says Dilkens.
