Amherstburg budget to see 1.69-per-cent tax increase

Just a few years removed from a financial quagmire and a mountain of debt, Amherstburg council approved a municipal budget Wednesday night that will see a 1.69-per-cent tax increase.

“It was a nice, boring budget,” said Mayor Aldo DiCarlo, laughing. “That in itself I think is Amherstburg’s biggest story.”

The general tax rate for the town was settled at 0.83 per cent, for an average increase of $15.33 for an average home valued at $200,000.

Adding in the anticipated increases to the Essex County and school board budget, the average taxpayer will see an increase of about $54.31.

DiCarlo said there were no drastic cuts to any major item in the budget, just some tweaking.

Two new fire engines were among the major one-time expenditures.

He also said the town is moving forward with its roads program, spending about $2 million to upgrade Creek Road.

The last several town budgets have not seen final approval until January because councillors would go through every line item in a 300-page binder, a process that could take days, but this year’s budget was much more streamlined, with only changes pulled out with explanations.

“So now we’ve hit a point where there’s really nothing to look at line-by-line anymore, so we got through working on a summary page for the operating budget and a summary for the capital,” said DiCarlo.