Residents in Essex County may have to dig a little deeper in 2027. Administration with the County of Essex released its 2027 pre-budget outlook to the County Council on Wednesday. The pre-budget includes a projected tax increase of 4.17 per cent. The outlook says the 2027 budget is being developed during a period of significant financial pressure. Director of Financial Services and Treasurer for the County of Essex Melissa Ryan says a few factors are behind 2.91 per cent of the projected tax-rate increase, before considering staffing, operating, capital, reserve, and service-related requirements. “The biggest driver is compensation and benefits, which account for around three per cent of that increase. Beyond that we are seeing higher costs for goods and services, continuing infrastructure investment, EMS service requirements, and other operational pressures,” she says. Ryan says the county did have a lot of collective agreements that settled in 2026, so those are built into the assumptions. “We’re also seeing increases in benefits from some of those collective agreements, OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System), and just normal wage progressions as well,” she says. Ryan says this is what administration has come forward after reviewing everything, but it will be up to the council to make the tough decisions. “Typically, what our council is asking for is for inflation or below. When we go into the budget deliberations, 4.17 per cent is a little big higher than, I believe, three per cent right now in Canada, which is the inflationary number in Canada, for CPI (Consumer Price Index) anyways,” she says. County administration says the draft budget is still being developed, and further adjustments are expected before the proposed budget for 2027 is finalized. The final draft budget will be released to the public around November 19, with deliberations set for December 2.
