LaSalle and Amherstburg prepare to tackle 2026 budgets

LaSalle has proposed a six per cent tax hike in its draft budget. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco explains what this means.

Lasalle homeowners might be paying more in taxes next year, after a first look at the town’s draft budget.

The document calls for an almost six percent tax hike, as officials try to balance rising costs and future projects.

“It’s a very difficult budget I find for us in the town of LaSalle this year.,” said Mayor Crystal Meloche.

She said the town has a lot of things to consider heading into budget season such as contractual obligations and catching up with inflation.

“We have the Malden Road project coming up starting this summer. We have the Front Road work being done. We have LaSalle Landing. We have the Howard Bouffard area,” she added.

Right now, the preliminary budget sees a 5.98 per cent increase which works out to about $189 for a home with an assessed value of about $280,000.

“Even though we can sell our homes for two or three times our assessed values, we actually pay taxes on what MPAC [Municipal Property Assessment Corporation] assessed us with in 2016 so it’s a huge difference,” said Meloche.

Last week Windsor’s mayor pushed for a zero-percent property tax increase which she said is next to impossible for LaSalle.

“For us to be able to get to a zero percent or anywhere close to a zero percent, we have to reduce services and when hearing from our residents that’s something they’re not interested in,” said Meloche.

That’s what staff in Amherstburg are being asked to do, with the draft budget there showing a proposed tax increase of 2.86 percent.

“I asked staff to keep it below 3 per cent and hopefully around to inflation rate and quite a few things had to be removed or cut or put off for other years to make this happen,” said Mayor Michael Prue.

The increase is estimated to be about $85 for a home with an assessed value of $250,000, which works out to less than two dollars per week.

Expecting push back from residents, Prue said, “Some will be coming out and saying they want items that have been cut from the budget, they want them back in and some will be coming and saying cut out some more because I don’t want a tax increase. I expect they all have various opinions, and we need to hear them all.”

Amherstburg is hosting a public open house to discuss the budget Nov. 22 at the Libro Centre, while LaSalle will hold an open house this coming Monday at the Vollmer Complex between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.