Windsor mayor looking to achieve 0% tax levy for 2026

Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens is calling for no increase to Windsor property taxes in next year’s budget. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell reports.

The mayor of Windsor is looking to achieve a 0 per cent tax levy for 2026.

Drew Dilkens put forward a mayoral decision on Oct. 23 asking that city administration prepare a proposed 2026 budget that would achieve a 0 per cent tax increase while maintaining funding for the city’s Asset Management Plan.

The City of Windsor’s approved 2025 budget included a 2.98 per cent property tax increase, and a 1.16 per cent Asset Management Plan levy was approved on top of regular property taxes and endorsed by city council in July 2025.

The Asset Management Plan levy is dedicated to funding infrastructure improvements, particularly residential road rehabilitation and allows the city to save in reserves to provide long-term funding for projects.

The Asset Management Plan levy is expected to expire in 2026.

Dilkens says he understands residents are struggling.

“We have a time where it’s really incumbent upon municipally elected officials to do what they can to reflect the pain in the community, and that’s why I issued the mayoral order asking administration to prepare a budget that shows a 0 per cent tax levy for 2026.”

He says the pressure this year is lower than last year.

“They’re still high, but they’re lower than they were in 2024 looking ahead at 2025, and I just wanted to make sure as the admin is preparing the budget, and certainly sending a signal to everyone at the city that we need to do, and we really need to reign things in, and make sure that we are doing all that we can to help support residents in the community, and certainly 0 per cent is the best way to do that.”

Dilkens says nothing is off the table when it comes to achieving a 0 per cent levy.

“Everything gets reviewed, we’ve got a strong commissioner level management team, a great CAO, and we’re working at reviewing everything that we can review to try and get those numbers down... hold the increases where we can hold them. And these decision points, like every budget, they’re not without some amount of risk and some amount of pain.”

The 2026 Operation and Capital budget needs to be tabled by Feb. 1, 2026.

Under Ontario’s Strong Mayor Powers, once the budget is tabled council will have 30 days to review and make any recommendations for change.

-with files from AM800’s The Shift with Patty Handysides