Council passes budget with 4.63% tax hike

On the second night of deliberations, Chatham-Kent councillors voted to pass the budget Wednesday, with a tax hike of 4.63 per cent.

The proposed rate coming into the evening was 3.96 per cent, however, a motion to place dust suppressant back into the base budget brought up the figure.

Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy entered the successful motion to add the service, which was previously accepted as a pilot project with no tax impact the previous night.

He said council heard “loud and clear” the importance of dust suppressant, including from the Kent Federation of Agriculture.

The motion added approximately $1.46 million.

“I’m the last guy to add to the tax base,” Bondy said. “We’re just putting something back that was effective … We took it out. It was admittedly a mistake.”

North Kent C