Matt Marchand for Mayor Campaign Announces Fundamental Shift: Economic Plan to Align City Spending with Community Priorities – Windsor 2022, Basement Flooding, Infrastructure, and Community Livability
“The City has lost its focus with respect to spending taxpayer dollars on non-priority areas”
The Marchand for Mayor Campaign Economic Plan outlines a fundamental shift in thinking and actions. The Marchand for Mayor Campaign will bring new focus, discipline, and proper budgetary process to City Hall, including an Independent Municipal Auditor General, cost-benefit analysis, and directing funds from non-priority to priority areas.
Economic Plan: Aligning Investment with Community Priorities
Reduce, redirect, or eliminate the following:
- Eliminate Riverside Drive and Bruce underpass: $15 million.
- Reduce sports tourism commitments by $15 million over the next 10 years.
- Redirect Enhanced Capital Budget (Ward Funds) into Capital Budget: $100 million over 10 years 1.
- Estimated savings from the Independent Municipal Auditor General: $20 million over 10 years 2.
- ENWIN reform: $1.25 million over 10 years 3.
- Eliminate Grand Prix sponsorship: $500,000 over 10 years.
- Eliminate expenditures such as refurbishing street cars for $750,000: $7.5 million over 10 years.
- Reduce taxpayer burden on Bright Lights from a $30 million to $2.5 million over 10 years for a savings of $27.5 million over 10 years.
Implement a 1% tax increase: $40 million over 10 years 4 to fund Windsor 2022.
This adds up to a total of an estimated $226.75 million of spending to be redirected to community priorities to spend over 10 years.
1 Enhanced Capital Budget (Ward Funds) has become equated with “favouritism”, which is inappropriate budget process.
2 Additional funds can be found and reallocated through the Independent Municipal Auditor General. For example, in Toronto, for every dollar spent on the Auditor General, the City saw an 8.5x return on investment for a five-year savings of $200 million. Scaling it down for Windsor, we can expect an Auditor General savings of at least $20 million over 10 years.
3 By eliminating the ENWIN Energy Board payments, the City saves approximately $85,000 annually and with the four other dual directorships between ENWIN Utilities and Windsor Canada Utilities, we have $40,000 savings annually for a total of $1.25 million over 10 years.
4 Cost to an average household per year: $50 based on an assessment of $150,000.
Platform Costs
1. Community Livability Fund: $50 million over 10 years 5.
2. Infrastructure: $89.3 million over six years (Sewer Master Plan implementation) 6.
3. Windsor 2022: Framework for a City-Wide Strategy on Homelessness, Opioid, and Crime with Focus on Downtown: $40 million over 10 years 7.
Total estimated Platform Costs: $179.3 million.
This leaves $47+ million to be allocated on additional community priorities over the next 10 years, including accelerating the Sewer Master Plan from 10 years to six years 8.
5 As mentioned August 27, 2018, the Marchand for Mayor Campaign will spend up to $50 million over 10 years in consultation with our community to fulfill Windsor’s economic potential by providing residents and current and future employers with a place to live that meets their needs.
6 The Marchand for Mayor Campaign is taking the existing Sewer Master Plan at the announced $89.3 million price tag and implementing it faster.
7 As mentioned in the Marchand for Mayor Campaign’s Windsor 2022 plan announced September 25, 2018, it is our vision – and community goal – that by 2022 we will significantly reduce homelessness,
opioid addiction, and crime in Windsor.
8 After consulting with independent experts, we have determined the Sewer Master Plan can be implemented in six years instead of 10. It is also possible that the Sewer Master Plan can be implemented cheaper if government grants become available.
