Here’s how much your property taxes will increase next year across Essex County, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia

Municipal councils across Essex County and in Chatham-Kent and Sarnia have spent this year’s budget season trying to keep tax increases manageable while battling inflation and soaring policing costs and weighing the immediate cost of repairing aging infrastructure against the long-term cost of holding off.

Municipal tax levy increases approved so far range from 1.76 per cent in Lakeshore to 5.9 per cent in Kingsville — though the overall tax levy increase for some taxpayers will be lower by the time the municipal and county amounts are combined. 

Tecumseh’s mayor will table that town’s budget on Jan. 13, according to the fall/winter edition of the Your Tecumseh newsletter.

Pelee Island expects to consider its budget in March, mayor Cathy Miller told CBC in a text message.

Windsor tabled its proposed budget on Dec. 29 with a zero per cent tax levy increase but increases to fees and cuts to departments.

Here’s a summary of what’s in some of this year’s budgets elsewhere around Essex County and beyond.

Amherstburg: 2.86%

A petition earlier this year to fix a falling-apart road in rural Amherstburg highlighted the struggle municipalities face in keeping taxes low without letting infrastructure crumble. 

Amherstburg staff had recommended in the town’s updated asset management plan that council add 2.5 per cent to the tax levy every year for the next 10 years in order to prevent infrastructure from falling further into disrepair.

The audit and finance committee went further in July, recommending an annual increase of 3.4 per cent.

Concession 6 North in Amherstburg is not slated for repair until 2031, town officials said this past summer. (Submitted by Kerry McGrail)

Councilors voted during the budget process to accept the 2.5 per cent recommendation, but those increases won’t kick in until the 2027 budget.

Meanwhile, Amherstburg will spend just over $10 million maintaining infrastructure in 2026, including just over $1.9 million on its road network, around $1.1 million on bridges and culverts and around $1.2 million on buildings and facilities, according to a summary posted on the town’s website by Mayor Michael Prue.

Chatham-Kent: 4.63%

Homelessness has been top-of-mind for Chatham-Kent residents this year after slope stabilization work forced the relocation of the municipality’s largest homeless encampment, leading to outrage from many of its new neighbours. 

Chatham-Kent’s 4.63 per cent tax levy increase in 2026 includes 0.62 per cent related to “social issues,” which simply covers the rising cost of existing services to address homelessness, addiction and other issues in the community, budget committee Chair Coun. Brock McGregor told CBC.

Councilors are expecting reports from staff in the new year that will spell out options for housing all homeless individuals in the community and detail costs and procedures, he said. 

Any spending toward those initiatives in 2026 would likely have to come from reserve funds until the next budget update.

Meanwhile, the tax levy increase also includes just over one per cent to cover the increased cost of maintaining existing services and 1.76 per cent for building and maintaining infrastructure, according to a news release from the municipality.

The tax increase is equivalent to $97 per $100,000 of residential assessment value, the municipality says.

County of Essex: 2.25%

County taxes, which are charged on top of municipal taxes, will increase in 2026 by about $44.02 per $350,000 of assessed home value. 

The budget includes continued funding for the Homelessness Hub and overnight program in Leamington, continued funding for The Bridge and about $5.7 million to renew aging affordable housing stock, according to a news release from the county.

The Essex County tax levy increase will fund new ambulances among other things, the county said. (Windsor-Essex EMS/Facebook)

It also includes $21 million for road rehabilitation projects and $4.1 million for paved shoulder projects in order to make cycling safer.

There is funding for eight new full-time paramedics and two new ambulances and the replacement of seven other ambulances.

And there is another $7 million earmarked for the new hospital, bringing the total amount set aside by the end of 2026 to $65 million of a total $100 million commitment. 

Town of Essex: 3.25%

The Town of Essex landed on a 3.25 per cent tax increase, but when county and school board taxes are factored in, the average increase to total taxes across all four wards is 2.66 per cent.

The average household will pay $95.57 more annually. 

The increase to the tax levy covers increases to wages, policing costs, and the cost of maintaining the town’s infrastructure.

This year, the town will be replacing Fire Station 3, making improvements to the Maidstone Avenue/Talbot Street intersection and acquiring a hybrid bylaw enforcement patrol vehicle, according to the release.

Town staff, it said, have been reviewing user fees to make sure they are covering the costs of the services they pay for where applicable, reducing the pressure on property taxpayers.

Kingsville: 5.9%

Improved funding for infrastructure maintenance is one of the reasons that Kingsville’s tax levy landed at 5.9 per cent this year, Director of Financial and Corporate Services Ryan McLeod told council during a presentation Dec. 10

That’s about $126.07 on the average home in Kingsville, according to a news release from the municipality.

Kingsville residents will see their overall tax bills rise by around 4 per cent next year when both municipal and county taxes are factored in.

Kingsville residents will pay more for infrastructure and policing in 2026, town staff said. (CBC News)

Kingsville has only been funding around 56 per cent of the cost of maintaining its infrastructure each year, McLeod said. But it has increased infrastructure spending by $3.5 million, or 70 per cent, over the past three years, progress he said made him proud of council.

This year’s capital investments, according to the news release on the budget, include:

• $2.6 million for road reconstruction and resurfacing.
• $1.4 million for bridge replacements and rehabilitations.
• $270,000 for sidewalk replacements.

Another major factor in the budget is an increase of more than $500,000 in the Ontario Provincial Police expenses that the municipality has no control over, McLeod said.

The municipality is anticipating sluggish growth of less than one per cent in 2026, he added.

Lakeshore: 1.76%

Lakeshore posted the lowest tax levy increase in the region for 2026 at just 1.76 per cent or an average of $54 per year per household, but Coun. Ian Ruston told CBC that it did not get there by starving its infrastructure budget. 

Instead, the municipality — which is already dealing with the fallout from underfunding infrastructure in the form of a development freeze in the Stony Point area due to a maxed out sewer system — went line by line through the budget to whittle it down from a proposed four per cent increase, according to an emailed statement from Mayor Tracey Bailey.

That led to decisions such as delaying the purchase of a new ice resurfacer and scrutinizing reserve funds to find leftover cash in funds that were no longer in use — but only to cover one-time costs, Ruston said.

Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey said council went through the budget line by line to find ways to reduce the tax levy. (Submitted by Tracey Bailey)

Nearly a full percentage point of the levy reduction was achieved by cutting funding to an infrastructure reserve fund that would not be spent in the 2026 tax year, he added.

Lakeshore received the two largest grants in its history from the federal and provincial governments this year, Bailey said, which will support some of the projects in its new water and wastewater master plan while reducing the impact on water rates. 

LaSalle: 3.47%

LaSalle’s 3.47 per cent increase amounts to about $109.99 per year for the average single-family home, according to a news release issued by the municipality. 

Staff had proposed an increase of 5.98 per cent and offered councillors three possible scenarios that could get it as low as 4.75 per cent.

But none of those scenarios were enough for Coun. Mark Carrick, who said he wouldn’t accept an increase higher than 3.5 per cent because of economic uncertainty caused by the Trump administration in the U.S.

Staff then brought back a new scenario eliminating around $450,000 in new hires, cutting funding for infrastructure maintenance by around $250,000 and cutting funding for facilities by $100,000.

Council approved that scenario over the protests of Mayor Crystal Meloche, who said it was short-sighted to put off spending on staffing and infrastructure for the sake of saving the average taxpayer approximately $32 per year.

“Every single capital item paused this year gets pushed to next year,” she told council, adding that residents are willing to pay reasonable tax increases if it means better roads, better facilities and the continuation of services.

Leamington: 2.5%

The average Leamington resident whose home is assessed at $190,000 in value will pay $67.13 more in 2026 than they paid in 2025.

That’s the result of a 2.5 per cent increase to the tax levy. 

The budget includes a number of repairs and upgrade to roads and other infrastructure, specifically:

• North East Trunk sanitary sewer project.
• Seacliff Drive East reconstruction — Regatta to County Road 33.
• Seacliff Drive West reconstruction and roundabout.
• Waterfront parking and plaza improvements.
• Aerial fire truck replacement.
• Recreation facility upgrades, including refrigeration plant replacement.
• Road reconstruction, drainage improvements and new traffic signals.

Sarnia: 3.82% / 3.95%

Disagreements over funding a new police facility and a new recreation complex lead to clashes between the mayor and council before Sarnia eventually settled on tax levy increases of 3.95 per cent inside the transit levy area and 3.82 per cent outside the transit levy area.

Mayor Mike Bradley used his strong mayor powers to veto council’s decision to direct $5 million to the police capital budget and $4.1 million to the Sarnia Bace recreation centre project, both of which would’ve been financed through borrowing.  

“Piling on debt will cripple the incoming council, especially with the 2027 budget already positioned to start with a projected 16 per cent tax increase,” Bradley wrote in his veto notice.

Council left the veto of the police funding intact but overrode the veto of the Bace project.

Bradley told CBC he was disappointed with the override saying the city was just on the verge of getting out of debt, and he does not believe it’s the right time to do more borrowing.