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Leap of Faith

City, county residents ante up
Author: Windsor Writers Group
Dec 2019
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Windsor and Essex County residents have been putting their money where their mouths are, anteing up nearly $30 million to date, or 15 per cent of the $200 million their councils agreed to contribute to the new hospital. The $200 million is 10 per cent of the projected capital cost as mandated by the province. So far, Windsor has collected $16.4 million and the county $13.5 million through taxpayer levies.

The city’s one-per-cent levy is projected to continue annually through 2029 or earlier based on interest earned.  The levy will be topped up with “additional sources of funding” beginning in 2020, and then again in 2023, which will increase the annual contribution by approximately $7.1 million to a total annual amount of $10.975 million, according to the mayor’s office. 

The county in 2015 and 2016 placed funds in a hospital reserve when other external funding commitments expired. A minimum 0.5-per-cent levy until 2027, and debt financing over the following 10 years, will account for the remainder of its contribution, according to the chief administrative officer.

To date, the province has contributed $6.8 million.

‘We were so committed down here that we were in the ‘if’ phase and we started collecting our money. That was a huge leap of faith from both city and county council to do that.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens