Our Municipal Budgets

The budget represents the vision of the Municipality. It is a balanced and sustainable financial plan to deliver municipal services efficiently at approved levels, while also planning for the needs of the future. The budget identifies the resources required to deliver services, while the tax policy identifies how the budget requirement is raised.  Our fiscal year is from January 1 to December 31.


2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget

Following two online community consultations and three Budget Deliberation meetings, on Thursday, November 30, 2023 Chatham-Kent Council passed its first multi-year municipal budget.  The budget increase of 5.53% for 2024 includes significant investments in Chatham-Kent's Police Services and  municipal infrastructure with 1.14% and 3.11% of the 2024 budget increase being allocated to these services, respectively. The remaining budget increase provides investments in affordable housing, increased service levels for libraries, splash pads, and sustainable investments in municipal services. This 2024 increase means a four year average increase of 7.17%, extending until 2027. 

The approved final budgets will be posted soon.


Additional Information


Past Budgets

Budget Policy

Our municipal budget is actually made up of three budgets - an Operating Budget, a Capital Budget and a Lifecycle Budget.

The Operating Budget covers the costs associated with the operation of the municipality, e.g. garbage collection and disposal, social benefits, maintenance, vehicles, salaries, equipment, etc. Council approves the operating budget through a series of Budget Committee meetings at the beginning of each fiscal year.

The Capital Budget covers the capital projects undertaken by the municipality each year, e.g. major asset reconstruction like roads, sewers or new asset development. The five-year plan is reviewed and presented to Council in a separate report, with approval recommended for the current year projects only. 

The Lifecycle Budget covers the annual rehabilitation and renewal of municipal assets and currently does not provide funding requirements for replacement. Further detail is available under the Asset Management Policy. Each category of asset covered under the Asset Management Plan presents a prioritized and recommended annual plan for the utilization of the budget in a separate report to Council after the budget process.

Read the full Budget Policy here.