County to oversee some poverty reduction programs after city budget cuts

County of Essex Administration Building. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor)

The County of Essex will begin overseeing some programs under a joint poverty‑reduction strategy following funding cuts by the City of Windsor.

County council voted Wednesday night to administer two programs under Pathway to Potential (P2P) exclusively for county residents.

Previously, the city and county shared costs for a city staff member who oversaw administration of the program.

“The city has advised that the city staffer embedded into their parks and recreation department and transit will only be processing city applications,” county CAO Sandra Zwiers told council.

According to a county report, the city eliminated three administrative positions supporting P2P and removed tax levy funding for certain aspects of the program.

After June 30, the city will no longer provide oversight or data collection for the county’s portion of the P2P Affordable Pass Program or Recreation Assistance Program.

A city staff member will continue overseeing the programs for Windsor residents.

County staff said the change is not expected to have a significant financial impact on the county’s budget, with responsibilities delegated to existing employees.

“I hope our county residents are paying attention. When you freeze the tax rate, you melt your services,” said Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers.

Windsor eliminated jobs and increased some user fees to maintain a zero‑per‑cent tax levy increase in 2026.

The added responsibility for the county raised questions among councillors about whether further changes could follow.

“As we’re able to pick up the pieces that are left for us, what is to stop our partner from saying, ‘I will keep handing more things to you because you seem to have the ability to do it?’” said LaSalle Deputy Mayor Michael Akpata.

The city and county adopted a renewed five‑year P2P strategy in 2024 aimed at reducing poverty and supporting residents with low incomes.

Zwiers said she learned about the cuts affecting P2P only after they were finalized.

She told council the goal moving forward is to improve communication and ensure the county is made aware of decisions affecting its operations in advance.

“So that we can have a bit more dialogue and discussion around the impacts and whether, in fact, the county can pick up services that the city will no longer provide,” she said.

As the county assumes oversight of some programming, councillors asked about improving awareness of community resources and potentially raising income thresholds to make P2P more accessible to families in need.

Under the city‑county agreement, Windsor will continue overseeing the Neighbourhoods Program within P2P, though a staff report said the city is open to the county assuming administration in the future.