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Council Watch: money and records
The money, the records and the questions still open.
Budget lines we are watching
Where the numbers come from the City's own budget documents. Figures here are the City's, not ours. For the whole budget see Where your money goes.
- Item 2026-0097, Housing and Children's Services: Homelessness and Supportive Housing Reduction, $2,626,537.
Listed in the December 2025 proposed amendments as an in-camera item described as Labour Relations. The 2026 Approved Operating Budget names the same item and amount Homelessness and Supportive Housing Reduction, under MD 03-2026. Neither document says what the reduction cut or whether any service changed.
City of Windsor: 2026 Approved Operating Budget (pp. 157, 161) | Windsor News: One $2,626,537 budget item, two descriptions in City documents
Freedom-of-information requests and results
Requests Windsor News has filed. The tracker lists a request only after it is filed. Results and released records are added with a link. The full tracker is at /foi/.
- FOI 213-2026 (City of Windsor): Cost of the 2026 OPP technology sweep at City Hall: total cost, invoices or confirmation of no charge, the budget account used and payment dates (City records only).
Filed Sept. 17, 2026. Acknowledged Sept. 28, 2026. Due: Nov. 27, 2026 (date the City gave on Oct. 20, 2026, under the 45 business-day clock). Status: Acknowledged, decision due Nov. 27. our story - FOI 237-2026 (City of Windsor): Records about the City's $24,000 sole-source contract with GT & Co to review City Hall and Council procedures: the contract, purchase and payment records, the sole-source approval and the by-law provision used, any conflict-of-interest review done before the award, any report to Council or a committee, and the engagement's start and end dates.
Filed Oct. 9, 2026. Acknowledged Oct. 20, 2026 (the City's letter says it received the request Oct. 15, 2026). Due: About mid-December 2026 (estimate). Status: Acknowledged, pending. our story - File number not yet assigned (City of Windsor): Totals the City paid to outside law firms and legal counsel, by firm and year, from Jan. 1, 2023 to date.
Filed Oct. 18, 2026. Acknowledged Oct. 20, 2026 (by email; no file number yet). Due: Set once the City assigns a file number and confirms the received date. Status: Received by the City, awaiting file number. - File number not yet assigned (City of Windsor): Corporate credit card statements for the Mayor, the Mayor's office and the Chief Administrative Officer, and expense claims for the Mayor and the CAO, from Jan. 1, 2025 to date.
Filed Oct. 18, 2026. Acknowledged Oct. 20, 2026 (by email; no file number yet). Due: Set once the City assigns a file number and confirms the received date. Status: Received by the City, awaiting file number. - File number not yet assigned (City of Windsor): Any list or report of purchases made without a competitive process (sole-source or single-source awards), and any periodic report of them to Council, a committee or the CAO, from Jan. 1, 2025 to date.
Filed Oct. 18, 2026. Acknowledged Oct. 20, 2026 (by email; no file number yet). Due: Set once the City assigns a file number and confirms the received date. Status: Received by the City, awaiting file number. - File number not yet assigned (City of Windsor): Records about 2026 budget item 2026-0097, "Homelessness and Supportive Housing Reduction" ($2,626,537), adopted under MD 03-2026: reports and the Council resolution (including in camera), budget working papers behind the figure, the programs, contracts and positions affected, any analysis behind the statement that services were not affected, and correspondence with other levels of government about the reduction.
Filed Oct. 22, 2026. Acknowledged Not yet acknowledged. Due: Set once the City acknowledges the request. Status: Awaiting acknowledgement and file number. our story - File number not yet assigned (City of Windsor): Downtown Mission funding: how the City's roughly $1.5 million splits between City tax levy and provincial or federal money, plus the related service agreements.
Filed Sept. 21, 2026. Acknowledged Oct. 27, 2026 (City Clerk's office acknowledged the request and sent the fee receipt; earlier FOI office email about the $5 fee on Sept. 22). Due: Nov. 27, 2026 (45 business days). Status: Acknowledged, pending. our story - FOI 205-2026 (City of Windsor): Records about the 2023 termination of a former senior City official, including notice, reports, legal fees and litigation status.
Filed Sept. 9, 2026. Acknowledged Sept. 11, 2026. Due: About mid-November 2026 (estimate). Status: Acknowledged, pending. - FOI 206-2026 (City of Windsor): Records about senior staff departures.
Filed Sept. 9, 2026. Acknowledged Sept. 11, 2026. Due: About mid-November 2026 (estimate). Status: Acknowledged, pending. - FOI 36-2026 (City of Windsor. Appeal: Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC), file MA26-00646): Records about the settlement of former Commissioner of Infrastructure Services Chris Nepszy's wrongful dismissal lawsuit. Nepszy was dismissed Nov. 15, 2023 under strong mayor powers and sued in March 2024. The case settled on confidential terms in 2025, which became public in mid-November 2025.
Filed Date not listed. Acknowledged Date not listed. Due: Decision issued: the City withheld the records under section 52(3) of MFIPPA, the labour relations and employment records exclusion. Windsor News appealed to the IPC, which confirmed the appeal on July 14, 2026. In late September 2026 the file was moved to the mediation stage. As of Oct. 15, 2026, a mediator had not yet been assigned. If mediation does not resolve it, Windsor News intends to seek adjudication.. Status: Denied, under appeal (IPC mediation). our story
Questions the City has not answered
- What the $2,626,537 budget item 2026-0097 covered, whether services changed, and when details will be released.
Asked Sept. 30, 2026 of City of Windsor, Housing and Children's Services and Finance. Status: City declined further comment Oct. 26; complaint sent to the CAO, answers requested by Fri Oct 30, 5 p.m. ET. The City Treasurer replied Oct. 22. She said the item went to Council in camera and involves negotiations, legal advice and information supplied in confidence by another level of government. She said services to residents were not affected, that the confidential matters are ongoing, and that she would make no further comment. The reply did not say what the reduction covered, when details will be released, or whether an FOI request is required. Windsor News sent five follow-up questions the same day and asked for answers by 5 p.m. ET on Fri Oct. 30. Update, Oct. 26: The City Treasurer replied: "You e-mail [sic] is acknowledged. A response has been provided and no further comment will be given at this time. Please file an FOI request." The reply did not answer the five follow-up questions. A freedom-of-information request for records on the item was filed Oct. 22 and is proceeding. On Oct. 26 a formal complaint was sent to the City's Chief Administrative Officer, Ray Mensour, asking for written answers by 5 p.m. ET on Fri Oct. 30 to four of the questions: what program area or service the reduction covered, the basis for saying services were not affected, when details will be released, and whether the in-camera report will be released once the matter concludes. The complaint said that without answers the matter will go to the Ontario Ombudsman. | our story - Local news access on Facebook and Instagram for Windsor residents, given Meta's block on news in Canada.
Asked Oct. 20, 2026 of Lisa Gretzky, MPP for Windsor West (Ontario NDP). Status: No reply by Fri Oct 23 noon. The Ontario NDP caucus media office asked for our deadline on Oct. 20, and we gave noon Oct. 23. No reply by that deadline.
Method: promises come only from each candidate's own campaign site, with the date we read it. A status changes only for people the City Clerk has declared elected, and only with a link to a public record. Votes come from the City's approved minutes. Corrections: our corrections log.