KENILWORTH – Increasing service at the Mount Forest Cemetery to allow for Saturday burials could mean a slight tax rate increase in 2025 for Wellington North residents.
On Dec. 2, treasurer Jeremiah Idialu presented an updated draft budget to council that would see residents paying 3.05 per cent more in 2025 for the township portion of their tax bill.
But in response to a request from council, Idialu also provided options that showed the impact to taxpayers if cemetery improvements and an increased level of service were included in the budget.
“This would lead to an increased cost of $20,500,” Idialu said.
Broken down, that cost would involve paying two staff members for seven hours each Saturday from May to November.
According to Idialu’s presentation, the cost per Saturday would be $661, which was multiplied by a total of 31 Saturdays to reach the approximate cost estimate.
“Also, staff have approved two capital budget requests for council’s deliberation,” Idialu told council.
Those requests include a survey and “title clearance” for the cemetery at a cost of $30,000, and fence repairs at the cemetery at a cost of $9,900.
Adding these two capital projects to the budget would bring the tax rate increase up to 3.47%, and adding those projects while also increasing cemetery hours would bring the increase to 3.68%, Idialu told council.
The presentation prompted councillor Steve McCabe to question the cemetery survey project request.
“What does that actually involve?” he asked.
Township clerk Karren Wallace explained the township had acquired the cemetery property in three separate transfers, the oldest of which dates back to the late 1800s, and the boundaries of the property are not entirely clear.
“We’re looking to establish exactly what we own,” Wallace said. “It’s a big project.”
But council seemed to have little appetite for taking on that project.
Instead, councillor Sherry Burke asked “what an option four would look like.”
She wanted to know the impact to taxpayers if the two cemetery capital projects were left out of the budget, but the Saturday staffing was included.
“That brings us to a 3.27% tax [rate] increase,” Idialu said.
Councillor Penny Renken expressed her support for this option.
“This way it puts the people’s priorities first,” she said.
As council was asked to provide its direction regarding the tax rate increase, McCabe said he also didn’t mind option four.
“The budget gets us to where we need to be comfortably and projects what we need to get done this coming year,” McCabe said.
“The extended operational hours for the cemetery probably goes a long way with our residents as well.”
Councillor Lisa Hern said she also likes option four, calling it “a great suggestion” by Burke.
Mayor Andy Lennox was the lone council member who didn’t approve of raising taxes to support an increased level of service at the cemetery.
“I think we need to be doing more to make the cemetery a user-pay service,” Lennox said, noting the township has been working on increasing fees to recover a greater portion of operating costs.
“If we’re going to enhance the service, I’d really like to see us make sure that those fees keep pace with that.”
Lennox noted he is in favour of the 3.05% increase, but acknowledged other members of council supported the 3.27% increase, so that was the direction given to staff.
Members of the public were also given the opportunity to weigh in on the budget, but none were present, either online or in person.
The meeting was council’s second look at the proposed 2025 budget.
An earlier version, presented on Nov. 4, had proposed a 4.5% tax rate increase, but council asked staff to return with an increase between 3 and 3.5%.
In his Dec. 2 presentation, Idialu said there had been “very few changes to the operating budget” from the version that was presented in November.
On the capital side, he said “there are minimal changes by department since that last presentation.”
One change he noted was under “general government,” where the amount budgeted for workstation replacements was reduced from $40,000 to $25,000.
The 12 capital “asks” for that department total $621,960, with the largest project being the renovation of the Arthur and Area Community Centre’s upper hall.
The “infrastructure and transportation” department accounts for the greatest portion of the capital requests, with 24 projects totalling more than $8.6 million.
“Since the last budget meeting, we’ve trimmed down the fleet request from two pickup trucks to one pickup truck,” Idialu pointed out to council.
At a cost of $70,000, the truck is far from the most expensive item on the list.
A road construction project for Draper Street and Anderson Avenue in Arthur is listed at more than $2.4 million, and reconstruction of John Street between Waterloo and Queen streets in Mount Forest is pegged at $1.9 million.
“In total, the capital program asks for $12,670,820,” said Idialu, noting it is higher than the previous year by about $3 million.
“This increase aligns with the recommendations of the completed 2024 Asset Management Plan, which identified a need for an $18.9 million annual capital investment to close the gap in the township’s capital program,” stated the treasurer’s report included in the meeting agenda package.
“While the township is still some ways from the $18.9 million target, this increase represents a positive step toward addressing the township’s long-term infrastructure investment needs.”
According to Idialu’s presentation, the proposed budget will see the tax levy increase from roughly $9.65 million to $10.7 million or 10.94%.
An estimated 7.89% growth in the township brings the impact to existing taxpayer down to a 3.05% increase – plus the cemetery service increase for a total of 3.27%.
For what Idialu called “a typical residential family dwelling” assessed at $271,636, that would mean the township’s portion of annual taxes would increase by about $48, from $1,468 to $1,516.
The next meeting scheduled to address Wellington North’s budget will take place on Dec. 16 at 7pm in a hybrid format.
