KENILWORTH – Wellington North council is hoping to shave at least one per cent off the 4.5% tax rate increase initially proposed during a Nov. 4 budget presentation.
“I would like to see it reduced, understanding that we’ve got a lot of projects on the go,” said councillor Sherry Burke, responding to a request that council provide direction regarding the increase.
All five members of council ultimately said lower would be better when it comes to the proposed tax increase.
“My big concern with our budget is trying to balance our needs from an infrastructure perspective,” said Mayor Andy Lennox.
He acknowledged an ongoing funding gap for capital assets that was highlighted in township treasurer Jeremiah Idialu’s budget presentation, but noted other levels of government may need to help with some of those issues.
“We have to do the things that we can do as much as possible, but we also need to be very aware of our residents’ ability to pay,” said Lennox, adding a 4.5% increase is an unreasonable request for most residents.
“I’d prefer to see it much closer to three per cent. Even that I sometimes struggle with,” he added.
The 4.5% council was discussing is actually the difference between a proposed increase to the tax levy (the portion of the budget required to come from taxes) of 10.2% and an estimated 5.7% in assessment growth in the township over the past year.
The 2024 budgeted tax levy was $9.65 million. The initial draft for 2025 proposed $10.63 million.
In his presentation to council, Idialu listed some of the greatest cost pressures:
- wages and salaries;
- employee health benefits at an estimated increase of 9.4%;
- municipal insurance with an estimated increase of 7%;
- utilities with an increase of 3.6%; and
- construction pricing with estimated inflation of 4.8%.
“Also important to note that this increment has been over 20% the last two years,” Idialu said of construction inflation.
He noted the budget also includes increases to local conservation authorities – 3.5% and 9.4% for the Grand River and Maitland Valley conservation authorities respectively, and an estimated 10% increase for Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority.
Idialu then went through each department’s impact to the total tax levy, including allocations to operating, capital and transfers to reserves.
The proposed tax levy of $10,635,600 is almost $1 million higher than in 2024.
It includes $6.8 million for the operating budget, a 7.5% increase over 2024; $764,979 for transfers to reserves and reserve funds; and $3.07 million for capital expenses.
According to Idialu’s report, for an average residential property assessed at $271,636, the estimated increase to the township portion of tax bill would be $63, from $1,468 for 2024 to $1,531 for 2025.
It said the 2025 capital budget totals more than $12.9 million, “reflecting an increased annual investment in capital infrastructure.”
The township’s 2024 Asset Management Plan suggests Wellington North should be investing $18.9 million, but currently the township is committing approximately $8.2 million toward capital projects per year, Idialu said.
“This creates a funding gap of about $10.7 million annually,” he said.
“The capital budget being proposed seeks to address some of this gap next year.”
Some big-ticket items in the capital program include:
- various roads road reconstruction projects ranging in price from $100,000 to over $2.4 million;
- $332,000 for renovation of the upper hall at the Arthur and Area Community Centre;
- $226,282 to design a well house in Arthur; and
- $350,000 in transfers to reserves for the Mount Forest pool.
Councillors offered their input, suggesting some areas where the budget could potentially be reduced.
Councillor Steve McCabe suggested a water tower design for Arthur, listed in the capital program at $143,736, might be unnecessary.
He said a design could be borrowed from a neighbouring municipality.
“Why would we have to redesign something that’s already been designed only about two and a half years ago?” he asked.
Chief administrative officer Brooke Lambert accepted the feedback, saying the township could “look at opportunities to economize on design options.”
McCabe also raised the issue of multiple pickup trucks listed in the capital program for the environmental services, and infrastructure and transportation departments.
Lambert noted the township partners with other local municipalities for a joint procurement process for vehicles.
“We’ve seen some savings when we work with our partner municipalities,” she said.
The township’s feet was an issue for multiple councillors, with councillor Sherry Burke wondering why vehicles couldn’t be shared between departments.
“Is there any consideration at budget deliberations amongst staff of purchasing a universal vehicle?” she asked.
The requested vehicles are the “first look at what we think is required,” Lambert told council.
She added “we have had conversations about how we can do a better job to share those resources across different parts of the organization.”
Councillor Penny Renken wondered whether staff couldn’t use their personal vehicles with a magnetic decal to identify them as township vehicles.
Mayor Andy Lennox questioned whether pickup trucks could be replaced with less costly vehicles.
“I struggle to think that almost every vehicle needs to be a pickup truck,” Lennox said.
“A pickup truck with one person driving around in it is very poor use of resources.”
Lennox also noted he was “alarmed” by the cost listed for the building design for a well house in Arthur.
“What’s driving that cost for designing a well house?” Lennox asked.
Senior project manager Tammy Stevenson said included in the cost would be the design of the building, all the equipment, and engineering designs.
As councillors discussed their comfort level with a 4.5% tax rate increase, councillor Lisa Hern initially said she was comfortable with that number.
“When other municipalities, last year, had some pretty high increases, I think Wellington North did a pretty good job of trying to smooth that out,” she said.
After further discussion, all members of council said they would like the increase to be reduced.
They approved a motion directing staff to bring back a budget that would see the levy increase fall between 3 and 3.5% for 2025.
Over email, Idialu confirmed to the Advertiser that about $106,000 would need to be removed from the budget in order to reduce the tax increase from 4.5 to 3.5%.
