WELLINGTON NORTH ‒ Council has directed staff to come back with a tax levy increase five per cent or less in next year's budget.
This follows a staff report on the upcoming operating and capital budget recommending a 5.87 tax levy increase in the 2024 budget, which would result in a total levy requirement of $9,730,133 or $78.46 for a typical residential single-family dwelling.
That does not include the county portion of any tax increase.
"I'd like to see staff strive to get this below five per cent," said Mayor Andy Lennox, who felt "sticker shock" when he first saw the proposed levy increase. "So I'm looking for some staff recommendations to determine what things might be less important (and can be deferred)."
Totaling $23,169,885, staff said the capital program for 2024 is "consistent with previous years" and the levy increase was suggested to support the operating budget and address inflation while allowing staff to maintain and enhance township services.
"I'm not sure our residents can absorb (that increase)," said Lennox. "(We're facing) a struggle between deferring projects that we know we need to do and asset management requirements and trying to balance the need of today for people to pay their bills."
However, township treasurer Jerry Idialu said if council says five per cent is "the sweet spot," staff should be able to come back with a revised proposal.
In 2023, the municipality has the largest increase of any Wellington County municipality at 8.9 per cent.
The full report is available here.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
