Minden Hills taxpayers got their first look at the township’s 2025 budget Nov. 21 – with a starting point of an estimated 8.7 per cent levy increase.
That will not be the final number when council is expected to endorse the completed document early next year.
Director of finance and treasurer, Wendelin Lonergan, said, “staff has really done a dive and we are still working at diving deeper to make sure everything is refined.” She said the staff goal is a “reasonable” increase.
Lonergan said there were a number of external pressures. They include increased OPP billing, which could raise taxes three per cent in the township. Wages will create a crunch, with the township finally having a full complement of staff, and wages up four per cent, and benefits nearly 11 per cent. It looks like there will be no Provincial Offences Act revenue and insurance costs are up six per cent.
The treasurer said there’s pressures on everything the township does, without considering the cost-of-living allowance and inflation.
Minden Hills is working on a new asset management plan that will pinpoint deficiencies in fleet, building and equipment. They hope to offset with bulk purchasing and reviewing whether projects remain important, or if the focus has shifted.
CAO Cynthia Fletcher said there were still some unknowns to be brought back in January.
She commented, “we made some headway in 2024 on stabilizing our workforce, and starting to focus on streamlining and modernizing some of our customer service processes. We made infrastructure improvements and we started putting a lot of focus on engaging our community.”
She said success stories included the Village Green restorations, accessible public washrooms in the downtown, moving waste management and waste diversion in-house, significant infrastructure investments, and several community events.
“In 2025, we will continue modernizing and streamlining more customer service processes, focus on community engagement, more infrastructure improvements, and turn our minds to long-term financial planning as well.”
The township is so far looking at a two per cent increase for water, and three per cent for wastewater.
Mayor Bob Carter noted taxpayers pay to the school board, township and Haliburton County.
During the public meeting portion of the agenda, former coun. Jean Neville spoke to the Lochlin Community Centre. She sits on a committee for the hall, which has been left dormant since COVID, “which is a critical length of time for any building, let alone one of this vintage,” she said.
“We urge this council to dedicate funds to at least start this restoration in the 2025 calendar year… with help from willing tradespeople… maybe saving the old structure is the best way to go,” she said. Speaking to the 8.7 per cent increase as of Nov. 21, Coun. Pam Sayne said she was pleased there are going to be local municipal delegations to the Minister of Finance at upcoming conferences. “We cannot continue with these kinds of increases on a regressive property tax… this has to stop somewhere.”
