At the age of 52 – and after 21 years of competing in harness dog sports – Algonquin Highlands’ Karen Koehler recently won her first-ever gold and silver medal at an international competition held in the U.S.

Koehler took part in the International Federation of Sledding Sports 2025 Dryland Championships in Minocqua, Wisconsin in late October – capturing her first world podiums.

And she did it without her beloved dog Zillion, who passed away this past spring unexpectedly at the age of three-and-a-half years.

Instead, Buncho, at nine, led the charge to gold in canicross – where the trainer and dog run together with the dog out front pulling the trainer along. And, Really, who just made the age qualifying limit, helped with the silver, in bikejoring, where dogs run in front of a bike, pulling it forward using bikejoring equipment.

“When I lost Zillie, I actually didn’t know if I would be able to do very much at worlds, but I applied for all the classes,” Koehler said in a recent interview at her home.

She started training with Mighty for canicross, but the dog’s back was hurting. She had never used Buncho for the discipline, thinking he would not like it. “He’s a very fast dog; he loves to bike. He loves skiing.” She worried he would want to be speedier on the running course.

But she started training with him, anyway, doing a slow build. “We were just at the right distance when we got to worlds in our training, 3.7 kilometres.

“Then you get to worlds, and you’ve got these obscene hills.” Koehler said it was fine going up, but coming down another story. There was mud and she feared she was going to crash. But she stayed up, thanks to strenuous training. “So, I stayed on my feet. I do not know how. Half my body was that way, I was sliding.”

On the penultimate day, she started bikejoring first, which gave her an idea of what the course would be like. That garnered the silver. It was day two of canicross, and she and Buncho were able to retain their lead for gold. All along, she had to protect a hamstring she injured years ago.

“It was something. I was so proud of myself. On the podium, I was blubbering. And they played the Canadian national anthem. It was just so crazy. Never had a world podium; the same day I had the silver and gold. It was just such a dream come true.”

She said between the challenging course, the biking, her age, and being mindful of her hamstring, “I was so happy with how everything came together. I had to work for it. I had to be so careful with my training.”

She was also proud of Buncho, at nine, and having come back from an injury two years ago.

“I was not sure if he would have to retire, but he has told me, clearly, he does not want to. He is perfect for where I am now. My first dogs that lived to 16 and 18 told me very clearly when they were done. It was just a sad look one day when we harnessed up, like I am not into this anymore, and that is when we stopped. They won’t run if they don’t want to. And when they want to run you know it. It is in their whole body and manner.”

County of Haliburton taxpayers have an opportunity to speak at a Dec. 10 council meeting about the budget that will impact their bank accounts for 2026.

A draft budget was tabled Nov. 26 – along with some measures to reduce the impact from councillors Bob Carter, Murray Fearrey and warden Dave Burton who make up a small committee that has been working with senior staff. They met with CAO Gary Dyke and director of corporate services, Andrea Robinson Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.

While staff hope to pass the budget during next Wednesday’s meeting, there are some outstanding matters, including some key recommendations from the council liaison team.

They want to reduce the sustainable roads infrastructure program by $500,000, which would mean a smaller section of County Road 507 being resurfaced next year.

They want to cap spending for the Haliburton County Public Library at $1 million for 2026. They are calling on the service to draw on their reserves, estimated to be $430,000, to bridge the gap. It would mean $218,078 less for the library – while cutting the budget by $336,259.

They are further asking staff to back down from some hires, including not employing a full-time GIS technologist, but providing a temporary contract. They also want to hold off hiring a grant writer-procurement specialist.

Everyone agrees on hiring three advanced care paramedics and a cybersecurity analyst.

Breaking it down, staff are projecting a tax rate increase of 7.72 per cent – equal to $20.75 per $100,000 of assessment for the year. They stressed Haliburton County continues to have the second lowest residential tax rate within the Eastern Ontario counties.

This, however, does not include the continuation of a 1.5 per cent dedicated capital levy to address the long-term infrastructure gap identified in the County’s asset management plan. Nor does it include a new community health and well-being levy of 0.5 per cent to support health-related needs.

County to debate libraries, roads and jobs

However, Carter, Fearrey and Burton felt 7.72 per cent was too much for taxpayers. Their cuts would take $794,318 from the draft budget, making it a 4.63 per cent tax rate increase – $12.45 per $100,000 of assessment – plus the 1.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent levies.

During last week’s presentation, Dyke said it’s been one of his most challenging budgets in his 30-year municipal career.

He noted they’ll give the City of Kawartha Lakes 27 per cent more this year for social services and housing; all up shipping $6.7 million to external partners, that also include the library board, MPAC, Lakelands Public Health and money to recruit healthcare professionals. Robinson said that was almost 40 per cent of the budget being transferred to others.

Dyke talked up the community health and well-being levy, saying money raised would “provide services for the most vulnerable in our community, making sure we properly address gaps, with our partners.”

Battle of the books

The Haliburton County Public Library tabled its budget – seeking an additional $118,180 this year, or a 9.7 per cent increase. A big chunk of that is to give the Dorset community more library hours.

The library budget was just one area the liaison committee cracked down on, saying the board should use reserves to help offset rising costs.

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux, who sits on the library board, said, “this is my hill to die on” in disagreeing. She was worried council would be gambling that next year will be easier, and the library funded at pre-existing levels. If not, she said it could mean “catastrophic trauma” to the service next year.

Carter said it was a case of the service using some of the money taxpayers have already given it, whilst accepting $1 million from the County this year. He said that would allow the board to meet its needs for 2026. He stressed it was “not a cut in library funding. You absolutely can do everything you want to do with the money we’ve already given you, and going to give you this year.”

Fearrey added the townships provide resources to the libraries, including buildings. He said it wasn’t a reserve as much as a piggy bank of taxpayers’ money. He said using part of it would still leave $100,000 in reserves.

Carter said they had to look at cuts – as with the 7.72 per cent plus two per cent in levies, they were close to a 10 per cent tax increase.

Deputy mayor Liz Danielsen does not like the idea of cutting $500,000 from roads, saying council is merely kicking a problem down the line. Fearrey replied if council does not want to pass a budget with a 10-11 per cent increase, he was open to other suggestions.

Coun. Cec Ryall liked the community health and well-being levy, saying it was “way overdue.”

Dyke elaborated they want to build a reserve, not to create programs, but fill gaps in broader community health needs. For example, he recalled how they donated $1M to the CT scanner without a levy. “So, we can make those sorts of contributions without spikes in the budget and taking away from something else.” He added it was about sustainability, “setting aside core funding now for what comes up.”

To provide feedback, email the County of Haliburton clerk’s department at clerk@haliburtoncounty.ca If telelpone, 705-286-1333 and ask for the department.