After three days of council budget discussions, Meaford’s 2026 municipal budget has been adopted, and Meaford ratepayers will see their property tax levy increase by 3.35 percent (3.4 percent when blended with the education and county increases) in 2026.
When the mayor presented his budget on January 14, Meaford’s first budget proposed under the provincial Strong Mayors legislation, the required rate increase stood at 4.35 percent, however during council’s three days of budget discussions, members of council proposed amendments to the mayor’s budget, ultimately reducing the required rate increase in 2026 by a full percentage point.
While the provincial Strong Mayors legislation allows for the mayor to veto amendments made to the budget by members of council, Mayor Ross Kentner told council that he would not veto any of council’s changes to the budget, and he declared the budget adopted at the conclusion of the final day of budget discussions, held on Friday, February 6.
“I feel that we are going in the right direction,” said Mayor Kentner. “Meaford is growing, it’s growing fast, and we need to grow in order to actually make Meaford more affordable. We need more people using our water, more people using our sewage system, and they will come with the subdivisions that are coming, and honestly it’s unstoppable, and in the event that the pumped storage plant should move forward, Meaford will definitely be growing by leaps and bounds.”
As first presented, the mayor’s proposed budget package included $15,464,710 for the operating budget, a capital budget of $5,309,420, with another $624,030 proposed for an additional reserve levy. During the council budget discussions, the required levy increase was able to be reduced to 3.35 percent. Among the changes members of council made to the budget were an adjustment to the purchase of a replacement snow plow, funding $100,000 of the purchase from reserves, which will be replenished after the sale of a municipal tractor that will be replaced in 2026, and funding $91,000 of the engineering costs for the future replacement of a pedestrian bridge on the Georgian Trail from a reserve dedicated to the trail.
Council and the mayor were pleased with the amended 2026 municipal budget.
“We are building for the future, and I think the future is going to be one of great prosperity,” said the mayor.
All budget documents are available at meaford.ca/budget.
