EZT previews 2026 budget

By Lee Griffi

East Zorra-Tavistock (EZT) ratepayers could see a 3.17 per-cent increase on their property tax bill this year.

EZT CAO Karen DePrest provided an overview of this year’s budget at council’s March 4 regular meeting. Mayor Phil Schaefer and Coun. Steven Van Wyk were not in attendance.

“I think the budget summary is an all-good news story,” said DePrest. “This is the lowest tax-rate increase we have brought in over the last four years. Although the levy is going up 6.38 per cent … the important part for ratepayers in East Zorra-Tavistock is actually the tax-rate increase of 3.17 per cent.”

For an average home assessed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) in 2016 at $350,000, the hike translates to a $50 to $60 increase, according to DePrest. A special meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 10, at 9 a.m. for members of council to take a deeper dive into the budget.

“The (full) document will be released to the public on Friday for the special council meeting. Council will receive a PDF copy as well to go through each line by line in preparation for our meeting on Tuesday,” she added.

If the 2026 draft budget is approved without changes, the levy would rise by 6.38 per cent, or $536,114. The township saw $269,611 or 3.21 per cent growth to its tax base last year through the addition of new businesses and homes, reducing the tax increase for ratepayers to $266,503 or 3.17 per cent over last year.

The largest departmental increase comes from Infrastructure and Community Services. The 4.69 per-cent or $369,000 jump includes the hiring of a lead hand position for recreation to assist with operations and allow for programming trials. There is also increased capital funding for the Tavistock arena and more cash for excessive winter snow operations.

“(Roughly) $272,000 of that is related to winter control. As council is aware, we had an overrun last year over the 2025 budget of $250,000, so we want to provide for a contingency should Mother Nature not be agreeable again this year,” DePrest said.

If the budget is passed as presented and the winter of 2026 results in a surplus, that money could be put into what DePrest called a reserve for weather-related incidents.

“That way, we could use it generically for accidents on the road from bad weather or for snow events. What we would recommend as the year progresses is if we start to see a surplus in the winter control budget, we could put it into a reserve just for weather-related events.”

A transfer of $44,500 has been proposed for the township parks reserve for possible future lighting projects at baseball diamonds.

“We have also increased our transfer to the arena reserve by $125,000. It has become apparent the arena floor and all the mechanics underneath it will potentially need to be replaced within the next five to 10 years.”

DePrest explained part of the reason for the increased levy is due to a decrease in building-permit revenue by $100,000 compared to 2024.

“We are recommending drawing down the building code reserve. It currently has $380,000 in it, I believe, and we can use that to get us over this hump. At $50,000 a year for three years, we figure things will turn around by 2028 and the 2029 budget will show that reflection.”

The general government department budget is increasing by just under two per cent or $163,000, something DePrest attributed to lower interest rates.

“We have seen a reduction in interest income on our bank account. We have seen declining rates on interest, so that is a $60,000 reduction.”

The township has also completed a departmental restructuring, merging the previous five departments into four.

“Building and development services, fire and emergency services will remain the same. General government will cover corporate services, planning, treasury and the CAO’s office in general. The final department will be infrastructure and community services, which will cover everything recreation, parks and public works,” said DePrest.

Councillors in attendance at the meeting did not pose any budget questions to DePrest after her presentation. In the absence of Schaefer and with deputy mayor Brad Smith joining the meeting virtually, Coun. Jeremy Smith sat in as the chair for the second straight meeting. Smith said he expects the mayor to be back in the chair next week.