Norwich approves 2026 budget

Luke Edwards, Post Contributor

The average home in Norwich will pay around $13 more per month in property taxes in 2026.

Local councillors approved the Norwich budget at a Feb. 26 budget meeting. Property taxes in Norwich are split between Oxford County and Norwich Township, as well as an education portion. In Norwich, a 3.73 per cent levy increase translates to a 2.96 net impact to taxpayers after accounting for 0.77 assessment growth.

When combined with the 7.77 per cent levy increase at the county level and no expected increase for the education portion, the median assessed home of just under $280,000 will pay $12.86 more a month, or $154.33 more a year in property taxes.

The local increase accounts for $4.46 a month, or $53.56 a year.

“I think we’ve done a good job of being fiscally responsible,” said Coun. Karl Toews.

Norwich did approve six budget enhancements, though only three impact the levy. Those include improvements to employee benefits that come partially as a result of a new program that reduced premiums, a new public works summer student, and changes to the employee status of staff at the medical centre “to better reflect their working hours, and to improve internal pay equity,” a staff report said.

Other enhancements include hiring consultants for a job evaluation project, a study looking at Norwich’s building permit fee structure, and funding for traffic calming measures. Staff proposed the first two to be funded through reserves, and council directed staff to fund the traffic calming measures through reserves as well.

Staff identified several areas driving increases, including: an increase to winter control following a tough winter, increases to the OPP contract, and the township’s efforts to increase reserves to address shortfalls found through asset management planning.

Some major reductions come thanks to increased Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund dollars, savings related to salaries and wages, decreases to the planning department and medical centre thanks to increased revenues, a decrease to the building department thanks to increased fees, and a decrease to asphalt patching as a result of fewer materials being required.