Oxford County releases 2026 draft budget

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Members of Oxford County Council recently had their first look at next year’s document, which comes in with an operating budget of $227.8 million and a capital portion of $127.9 million.

The largest portion of county expenditures is water and wastewater, at 28 per cent, followed by 19 per cent spent on roads, and the three Woodingford Lodge sites account for 11 per cent of the total budget.

If approved in its current form, residents of the lower-tier municipalities — such as East Zorra-Tavistock — would see a 5.1 per cent increase, equivalent to a $75 rise in the average tax bill. City of Woodstock residents would see a 5 per cent increase, or about $66 more.

“$96.3 million is what we are requesting for the budget, which is a $6.5 million increase or a 7.2 per cent increase required to be raised from taxation,” explained Manager of Finance Carolyn King, who presented to council.

“It is important to note there is supplementary growth within the property taxes, resulting in about a 5 per cent increase to the average residential property bill.”

The budget began back in June with the launch of a community budget survey. Those results were presented to council in September. County staff started their work on building the document in June, including five meetings with the senior leadership team to debate the budget behind the scenes.

“About 3 per cent of the increase is delivering the same level of services in 2026 as we did in 2025,” explained Warden Marcus Ryan, who added inflation is the main factor behind the hike.

“The average resident experiences the Consumer Price Index, but municipalities see a mix of that, along with the Construction Price Index, which is generally one to two per cent higher. About 2 per cent of the increase is service level improvements or changes, and that’s where the opportunity is for council to decide if they are worth it or not.”

He added most of the extra expense comes from areas identified by taxpayers as departments they wanted to see improvements in.

“There is an allocation of $400,000 for housing and homelessness to better integrate with the HART Hub and start moving people out of encampments and emergency shelters, and into the Hub for treatment. I don’t think anyone (on council) wants to cut that.”

Ryan admitted he has had discussions with some councillors about some potential cost savings, but time will tell if those conversations result in any savings for taxpayers.

The operating budget supports key county services that residents rely on every day — from affordable housing and support for vulnerable people to clean drinking water, safe roads, paramedic services, long-term care, community planning, and libraries.

The capital plan for municipal infrastructure includes $75.3 million in capital reserve transfers for future funding of roads, bridges, water and wastewater infrastructure, facilities, information technology and more, as outlined in Oxford County's Asset Management Plan.

The budget introduces several new initiatives, including the creation of a Homelessness Support Services Fund, a review of Paramedic Services deployment and facilities, and the development of a new Official Plan to guide future community growth and development.

25.5 new full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions are also proposed, including 5.6 at Woodingford Lodge, 5 in paramedic services, 2.8 in facilities and 2.5 for the public library system.

“A lot of those, depending on what department they are in, are covered under grants or other levels of funding. A large chunk of those FTEs are paramedics and council did get a report in the fall outlining our response times.”

The Echo reached out to the county to find out how many of the new FTEs are funded and was given a confusing explanation. It appears 0.6 of the 25.5 will be funded directly from grants in 2026, but the rest will come directly from the taxpayer, at least for now.

“Some FTEs will be funded through other sources. Some examples include 7.0 FTE for paramedic services – will be eventually funded through future provincial grants (county will receive 50/50 provincial funding, but this lags one year),” said a statement from the county.

Ryan said the county has seen a six per cent increase in ambulance calls over the last few years, but only two per cent in population growth.

“Where is that other four per cent coming from? There is a demographic shift. As we all get older, we tend to call on all forms of healthcare more frequently, but some people don’t have access to primary care.”

He added homeless people experiencing exposure to the weather or having mental health and addiction issues have also put a strain on the system.

“Unless we want to accept longer response times for ambulances, we are going to have to allocate more resources. I think we also have to look at our municipal partners in Perth, Elgin and Middlesex, to see if there are ways we can collaborate to try and meet acceptable response times.”

Ryan said he didn’t want to rule out council cutting any of the new FTEs or other budget expenditures, but added the county has a long and extensive process for councillors to have a full picture of what is in the draft.

“I am always reluctant to speculate where council is going to go. I have had one-on-one discussions with every member of council to figure out where they were at, and some of them have some pretty creative ideas to bring forward.”

The warden did single out a request from staff for a dedicated road safety person which amounts to .2 per cent on the overall levy.

“That person would be assigned to specifically look at situations to see if an intersection should be changed to a four-way stop or a roundabout. Do we need to implement other forms of traffic calming and almost every member of council will tell you one of the most common calls from residents is about traffic safety and speed control.”

Ryan said it is an item council could easily cut, but it would make the county less responsive to traffic safety concerns.

“That’s the hard debate council is going to have. There is an opportunity to cut the tax increase, but do we want the service?”

2026 municipal property taxes would fund just under a quarter of the budget at 23.4 per cent. Other funding sources include provincial and federal funding, reserves (funds earmarked for future expenses), user fees, and other charges and debentures.

Special budget meetings are streamed live at www.oxfordcounty.ca/livestream with the next one booked for Nov. 24. The final document will be up for a final review and vote on Dec. 10.