Tillsonburg budget approved with 3.64 per cent increase

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tillsonburg council approved the 2026 budget with a 1.8 per cent increase, plus another 1.84 per cent to cover court-mandated policing costs, for a total increase of 3.64 per cent, with only one amendment.

The 2026 budget was different from past budgets, with the province’s Strong Mayor legislation placing budget responsibility with the mayor rather than all of council. In Tillsonburg’s case, after Mayor Deb Gilvesy consulted with council, she worked on the budget with staff before releasing the budget to council in mid-December. It became public on Jan. 2.

The budget will result in a tax increase of $89.42 on the municipal portion of property taxes for the average home assessed at $243,000.

Gilvesy started the five-hour budget session on Jan. 7 by acknowledging the staff's work in completing the budget. She said $1.4 million was trimmed from the original budget document, resulting in a “needs versus wants” budget.

The mayor went into more detail on the policing increase, explaining that it would initially have resulted in an 18.3 per cent increase, but the province stepped in and capped it at $735,000. That still resulted in a 1.84 per cent increase in taxes.

With this being the last budget of the current council, the mayor had a list of things for future councils to watch, including completing a service level review with public input and being aware of fire communications, which lost a significant contract in the last year.

“Tillsonburg ratepayers shouldn’t be subsidizing 9-1-1 services for other communities,” she said, adding fire staff are pursuing other opportunities to replace the lost business.

The budget will total $43.4 million in expenditures. Other revenues, which include grants, development charges, and user fees, amount to $19.6 million, leaving $23.8 million to be raised through taxation.

Director of Finance/Treasurer Renato Pullia said the budget started at a total of $24.9 million needed from taxation, or an eight per cent tax increase. Senior staff brought this down to 5.75 per cent, and then the mayor’s review pared it down to 1.8 per cent.

The budget is broken into several pillars, following the 2021-2030 Community Strategic Plan, including:

• Develop a robust asset management plan to maintain infrastructure

• Enhance employee engagement and training as the foundation for excellent customer service

• Position Tillsonburg as a municipal leader

• Multi-year budgeting for sustainability

• Boundary expansion, industrial land purchase

Pullia identified budgetary pressures as OPP costs, inflationary costs, labour costs and fleet costs. The town employed 266 people in 2025, including firefighters, which equates to 166 full-time equivalents. This will increase to 169 FTE in 2026.

Included in the budget is $70,000 for physician recruitment, and another $30,000 for an enhanced social media presence to promote Tillsonburg to medical professionals.

Coun. Kelly Spencer asked if there was any movement to look into other inter-community transit opportunities, such as to Aylmer for patients referred there for an ultrasound.

Director of Operations Carlos Reyes, who oversees transit, said he is always looking for opportunities, but government funding for inter-community transit ended last year.

Gilvesy said inter-community transit was initiated through SCOR, and reiterated that funding was a challenge.

“I can assure you those conversations have been had, and continue to be had,” she said.

Coun. Bob Parsons noted the increase in expenditures for transit paid through the levy was 167 per cent, or $101,000, an amount he called “alarming”.

“It’s an awful lot of extra for taxpayers to carry,” he said. “We need either grants or ridership.”

Gilvesy concurred, and said every municipality is experiencing the same thing.

During discussions, several councillors and the mayor raised points about the condition of the roads. Reyes said an assessment report will be coming with more information.

In the economic development and marketing department, Development Commissioner Cephas Panschow said the attainable housing project at 31 Earle Street could be a revenue-generating project.

“The economy is strong, but a downside risk to the business plan is if that changes,” he said.

Highlights of the recreation budget included a new changing room in the arena, three new pickleball courts, renovations to Library Lane, a new baseball pavilion and repairs to the clock tower.

The budget did not include an allocation to the Downtown Tillsonburg BIA as the mayor had declared a conflict of interest. BIA executive director Mark Renaud made a presentation about the organization’s budget. Gilvesy, Deputy Mayor Dave Beres and Coun. Chris Rosehart did not participate in the discussion due to conflicts of interest.

The town allotment to the BIA, as per the memorandum of understanding, increased from $37,119 in 2025 to $58,959 in 2026. The town’s contribution to BIA capital remained at $20,000 in both budgets. For commercial properties in the BIA zone, there will be a 7.7 per cent increase in the BIA levy.

One of the items Renaud included on his to-do list is the need for a four-way advanced green at the intersection of Broadway and Bridge Street. He said this was first identified in a 2003 traffic study.

Renaud identified several gaps in the town, including a lack of fine dining, a shortage of hotel rooms, a lack of meeting and convention space, a lack of a performing arts centre, a lack of a movie theatre, and a lack of a men’s clothing store.

He urged council to resist fragmentation of the commercial zone and to prioritize expanding of the central commercial area.

“I don’t see what’s happening in London, Kitchener and other towns where there are big box stores are on the periphery,” he said.

He also urged council to work on transit to connect Tillsonburg to other towns and to address social issues.

Spencer pointed out the increase in addiction issues and asked about BIA staff training to deal with needles in hazardous materials.

Reaud said staff call the police if they need assistance, but it’s vital not to let downtown start to deteriorate, and noted that some infrastructure has been destroyed. The memorandum of understanding with the town allocates 2.9 hours per day for clean-up and handling issues.

Coun. Chris Parker noted the town allocation to the BIA has increased 50.3 per cent, and said that was significant.

Providing statistics, Renaud said a large part of it is an increase in garbage being picked up. It increased from 14 bags in 2022 to 21 bags per day in 2025. He noted increases in all waste collection and said BIA staff called the OPP for three critical incidents in 2022, compared to 27 times in 2025. Vandalism to BIA assets skyrocketed from two the entire year in 2022 to six per week in 2025.

“This is directly related to drug use,” Renaud said.

Although the original budget didn’t include the BIA financials, the projected tax increase incorporated it, noting it needed to be added by amendment. An amendment to the budget – the only one brought forward – to accept the BIA budget was presented. Parker voted against it, saying he can’t support a 50 per cent budget increase.

“The BIA has done a great job in the downtown, and will continue to, but I can’t support a 50 per cent increase when we’ve cut in other areas,” he said.

Spencer countered the BIA is “dealing with unprecedented times”, but said she isn’t opposed to a slightly lower increase. The amendment passed 3-1.

With the budget being done earlier than is often the case, Beres asked if tenders for projects could go out earlier to get better pricing. Pullia explained tenders could go out, but it would be safer if there were no amendments, as the budget could be adopted quicker.

In the end, council also passed a motion to shorten the 30-day budget comment period to end on Jan. 8, 2026. With the new process, the budget is deemed adopted because there were no amendments outside of the one for the BIA, which the mayor declared a conflict of interest on.

A separate motion was also passed requiring any individual or group which received a grant from council shall submit a financial report within 60 days.