Town of St. Marys officially adopts 2026 budget with 3.88 per-cent levy increase, inclusive of growth

St. Marys budget adopted just nine days after mayor tabled his budget on Nov. 11

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Though, under the newly expanded Strong Mayor Powers granted to St. Marys by the province earlier this year, there was no passing of an official budget bylaw as there has been in years past, the Town of St. Marys has officially adopted its 2026 budget with 3.88 per-cent levy increase, inclusive of growth.

During a special meeting of council Nov. 18, councillors had the opportunity to review and recommend amendments to the budget tabled by Mayor Al Strathdee on Nov. 11 – a budget that largely resembled the draft budget presented by staff at council’s first budget meeting Oct. 21.

“In the press recently, in Stratford, there was a suggestion that I’d been burning the midnight oil and making some amendments to reduce the tax rate, and I want to make it very clear for council and the public that we made a very strong statement that we would work collectively and cooperatively on this budget,” Strathdee said, referring to an article on the mayor’s 2026 budget published by the Stratford Beacon Herald Nov. 14. “Council has met several times to talk about strategic initiatives as well as targets for fiscal responsibility, and that’s what we laid out for staff. Staff has made the budget in total, and we have asked them to meet our goals and targets as we moved along.

“We have made a strong statement to the provincial government that we are not in favour of the current system of the Strong Mayor Powers. We believe that we have done everything that we can to improve housing in this community with the tools given to us, and we continue to work collaboratively as a council.”

The mayor’s budget included a few updates and minor changes, including those discussed by council at its first budget meeting, leaving the levy increase at roughly $10,000 less than what was initially presented by staff.

That levy increase, $817,551, represents a 5.2 per-cent jump from the roughly $15.7-million budget for 2025 to next year’s roughly $16.5-million budget. Factoring in the town’s estimated $200,000 in growth to the tax base, that leaves the net levy increase at 3.88 per cent, under council’s target of four per cent.

The mayor’s 2026 capital budget, as presented at the beginning of the Nov. 18 meeting, also included some minor changes, leaving it at $8.3 million in new spending, all of which is funded from reserves, grants and other funding sources that do not have a direct impact on next year’s levy.

During the Nov. 18 meeting, six of St. Marys’ partner organizations presented their budgetary asks for 2026. They included:

- Upper Thames River Conservation Authority – $281,567 for operating costs and $158,764 in capital costs for work on the St. Marys Floodwall and the town’s portion of work at the Wildwood and Pittock dams;

- St. Marys Healthcare Foundation – $100,000, up from $75,000 in 2025, towards doctor recruitment and retention, as well as to help the foundation pay for the St. Marys Memorial Hospital’s new, $650,000 x-ray machine;

- St. Marys Station Gallery – $10,000 to help fund operations, including a newly expanded art-education program, at the gallery;

- Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – $5,000 towards the $10,000 cost of a condition assessment for the hall of fame and museum grounds, baseball diamonds, equipment and buildings, and a portion of the nearly $27,000 cost to refence the ball diamonds;

- St. Marys Public Library – Roughly $686,000 to support services and programs, including adult learning, at the St. Marys Public Library; and

- St. Marys and Area Mobility Service – $130,000 to support operations and $25,000 to support the capital replacement of an accessible van at a total cost of $140,000.

While the majority of these external expenses were already included in the mayor’s 2026 draft budget, councillors had the opportunities to amend the budget to include an additional $25,000 for the St. Marys Healthcare Foundation, to support the cost of the new fencing at the baseball hall of fame and to include $25,000 to support the purchase of a new accessible van by the mobility service.

Ultimately, councillors voted to include the extra funding for the mobility service and the health-care foundation but opted not to support the new fencing at this time.

“Because we’re spending the money to get an assessment of the entire facility, and the results from that may show the top priority is completely different than the fence, I’m just not sure if the money would be spent at the right place,” Coun. Jim Craigmile said.

Town CAO Brent Kittmer told councillors the results of the condition assessment will allow the town and the hall of fame to develop a proper, 10-year capital forecast that will give both organizations a better idea as to where town money should be spent next year or in future years. Should there be urgent needs identified following the assessment, council will have the opportunity to support any capital projects to address those needs.

Also during the Nov. 18 budget meeting, council approved the creation of a new reserve fund and policy that will allow council to set aside funding for the Community Commons project at 14 Church St. N. To that end, council approved the transfer of $73,000 to that reserve in 2026.

Neither of the council amendments to the budget or the money set aside for the Community Commons project had an impact on the 2026 levy as all funding will come from town reserves or planned transfers to those reserves.

By the end of the meeting, councillors indicated they had no additional amendments they wanted to make to the budget, allowing council to pass a resolution under the Strong Mayor Powers legislation shortening their amendment period from 30 days after the mayor tabled his budget down to seven, meaning council had effectively approved the budget as of midnight Nov. 18.

Strathdee then issued a mayoral decision under his Strong Mayor Powers reducing the 10-day period in which he would have the opportunity to veto any of the councillor amendments down to one day, and the budget was deemed officially adopted as of Nov. 20.

“It feels like it’s an adversarial thing now as opposed to a cooperative thing and it just feels awkward,” Coun. Rob Edney said of the new budget process under Strong Mayor Powers. “I just want to voice that I’m also opposed to the way the budget (was done). I’m not opposed to the budget we’re presenting; I’m just opposed to the format. It just seems like too much work. We’ve always worked well together as a council and previous councils as well, and it’s just odd that the province would want us to have an adversarial sort of approach to this.”

“The whole budget process could become controversial,” Coun. Marg Luna added. “I have this little fear that, depending on who’s sitting in the (mayor’s) chair in the next four years after the election, the whole thing could become controversial and all these plans that we’re talking about could all be for not.”