Wellesley council officially passes 2025 budget with 3.94 per-cent levy increase

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wellesley council has officially passed a more than $12.3-million budget for 2025 with a levy increase, inclusive of growth, of 3.94 per cent.

At the Jan. 14 council meeting, no members of the public were present to speak for or against the budget before it was passed unanimously by council. The total tax levy to be collected this year is now just over $8.06 million, roughly $595,000 more than last year’s levy.

The levy includes a 0.75 per-cent greening levy amounting to just shy of $60,000 to be collected from ratepayers to combat climate change and support greenhouse-gas-emission reduction efforts locally, as well as a one per-cent infrastructure levy amounting to nearly $80,0000 to help the township replenish its capital reserves and tackle its long-term infrastructure deficit.

While this year’s tax levy is nearly eight per cent higher than what was collected from taxpayers last year, the township saw roughly 3.7 per cent growth to the tax base, amounting to an additional $301,000 in property tax income for that township. That means property owners in Wellesley Township will only see a 3.94 per-cent increase to the township portion of their property taxes this year – an increase by roughly $58 for properties with an average assessed value of just over $397,000. Last year, the township portion represented just over a third of residents’ annual property tax bill.

The 2025 capital budget includes nearly $2.9-million in capital projects, the vast majority of which – nearly $2.15 million – will be spent by the public works department on equipment and projects including Ament Line roadwork, a cleanout of the Zinkann Crescent pond, culvert work on Posey Line and a truck replacement.

One hundred per cent of this year’s capital projects will be funded through township reserves, meaning the capital budget does not have any impact on the tax levy. However, the township is contributing more than $2.4 million to reserves through the operating budget this year.

“To put things into perspective, we researched taxes charged in neighbouring municipalities by dwelling type (in 2024),” Wellesley director of corporate services Jeff Dyck said at the Jan. 14 council meeting. “Wellesley taxes are lower than the overall average and median in each residential class.

“ … (We also calculated) the taxes as a percentage of household income (in 2024). Looking at our close neighbours, Wellesley Township taxes as a percentage of household income are in line with neighbouring municipalities and below the overall Waterloo-Wellington average and median. For Wellesley, we’re at 3.18 per cent, North Dumfries is the lowest at 3.03 per cent, Woolwich is close behind at 3.09 per cent and Wilmot is the highest at 3.23 per cent.”

Council will set the township’s 2025 tax policy – the policy that determines how the levy is shared amongst the different property classes – at a future meeting.