Wellesley Township’s draft 2026 budget introduced with 4.99% levy increase, inclusive of growth

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wellesley council has officially dug into the township’s 2026 draft budget, which was introduced at council’s first budget meeting Nov. 27 with a proposed levy increase of 4.99 per cent, inclusive of growth.

As presented by staff and left unchanged by council by the end of the six-hour budget meeting, the township is proposing to raise nearly $8.6 million from property owners next year, a number that includes a 0.5 per-cent greening levy – down from 0.75 per cent last year – but not the one per-cent infrastructure levy imposed on taxpayers last year in an effort to reduce the township’s infrastructure-funding deficit.

In total, this year’s overall levy is 7.6 per cent higher than the 2025 levy, $7.9 million, however the township saw 1.3 per-cent growth – $107,760 added to the tax base – leaving the actual levy increase at $402,249 or 4.99 per cent. Based on that proposed increase, for a home with a 2016 average assessed value of nearly $416,000, the homeowner would see an annual increase to their property tax bill by $66.14 or $5.51 monthly.

“With this year’s budget, it’s really a matter of council’s work to find a balance,” Mayor Joe Nowak said at the onset of the budget meeting. “We know there are people out there that are struggling right now, there are people that we have to be mindful of as far as the service level we provide. I think the ideal scenario would be to maintain the service level that we have now, but at the same time, we have to be looking at the future.

“ … By planning for the future, I’m talking about maintaining the reserves at a significant enough level. When you look around at the other municipalities, it seems to be when they get into trouble at budget time, it usually has to do with reserves; that they haven’t maintained the reserves. So, I think that’s something we’re going to have to be dealing with.”

According to township director of corporate services Jeff Dyck, one of the biggest drivers of this year’s proposed levy increase is a significant increase to the township’s contributions to reserves to help close the infrastructure-funding gap and fund future capital maintenance and replacement projects over the next decade. Based on recommendations made by consultants from Watson & Associates, who developed an asset-management plan for the township earlier this year, the township is contributing more than $3.4 million to reserves this year – a contribution that will continue to grow year over year for the next 10 years.

“This is by and far our largest challenge for 2026 and this came directly from the asset management plan,” Dyck said. “The numbers that we’re … proposing for the budget for 2026 includes fully funding that asset management plan as per direction from Watson. It’s a big number, a $629,000 increase to our reserves in 2026. So, it’s a massive number for the township, but as you can see, we’re able to do that and still hold the actual (levy) increase to a reasonable number. Yeah, it’s a big number, but the increase we’re presenting is only 4.99 per cent.”

Other big factors impacting the budget for next year include an increase to wages and benefits, which accounts for 40 per cent of the overall township budget, by nearly $254,000; increased spending in public works related to parts replacements and road maintenance by nearly $45,000; costs estimated at roughly $45,000 for the 2026 municipal election; and an increase by more than $87,000 to cost of recreational programming and facility maintenance and repairs associated with the new Bill Gies Recreation Centre in the Village of Wellesley, which will be nearly entirely offset by recreation program revenue estimated at nearly $77,000 next year.

The township will also see a reduction in its Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) grant by $75,000 and the loss of its Ontario Trillium Foundation grant in 2026, which amounts to roughly $71,000. At just 1.3 per cent, growth to the township’s tax base in 2025 was also lower than expected.

Mitigating those increased expenditures somewhat is a higher-than-anticipated gravel royalty expected to be paid to the township in 2026 estimated at $70,000; an increase to the township’s Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) allocation by $75,000; and the use of nearly $141,000 from the township’s development-charges reserves to offset debt repayments for the Bill Gies Recreation Centre.

Though the township’s draft capital budget won’t have an impact on the levy increase as all projects will be funded through reserves, grants or other funding sources, Wellesley is expected to spend $3.8 million on capital projects next year including nearly $1.2 million on a new frontline pumper truck for the fire department, nearly $976,000 on road work, nearly $972,000 on bridges and culverts and a total of $167,500 on recreation facility and equipment upgrades.

While council did not make any amendments to the draft budget Nov. 27, councillors will have an opportunity to consider external funding requests at its next budget meeting on Dec. 4.