Property Taxes: We Need the Numbers Before We Make the Promise To Keep Taxes at Inflation

Property taxes have gone up a lot in Wilmot, and many people are questioning why and where the money is going.

Some people are struggling to pay the increased rate. I want to reduce the pressure on residents, especially seniors, families and people on fixed incomes.

Every other mayoral candidate is also talking about property taxes, and candidate Wilkinson is promising he will push to have taxes set to inflation or +1%

But I do not think it is responsible to do this before we know what Wilmot actually has clear financial information. We got into this problem because our previous mayor wanted to keep property taxes low and we were not keeping up with our infrastructure repairs or saving for emergencies.

The Numbers:

In 2022, Wilmot’s Asset Management Plan identified about $19 million in infrastructure backlog. Our 2026 budget estimates we spend over 12 million annually to keep up with our infrastructure repairs.

Then the 2025 budget warned that some of our asset replacement costs may be understated by 50 to 200 percent.

The 2026 budget includes almost $4.9 million in new debt financing, and we used 1.5 million from our reserves.

At the same time, our latest publicly available audited financial statements are still from 2023, and the 10-year financial plan that was supposed to help us understand our long-term position is still being developed.

So before we promise a tax number, I think residents deserve some basic answers.

• What is our real infrastructure deficit?

• What are our actual replacement costs?

• How much debt are we carrying?

• What major projects are coming?

• And how are we going to pay for them?

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We have already seen what happens when major decisions are made before the full cost is understood.

Council approved the purchase of 30 Neville Street for 3.5 million in 2023, to use for Parks and Facilities Operations and a potential Fire Station. Council was originally told buying the property would avoid having to build a new Parks Operations Centre and provide significant capital savings because the building was essentially move-in ready. 

Then:

• more renovations and fit-up were required;

• Fire Administration moved there;

• Fire Station 3 became part of the site plan;

• by 2026 the combined fire-station and operations-centre concept had an estimated cost of about $18.4 million

  
  

That is exactly why I believe Council should see full lifecycle costs and more than one option before committing taxpayers to major projects.

I also want regular financial reporting throughout the year, not just at budget time, and to hold staff accountable for this.

Council and residents should be able to see:

• actual spending compared to budget

• reserves

• debt

• major capital projects

• significant cost overruns or savings

I would also create a Finance and Accountability Committee made up of people with accounting, finance and business experience from our community.

Their role would not just be to watch spending.

I want them helping us find grants, partnerships, cooperative purchasing opportunities and other ways to reduce pressure on property taxes.

I want lower taxes too.

But a tax cap is not a financial plan.

Before we promise inflation or 1%, we need to know what things actually cost.

Then we can make honest decisions about what is affordable, what can be done differently, and how we protect taxpayers without creating an even bigger problem later.