Thank you.
6.1, which is the remuneration study for the elected officials,
so we're. Going to have Collette come back up to
the microphone and she can. Do the elected officials market
study report. The exciting part. The elected official survey followed.
The same footprint as the nonunion survey. Which used the
same comparators. And so this is, again, a part of
the overall compensation review. And. We reviewed it with the
same comparators, and we just want to make sure that
the elected official salaries are in alignment. So, good news.
The mayor. Remuneration. That's a hard word. Is positioned above
the median at the 57th percentile. Council. Sorry I missed
the deputy. It's in. The charts. The deputy is. I
can tell you what the Deputy mayor is. The Deputy
mayor is at the 75th percentile and the council enumeration
is at the 67th percentile. So. We use majority of
the data or the majority of the data was at
the 2024 statement. Of ramonation with the predominance of the
data source. So we're not. Using 2025 data. But two
return. Returned. 2024 data. And remuneration reports are not out
yet for 2025. But given that most municipalities provide Cola.
To their groups. We can make that assumption. That the
same results will be for 2025. So we can see
here just from a chart. Perspective. That the mayor. Is
just above the median. And the comparators and what their
salaries are, and then we see the deputy mayor, so.
I'd like to pause for a minute about the deputy
mayor, because this can be. A little suspicious. What we
have here is the absence of data from. Wealth Hermosa.
And so we have one data point because they don't
have a deputy mayor. And so. Because we're missing one
data point. That the data spread is different, for the
data set is different. And so if we had the
same. Qualfair mosa. Had. A deputy mayor, we would probably
see this position. Fall to around 66, 64 percentile. Right.
So it's not that. It's paid that much higher than
every other. Deputy mayor it's just that it has one
data. Point that's absent in comparison to the other data.
Makes sense. Everybody follow that? It's really a data issue
and. It's not a market issue. And then we've got
the survey for the elected officials at the 67th percentile.
I think it's important to track whenever you go out
and do a survey, is to do a survey for
the elected officials, but. You're all tracking well above. I've
been doing elected official surveys, probably a little. Less time,
probably for about 20 years. And I think the biggest
change we're seeing. Is. That elected officials are being paid
on a salary or an annualized basis versus a per
diem. Basis. I think it's been a really good change,
and we're seeing that. In the results here. So I
don't really have any changes or recommendations at this time
other than to maintain. This review at the same timing
that you do a nonunion survey in the future. We
don't get poached the way our senior staff does, so
we're okay. All right. Any questions on the report? Seeing
none. Okay, so we'll get a motion to receive both
reports. The closed session. And this one. Councilor scott. Councilor
maguire. All in favor? Thank you, Collette. Appreciate that.
Move back to the 5.1, which is the budget, and
I just want to make a comment before we get
into the budget session here. I know things are great
happening in Lampton Shores over the next couple of years,
as seen by the new commercial projects in Grand Bend
and Forest and the new super School in Forest, scheduled
to be open in 2027. I'm confident that this development
will bring additional new growth. To Lampton shores that will
be reflected in our 2027 and beyond annual budgets. Thank
you. To the. Members of the finance committee for input
and suggestions during the pre budget meetings. This is the
first budget on the strong. Mayor powers, I've recommended a
tax increase of 2.75 for 2026, which will increase the
operating budget by. $431,613 from the 2025 total to a
total of $16,126,623 for 2026. The capital budget for 2026
reflects a combination of mandatory fire and community service, vehicle
and lifecycle equipment replacement. Much needed repairs to arenas and
facilities and additional infrastructure projects that are necessary to keep
the municipality regulatory compliant and moving forward. I'm pleased to
present the 2026 lamps insurer's operating capital budget for council's
consideration. And with that, I'll turn it over to our
director of finance, and she can walk. Us through the
budget process. Thank you. Good morning, mayor and council.
As the mayor alluded to, we're going to work through
the 2026. Mayor's. Budget, which is our first budget prepared
under the strong mayor powers. I'm going to walk you
through the financial context that it was prepared, key pressures
and the steps that staff have taken to balance the
services with affordability. By the end of this session, you
will have a clear understanding of the operating and capital
budget, the tax impact, and the next steps in the
budget approval process before we begin. I would like to
thank staff who have contributed to this budget. The budget
document. Is a huge process and involves every single department.
So. This presentation and the associated budget. Is truly a
team effort, and I want to thank everyone for their
contributions. With that, we'll move on with the budget. Agenda.
So first we're going to talk about how the budget
process works and the rules that guide it. Then we'll
talk about the financial pressures that have shaped this year's
budget. We'll look at the structure of the municipal budget,
and then we'll review the operating and capital budgets in
detail, and then finally, we'll wrap up with some financial
outcomes. And what it means about for affordability. The first
section is the orientation and governance. The municipal budget is
more than just numbers. It's a financial plan for the
entire municipality. It serves as both an operating and management
plan, integrating service delivery with the financial resources required. Think
of it as the cornerstone of effective financial planning and
control. Ultimately, the budget establishes a clear plan for delivering
approved services. To the community. The budget performs several critical
functions for the municipality. First, it ensures that expenditures are
covered by revenues. This is fundamental to financial sustainability. Second,
it establishes priorities that allocate resources to those priorities. It
also determines the taxes, the fees, the charges which directly
impact residents and businesses. Beyond that, the budget provides information
about the municipality's financial position and supports future planning. Finally,
it authorizes expenditures and initiates operations, making it the key
tool for implementing council's decisions. Municipalities in Ontario are required
by law to prepare and adopt an annual budget in
accordance with the municipal act. The budget must include estimates
of all the revenues and expenditures for the year and
must be balanced. Deficits are not permitted except under specific
legislative provisions. Reserves and debt management must comply. With provincial
regulations. Including debt limits and proper use of the reserve
funds. Budgets must also reflect conditions tied to provincial grants
and funding programs. To ensure compliance with. Reporting requirements with
the newly acquired strong mayor powers. The mayor prepares and
presents the draft budget with veto authority over amendments subject
to override by two thirds of a council vote. And
finally, all budget. Related decisions, including amendments and vetos, must
be posted publicly. In 2025, Ontario. Granted Lampton shores what
are known as the strong mayor powers. And this is
a significant change in how the budget is developed and
approved under these powers. The mayor is responsible for preparing
and presenting the draft budget for council's consideration. Council still
plays an important role. They can propose amendments to the
mayor's draft budget. However, the mayor has authority to veto
those amendments. If council disagrees with Avito, they can override
it, but only with a two thirds majority vote. Another
key requirement is transparency, and that all decisions made under
the strong mayor powers must be posted publicly. Under the
strong mayor powers. The mayor has provided formal direction to
guide the development of the 2026 budget first a finance
committee was established in June to review and advise on
the budget development process. In October, the mayor directed staff
to prepare the 2026 budget and submit to the finance
committee. By November 25 for review. And then on December
15, the mayor issued a key directive. The overall tax
increase for 2026 must not exceed 2.75. A levy increase
of 431,000. The mayor also required that the finalized budget
document be available by December 19. To support the development
of the 2026 municipal budget. The mayor has established the
finance committee to review both the draft operating and capital
budgets before they are presented to council. The committee works
closely with the mayor, CiO and senior staff to ensure
clarity and accuracy in the budget information. And it's important
to note that the finance committee does not make the
final decision its role. As advisory, offering feedback, identifying concerns,
and improving the transparency. The budget process takes several months
and follows a structured series of steps. It begins with
department submissions. Where? The department directors meet with their staff.
And then that information is reviewed by all senior management
in an internal review. Next, the finance committee reviews the
draft, operating and capital budget. Their role is to provide
feedback and identify concerns before the mayor finalizes the proposal.
After that, we move into the mayor's proposed budget, which
incorporates the committee feedback and aligns with the mayor's directives
such as the tax increase limit. The proposed budget then
goes. To council for review. Where the strong mayor rules
apply. Council can suggest amendments, but the mayor has veto
authority subject to override by two thirds of council majority
vote. Once all reviews and adjustments are complete, the budget
is adopted and implementation begins. The budget process begins by
determining the services and the service levels that the municipality
plans to provide. For the upcoming year. All of those
service levels are established. Once they're established, we calculate the
costs associated with delivering those services. Next, we identify all
the non tax revenue, such as grants. User fees and
other sources of income, and then the remaining amount after
accounting for the non tax revenue is funded through the
tax levy. If the resulting tax levy increase is not
acceptable, the process does not end there. We revisit the
service level in associated costs and repeat the process. Until
we have achieved a balance between. Affordability and service delivery.
The cycling through this budget process has occurred first with
staff and then again when the levy was reduced in
accordance with the mayor directive to increase the budget at
2.75%. This slide reconciles the staff budget presented at the
finance committee to the mayor's budget. A levy reduction of
830,000, or 5.29%, was required to reduce the levy from
8.4% to 2.75%. This reduction was achieved by eliminating some
capital projects, which reduced. The required reserve contributions by 433,000.
And transferring 380,000 from the tax stabilization reserve fund, together
with some miscellaneous adjustments. The levy was successfully reduced by
the 5.29%. I think it's always important to point out
that the lampt insurer's tax bill does include three sections.
We include the education, the county and the Lampton shores
portion. So today we are strictly speaking about the Lampton
Shores portion of the tax bill. So the next section.
We're going to go into is. The financial context and
pressures that were faced. As we developed the budget. The
broader economic environment continues to have a significant impact on
municipal budgeting. Global and national economic volatility affects material pricing,
interest rates, and availability. And. Cost stability. This uncertainty makes
long term planning more challenging. Market fluctuations influence the cost
and the availability of goods and services, which impacts both
the operating and capital budgets. And although inflation has moderated
compared to previous years, many of those cost increases are
embedded. Into our municipal cost base. Municipalities are constantly balancing
rising costs with affordability. For residents and businesses, this is
a key consideration in setting tax rates and service levels.
Finally, these conditions reinforce the importance of long term planning
to maintain stability despite uncertainty. The 2026 budget continues to
be influenced by. Cost pressures that are largely uncontrollable by
the municipality. First, economic pressure remains a major factor. Broader
economic conditions continue to impact operating and capital budgets. Fuel
and energy costs are another significant driver. Fluctuations in fuel
and electricity and natural gas prices affect municipal operations, our
fleet and facilities. Insurance and risk management costs have been
rising across the municipal sector, and Lampton shores is no
exception. In 2026, we have an increase of 5% in
insurance costs. And finally, labor and benefit costs, both internal
and external, continue to increase. Wages and employee benefits are
a substantial portion of our. Operating expense. External wages and
benefit cost increases can be seen with the significant increase
in the OPP billing where retroactive contract negotiations have been
driving the cost of policing. These cost drivers are unavoidable,
and while we work to manage them, they do create
upward pressure on the budget. Beyond the cost drivers we've
already discussed. There are a few more that impact the
2026 budget. First, technology, software and cybersecurity costs are increasing
as the municipality relies more on digital systems to maintain.
And need to maintain strong security measures. Second grant program
conditions and funding uncertainty create challenges. While external funding is
very helpful, it often comes with restrictions and timing issues
that make planning difficult. Third, climate related impacts are becoming
more significant. Whether variability and extreme events affect infrastructure performance
and increase maintenance needs. Finally, inflation in materials and maintenance
costs continue to drive up expenses for asset maintenance and
renewal projects. These factors are largely outside of our control,
but must be managed carefully to maintain. Financial stability. The
next section. Will look at how the municipal budget works.
So the municipal budget, as you know, is prepared with
two sections operating in capital. The operating budget contains the
day to day expenses such as heat, hydro, insurance and.
The capital budget includes the cost of new assets such
as facilities, roads and bridges. The operating and capital budgets
are directly connected and should be considered together. The key
takeaway here is that the operating decisions directly affect future
capital needs. If operating budgets do not adequately fund maintenance
and reserve contributions. Capital cost increases over time. And become
more disruptive and expensive. Planning, operating and capital budgets together
helps maintain service levels, protect municipal assets, and reduced financial
risk over the long term. Within both the operating and
capital budget. The costs are separated into tax supported and
user rate supported departments, the tax. Supported departments of the
budget make up the levy that is raised through property
taxation. Will the user rate. Supported portions have no impact
on the levy and are funded 100% through the levy
or through the users who use the service. The strategic
plan is the foundation for budget development. It sets the
long term vision. And priorities that govern how the resources
are used within the municipality. When we build the annual
budget we align operating and capital investments with these strategic
priorities. This ensures that every dollar spent supports council's approved
goals. For example, if the strategic plan emphasized infrastructure renewal,
you will see that reflected in capital projects and reserve
contributions. Similarly, priorities like community engagement or environmental sustainability influence
program fund. Funding. The strategic plan acts as the decision
making framework. It helps us evaluate new initiatives, prioritize competing
needs and maintain consistency across multiple budget cycles. By linking
the budget to the strategic plan, we ensure that the
short term financial decisions contribute to the long term community
outcomes. Property assessment is the cornerstone of municipal taxation, ensuring
that the tax burden is distributed among property owners. Property
assessment determines the value of a property for taxation purposes.
The tax rate is applied to the assessed value to
calculate each property's tax bill. Municipalities across Ontario have expressed
significant concerns regarding the provincial government's ongoing postponement of the
municipal property reassessment cycle, which has extended the use of
the 2026 property values through to the 2026 taxation year.
What that means is that. All of the assessment used
on 2026 tax bills is the assessment from 2016. In
response to these concerns, the Ontario government has initiated a
review of the property. Assessment and taxation system, focusing on
fairness, affordability and business competitiveness. While this review is underway,
the government has further deferred the provincewide reassessment to maintain
stability for taxpayers and municipalities.
Okay, we're going to call the meeting back to order.
After lunch and we'll resume our budget presentation, starting with
recreation and cultural services.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I will present
the recreation and cultural Services division of the budget. Cemeteries
is included under this division. We will continue our grass
cutting maintenance contract for Pine Hill Beachwood. And our Kona
cemeteries. We do have a new contractor for burial services
for Pine Hill. Arconan Baptist cemeteries that was awarded just
before Christmas. Mapping has been completed for our Kona cemetery,
so plot sales will begin in the new section. In
2026. Budgetary changes. Excluding Pine Hill, the revenue and expenses
have aligned now with historical amounts, wages and benefits have
increased. A one time funding of $5,000 has been added
for tree and stump cleanup, which will continue at all.
Of our cemeteries, and we've included audit costs and cemetery
license fee for. The cemeteries. For Pine Hill. We assumed
Pine Hill in 2025. We've now added the revenues to
the budget. A staff a temporary staff position was acquired
in 2025 is no longer required. That job is now
complete, so the associated cost with that position have been
removed from the budget. We've also reduced our contracted services
accordingly to what we expect through the agreement. With cross
cutting. For recreation and culture administration programs. We've divided this.
This was formally captured under one budget department. It is
now two budget. Departments. So the administration side and then
the program side included under programs, you'll see the vibrancy
in community grant programs, which will continue to fund local
programs. And then we also have a volunteer recognition dinner
and awards ceremony plan for 2020. Six. The change for
administration. Is. Net levy or percentage levy change of 7.98%.
Which essentially is because of the capital reserve contribution increase
of 1.34 $6 million. Wages and benefits have increased by
20,000. And the Reserve Fund transfer of 66,000, which is
a vibrancy program, has been removed to programs. We've also
increased our training budget by $8,000 to reflect our actual
spending. In this budget line. For program activities. As I
noted, this is a new budget line that is captured
in the budget this year. This includes. Costs related to
the community grant program. And you see there the total
requested amount for 2026. Is just over $74,000. It includes
a volunteer recognition. Program. And awards ceremony. And the vibrant
secrets which are offset by a reserve contribution. Our
parks department includes expenses and revenues related to pavilions, our
hard surface courts, for example, tennis and pickleball basketball, our
skateboard parks and our playgrounds. Monthly inspections are conducted on
these assets by our trained staff. The parks budget department
includes expenses for our portable toilet rent. Rentals, which are
found throughout the municipality seasonally. Flower purchases, weed control and
the community led Fragmentes program. We have included a separate
budget department for our sports field, so that has been
reduced out of our parks budget in 2026. I'll speak
about that in a minute. For sports fields. Our community
services department maintains six baseball diamonds and a soccer complex,
which is located at the Klondike Sports park. Revenue is
collected from our adult leagues and private rentals. There is
no fee for minor baseball and minor soccer for the
local associations. Our waived revenue for our sports fields is
estimated to be $87,000, which is a historical amount, which
has been what we've seen historically for sports fields. There
was a significant increased use in 2025. That represents that
number. We collect about $7,000 in revenue. Just for comparison
purposes. Expenses related to our sports field include turf management
and supplies like clay bases, soccer posts, and of course,
utilities and staff time. So overall, between the two separate
now departments, there is. A slight levy change reduction for
parks and a slight increase for sports fields, which, with
a total percent. Change of zero point 33%. Spoke about
this already. So we've highlighted the sports field department separately,
just to correctly identify. Revenues and costs associated with. These
sports fields. We have wages and benefits. We took about
50% from parks and allocated it to sports fields. As
kind of an estimation. We've also captured fireworks costs and
the offsetting donations for the Grand Bend, Canada Day so
typically, the municipality will apply for funding on behalf of
that organization. We retain the funds and the donations for
that event that was not captured in the budget previously.
It is there now. For the beach. The information booth
will continue to operate and facilitate the rental programs. The
life jacket and amphibious wheelchairs. Just for interest sake. We
had 347 life jackets rented out. In 2025. That is
a free rental program. And the amphibious wheelchair was rented
14 times. Funds have been included to provide additional portable
washrooms and servicing on long weekends, which is consistent with
what we did in 2025, the beach patrol hours will
start. Sorry, there's a. Typo there. They will start on
June 6 with full time coverage starting June 19. The
parking revenues have increased based on our 2025 revenue. Change.
Highlights include parking revenues, which I've already spoke about, maintenance
for wages and benefits. We've increased $4,800 or expense adjustments
to align with our actual costs in that area. Beach
patrol. We spoke about a wage increase for those positions
for our beach patrol, and then our beach house. Has.
A marginal increase for wages and benefits at $833. Creational
complexes include both ashores and the Legacy Recreation center. Both
facilities have lease agreements with our local optimist clubs, and
those will be continuing out throughout 2026. Expenses related to
equipment repairs has increased to reflect our historical spending. We
do have aging equipment in both facilities, which is being
replaced throughout our capital planning program. The forest. Contact host
will continue to operate. The contact house in the municipal
office space at the Shores Recreation center. The YMCA's agreement
continues until the end of 2026, so they'll continue to
operate out of the shores as well. And we have
waived revenue estimated estimated for both arenas, which is including
the gymnasium and the hall. To be estimated. Estimated at
$47,725. We typically don't see any fee waivers for the
ice surfaces. It's already provided at a reduced rate. So
overall for the recreation services legacy recreation complex. We see
a slight levy change of zero point 15%. Specifically for
legacy. The solar panel revenue has been identified in our
green energy. It had not been previously identified. I think
it was just general revenue. It's identified now as green
energy. We have a slight increase to wages and benefits.
Our building repair expense has increased to $70,000. Or by
$70,000. Sorry. We do have a fairly significant reduction in
hydro costs that's due to our led conversion of our
facility. Councilor Scott had mentioned earlier the cost savings with
respect to. The street lights. So we're seeing that same
type of. Cost savings with our facilities, and we are
going to continue. To do our led conversions in all
our facilities until they're complete, which I believe is. 2026.
We also have been in dumpster costs which have been
removed from environmental services as the director of public works
spoke about earlier. And our Thomas hall rental income has
increased to align with their historical. Revenues. For the shores
recreation complex. We see a point. Two levy change for
2026 compared to 2025. And our change. Highlights include wages
and benefits increase of $16,187. We see an increase in
rental revenues of $41,000, which is partially due to increased
use, but also because of. Our operational change. To have
spring ice into May. We have contracted services increasing by
$10,000, which will reflect our historical averages and our gymnasium
floor ceiling, which. It's a one year cost, which we
require every five to seven years. It's one time cost,
which we require to do every five to seven years,
depending on operations. For community centers and libraries. We maintain
the Portfronts Community center, the Arcona community center. The village
complex in the Arcona senior center. The municipality has an
agreement with the Grand Ben Public School for rentals in
their community room and gymnasium. We retain all rental revenues
for those areas when we rent them. The libraries are
leased to Lampton county, who provide staffing and all equipment
associated with the library. Most libraries are contained within our
existing facilities, with the exceptions of forest library as a
standalone building. I will note that there is no revenue
received from the county for those leases. And our weaved
revenue for our community centers is estimated to be $97,660
in 2026. Overall, we see a very marginal. Percentage levy
change of zero 8%. We take into account all facilities.
The change highlights the revenues and expenses were adjusted to
align with our actual amounts. We have a one time
expense for our Kona senior center to include the replacement
of two exterior doors and we have a one time
expense of the Port Franks Community center to include windows,
sealants, which are both recommendations or building condition assessment to
be complete. Completed in 2026. For libraries. We just have,
again, a very low percentage change of 0.1%. And that's
just increased cost to reflect our historical costs. So I
believe that center contracted services. For things like snow and
winter ice maintenance. For harbors and grand, Ben. The revenue
and expenses for the sale of fuel, transient dockage. And
boat launch fees have been adjusted to better reflect the
most recent sales and expenses, which have continued to trend
downward. Funds have not been included for spot charging at
either marina. Revenue has been adjusted at Port Frank's due
to the inability to accommodate large boats on the former
yacht club side. With removing spot charging from that area,
we're only able to accommodate the smaller fishing type. Oats
or pontoons. Prop washing is now conducted in house by
municipal staff and using municipal equipment. We have applied for
our permits as of August 2025 for work to be
conducted in 2026, and we continue to work with the
Ministry of Natur. Natural resources to remove the restricted window
from May to July to allow us to do our
work. In that time period. We have also submitted our
applications for the continuation of Blue Flag program at both
marinas and the beach. So overall, between the two harbors,
we are looking at a. Zero point 25% levy change.
The change highlights are a result of a loss of
a $30,000 federal grant that. We had previously received for
our prop washing. The federal government is no longer offering.
That grant to us or anybody. So we have accounted
for that loss. Our revenues have adjusted to reflect our
decreased demand, which I've mentioned. I've mentioned about dredging, which
is no longer contracted service. Our wage and benefits have
increased to $94,487, which includes our new employee for dredging.
And then there's no change to the harbor maintenance Reserve
contribution, which is $50,000 annually. Any questions regarding councilor Bailey?
A couple of questions on utilization of our fields. I'm
interested if there was any rentals. For the grand bend
baseball field. And subsequently, I suppose, would be if. There's
an indication of the rentals. Or utilization of the new
pickleball courts at Kwan Dank. So through the mayor. No,
we did not have any request. To rent. The Lions
park in Grandpa. And I can't speak to the utilization.
It's a free access. Pickleball court, so we're really not
sure. Anecdotally, I would suggest that pickleball is very, very
active in Grand Ben. So I can make some assumptions.
Just based on our indoor rentals this time of year
for pickleball that it would have been busy, but I
don't know for sure. Councilor Marsh. Thank you, you, worship.
Through you to the director. Fire is our year round
washroom. Operating as expected. So through the mayor in Grand
Ben. Yes. It is now, yes. We had some. Learning
experiences with respect to the washroom facility. So some of
the changes that we have made we did install a
windscreen, which has significantly helped our door. We had some
issues with the doors and the wind there. So the
windscreen and the trees we've planted are helping. Kind of
alleviate that issue. I've had no issues. Reported for quite
some time. Yes, you, worship for the harbors with the
sales and expenses for the downward trend. Do we trend?
Our launch ramp fees. How many people? Pay throughout the
year. So through the mayor. That's a tricky one. Just
because. We have the data for. The dollars that we
sell, right. We don't necessarily know the number of people
we could figure that out, if that's what you're looking
for. Sure.
The next section that we're going to talk about is
planning and development. So this is the planning and zoning
costs as well as economic development. A planning and zoning.
The amount here shown as a negative, that is, the
revenues that have been received. We're not making any changes
to those. And then the costs for the staff for
that. Service is actually included in the county levy. In
terms of economic development. You will see an increase here
of just under $10,000. So there have been a number
of changes that have been made to this development, and
you're going to see them. In the coming slides. What
we've done is we've peeled the onion a bit. When
it comes to the economic development department. And reported some
of those costs separately into separate departments. So. You'll see
the community improvement plan and industrial park all will have
their own department now. As well as the introduction of
the mat tax. For council's consideration, we were bringing forward.
A resolution that had previously been passed in August of
2025 from the Forest Lampton Museum. Society. They have asked
for an increase from 7000 to 10,000. Dollars in 2026,
so the $7,000 is included in the economic development budget
currently. The reason that they had requested this money is
because they had lost some federal funding. And. Experienced increased
salary costs and as a result, had to reduce their
services in 2025. So the increase in the grant in
2026 would allow them. To expand. Their operating services. Community
improvement plan. This one has a bit of a change
because part of it is going to be funded. From
the levy and part from reserve. So in prior years,
we funded that entirely off of the levy. Like I
mentioned, we've moved this community improvement plan to its own
department, so we're. Able to better track the costs that
are associated with it. Any unspent money in this area
would go to the reserve and we would accumulate that.
To approximately $150,000 and then reevaluate it at that time.
Municipal accommodation tax. Shows zeros here because there is no
impact on the levy. But there are details on the
individual line. So we're anticipating that we would collect $521,000
in revenues. And then we would incur just over $20,000.
In expenses related to the administration by Orma and also
putting about $20,000 aside. For some legal fees mainly associated
with the municipal service corporation set up and then the
balance would be split between the municipal service corporation. And
ourselves, so there'd be about $241,000. Going to each of
those. So for the purposes of this budget, I have
shown that money, the portion for Lampton Shores, just as
going to a reserve until council can consider further how.
They would like those funds to be used. The next
section that we've pulled from the economic development is the
business improvement area again. It's a net levy of zero.
The funds are collected from those specific properties in that
area. And redirected to that association. And then the industrial
development park. We've also separated those into a separate department.
So currently. Revenues are associated with the lease of farmland,
and then we are incurring expenses in regards to its
development. Are there any questions regarding. Councilor Billy.
The request for funding from the forest Museum to fund
visitor services. I remember when the initial discussion came through
council. I was at the meeting. It was a dozen
years ago. To have visitor services funded and it was
agreed by the council then that in order to be
fair because the request came from the Grand Bend Chamber
of Commerce that the forest group be funded. Similarly. And
so the forest group are requesting an increase in funds.
Once again, it would be fair if the grand bend
group were matched. They face the same situation. With no
federal, no job support. In the interests of consistency across
the years, if the forest group gets it for staffing
or dealing with visitor services, it would be fair for
the grand band group to get it. Is that possible?
Always make that part of the motion. Right now, there
was no request from the Grand Bend chamber. Of commerce.
For an increase. So we're going with what we've got
on file, which was? From the forest museum. The venue
for a motion. We'll do it under the budget items.
Councilor Scott. We have the different organizations having the math
tax, and they'll be sending it in. How will. You
know, if they have rented and you've got like, how
do we collect that map? Tax is it just automatically
sent in once a month? Do they have to after
every rental? Send that 4%. How do we get the
money? Through your worship. The answer to that would be
that. The Ontario Restaurant Hotel Motel association is going to
administer it for us, and they have created a portal.
Each person. Who's renting short term accommodations would get. Would
be able to register for a spot on that portal,
and then they would report the revenues. That they had,
and then they would submit that to Orma, and then
Orma would accumulate. Those funds and remit to us. So
the hotels and motels are going to be reporting quarterly,
and then the short term rentals are going to be
reporting. I think I have that backward. Short term rentals
are going to be reporting quarterly, and the hotel motels
are going to do it monthly. So we're allowing Orma
to administer that for us. We've already done training. Sessions
for the hotels, the motels and the short term rentals.
So they're already familiar with the process that's going to
be undertaken. And if any of them had any questions
about using the portal. Or any of those, when to
remit, how to remit, et cetera. They should be directed
to orma, and Orma will answer those questions for them.
That'll be on the website. That. Just go to the
website and find Orma and you can get the information
under the municipal accommodation tax section of our website. All
of the details, including links to the training videos that.
Were the training sessions that were provided can be found
there. Thank you. Mr mayor. We
passed the Mat tax last year. At council. So we
haven't taken any money. In since we passed that. It
only starts for 26. Through your worship. That's correct. It
starts in January 1, 2026. But that doesn't. Mean that
we have money yet, because, as I explained, there are
reporting periods that have to occur before they actually have
to start reporting, because even if they don't have rentals,
they're going to start reporting some stats to us so
that we're able to. Develop some sorts of benchmarks. And
then also, this is the slow season, right? You wouldn't
see a lot of rentals occurring at this time, so
we wouldn't. Anticipate to see any revenues flowing from the
mat tax until later in the year. Thank you. I
should add that the numbers that I have provided in
terms of revenue are just reflective of what we anticipate
to see on an annual basis, because that is how
we did it. But it has a net impact of
zero on the levy. Thank you. Wastewater.
So water wastewater services. So highlights Jacobs contract fees have
been adjusted for the 2026 values, so that's a long
term contract we have with Jacobs that runs through the
end of 2029. The Grand Bend Joint Area Grand Band
Area Joint Sewage Board budget was included in the wastewater
side for the budget that that board approved, and revenue
and water purchases have been updated based on growth. And
our recent consumption. So. As council recalls, the water budget
has no impact on the tax levies. So you see
a lot of zeros here. But I can tell you
that in the proposed budget, the expenses are proposed to
be 1%. Higher than last year. And then on the
wastewater side, again, a lot of zeros because it has
no impact on the tax levy, but. We're proposing around
a 3% increase in expenditures on the wastewater side. Councils
previously approved the rates for this year. Back when the
rate study was approved. So on the water side, it's
actually 0%. Increase for the water rates on the wastewater
side, it's 4% increase for 2026. Move on to capital
budget now.
Capital budget. This section focuses on the capital budget, how
we invest. And renew the infrastructure that supports the services
across the municipality. Capital spending is different than the operating
budget. These are long term investments that are made in
roads and bridges, facilities, water and wastewater systems. Assets that
often last decades and require significant planning. I'll walk you.
Through how the projects are identified and prioritized, what the
2026 capital program looks like at a high level and
how it's funded and what that means for our reserves
over time. Before we get into the individual capital projects,
I want to start with how we decide what. Makes
it into the capital budget in the first place. This
slide provides details about our capital planning framework. Because capital
projects are long term and expensive, we use a structured
approach to make sure limited resources are directed to the
right project at the right time. Capital projects come from
multiple sources, not just one list. They are identified through
the asset condition and lifecycle information Department reviews legislative and
regulatory requirements. And council direction and strategic priorities. We also
consider growthrelated needs and, importantly, risk. Especially risk related to
health and safety, service continuity, and critical infrastructure. Once projects
are identified, they are evaluated using consistent criteria. In general,
projects that address higher risk have legislative regulatory requirements or
a part of a critical asset renewal. Are prioritized ahead
of discretionary or service enhancement projects. This helps ensure we
are protecting the core services and managing risk before adding
new or expanding infrastructure. Every project is also reviewed through
an affordability lens that includes considering available funding, reserve sustainability
potential operating impacts and the reliance on one time funding
sources such as grants. The goal is to make sure
decisions made in this budget are financially sustainable and don't
create unintended pressures. In future years. A major driver of
the 2026 Capital program is the asset management Plan. In
2025. The asset management plan identified asset condition, risk levels,
and lifecycle renewal needs across municipal infrastructure. In 2025, the
municipality completed the building condition assessment, which significantly improved the
quality of the information. For facilities. That work confirms several
renewal needs, and as a result, new projects were added
to both the 2026 capital and multi year forecast simply
put, better data has led to more informed capital planning.
The capital budget is the primary tool for acting on
that information. An infrastructure funding gap is the difference between
what it costs to maintain and replace our assets over
the life cycle and the funding currently available to do
that work. The asset management plan identified that in some
categories, long term needs. Exceed the current funding levels. When
council approved the asset management plan, the recommendations on how
to address that gap were intentionally deferred to the budget
process so that they could be considered. Alongside affordability and
priorities. What the asset management plan recommended was. A gradual,
levee based approach to addressing the funding gap. Specifically, the
plan recommended implementing a 1% levy contribution each year, calculated
annually and transferred to capital reserves and stacked cumulatively over
time. Using. The example included in 2026, a 1% of
the levy would equate to 156,771 which would be transferred
to reserves in the following year. The same calculation would
be done again and added to that previous amount, growing
an annual contribution. The plan. Assumed annual levy increases would
be 5% and estimated an extra $2.8 million would be
collected before 2035. A high level
snapshot of the 2026 capital program has been provided on
this slide. The 2026 capital budget includes $25.8 million in
plan spending across 97 projects. Of that, 20.8 million is
levy supported capital funding funded primarily through. Operations and reserves,
and about 5 million is user fees supported related to
water and wastewater. Overall, the program reflects a continued focus
on maintaining existing infrastructure, managing risk and assessing no one's.
Service needs rather than expanding assets unnecessarily. This chart shows
how the capital spending is distributed by department or asset
category. The larger share of capital spending can be found
in the roads, infrastructure facilities, in water and wastewater. This
slide focuses on how the 2026 capital program is funded.
About 75% of the funding comes from reserves and 19%
from grant. The remainder from other sources included including limited
financing. This highlights two key points. Reserves remain the municipality's
primary funding tool for capital and grants. Play an important
role, but only a supplementary role. They help, but they
can't be relied. On exclusively for core infrastructure renewal. This
table provides. A detailed breakdown by department and asset type.
I won't go through this line by line. As council
has the full document. But the slide reinforces that the
breadth of the capital activity across departments and how capital.
Spending supports the tax supported and user supported services. It
also shows the scale of investment required to simply maintain
the existing service levels. This chart shifts from a single
year to the long term pitcher. It shows planned capital
spending by asset type from 2025 to 2035. A few
key takeaways here are that the capital needs are lumpy,
they're not spread out evenly from year to year. Roads,
facilities, water related assets continue to represent significant share of
long term investment and forecasts help council see upcoming pressures
early rather than dealing with them. One year at a
time. This long range view supports better financial planning and
smoother decision making. This slide looks at how the longer
term capital forecast is expected to be funded over the
forecast period, 69% is planned to be funded from reserves
and 29% from grants. Again, a small portion would be
funded through financing. This reinforces why reserve sustainability is. A
critical part of the capital conversation. Long term planning depends
on having those reserves available. On this slide, we can
see how the contributions are made from operating to reserves.
The annual contributions to capital reserves are split between levy
supported and user fees supported assets. You'll see some year
to year variation which reflects the changes in planned capital
activity reserve strategies and affordability considerations within the operating budget.
This slide shows the projected ending reserve balances over the
forecasted period after planned capital spending and annual contributions. A
few key points to highlight here are that fluctuations are
expected, reserves are built up and drawn down to pay
for large projects, so balances naturally move up and down.
Timing matters in a couple of years. Consolidated levee supported
reserves dip into the negative. That doesn't mean that the
municipality is insolvent. But it does mean that. Projects would
need to be temporarily financed until reserves recover. Negative balances
results in borrowing when reserves aren't available at the time
spending occurs, the municipality must rely on short term boring,
which comes with interest costs and added financial pressure. Recovery
is built into the plan. The forecast shows reserves recovering
in later years. As contributions continue in capital activity levels,
The purpose of this graph is to highlight pressures points
early so council has the opportunity to adjust. Timing, funding
strategies or reserve contributions before borrowing becomes necessary. So we're
now going to move into the individual capital projects, and
again, the directors will come and give you those details.
We'll start with the protective services.
Through your worship. So protective services capital. We have opened
the RFP for the 2025 approved apparatus. So a portion.
Of the monies that you see there for rolling stock.
The one point. Two plus is for that pre approved
truck. In 2026. Replacement of the box rescue in Fedford
allows for the opportunity for cost savings. And fleet diversification.
We're looking to purchase a four x four mini pumper
with a certified pump. This will increase our abilities to
suppress fire in tight areas around cottages and campgrounds. In
some of our tighter roads. This platform will also increase
our ability to fight fires within agricultural and wildland. Interfaith
so it would have a pump. That was big enough
and comparable with a full size engine, but a tight
package that can get into smaller areas and change the
way we do things with certain fires. Once again. Capital.
We have ongoing need for radios and pagers. Extrication equipment,
small tools, struts, airbags, et cetera. To keep consistency and
to keep things in date and functional. Nozzles, truck valves,
large building hose packs. This year we've dropped a little
bit. In our request for firefighter gear, bunker helmets, et
cetera. It was 50 last year. I believe we're at
40. Part of that is being covered. Off with the
fact that we've had success with some grants this year
that allows us some gloves. And some balaclavas. Fire suppression
training props and tools for Northville. We've been operating Northville.
As our training area and as we move forward, having
stuff in a central location that allows us to build
their training. And not have to break it down and
move it to all the different halls. Is a great
resource for them. One of the things I wanted to
touch on. We have put forward for a grant through
emergency management Ontario. Currently, we have the grant application. Through
their funding streams. Our goal is to update our fire
department computer based programming so we have been using Firepro
and. That was a program that's been out for at
least 20 years. There is a new program that we're
trying to achieve called first do and what that does
is it allows us to interface with other departments. It's
a tool that we can use for emergency management with
interoperability, we can have direct links to the. Ratepayers through
increased public education portals where they can reach in and
let us know. What they have going on in their
house and update us on what's going on with their
inspections, and it also provides us real time response and
tactical data through a CAD system where we get direct
information. From dispatch. So our hope is that we'll be
successful for that. And if not, we'll be talking on
a later date. So protective services teamwork once again. 2026
will be another heavy year for our members. We will
continue to set the standard for public education. We will
continue to educate and enforce the Ontario fire code. And
we continue to train, offering the very best in suppression
services. Once again, we thank council for your ongoing. Support
as it would be a daunting task without you behind
us.
Transportation capital. So for equipment and transportation, we have a
lifecycle replacement of a pickup truck. It's not pictured here.
One ton truck, so that's in the top right corner.
Our sweeper. Bottom left. And our vacuum truck. The vacuum
truck is actually going to be funded from the water
reserve, though, so keep that in. Mind. Or propose to
be. Capital transportation, so enterprise drive. Where? That's the reconstruction
of the street that extends into the future industrial park
and forest. So we're completing some of the environmental requirements
for the stormwater management pond, and then that project will
go forward. We have a number of stormwater management projects
related to the forest Grand Ben and West Bazankwit master
plan projects. King street downtown is shown in the budget
pending further public consultation. And then we have our annual
asphalt resurfacing and tire and chip projects. As recommended in
the road needs study. So this slide shows the map
of the proposed road resurfacing projects for 2026. The biggest
one being outer drive through Port francs. And we're proposing
to include Paige shoulders. As part of that project, which
will further. Our active transportation infrastructure in Laketon. Chores. Continuing
with the capital, so we do our annual sidewalk replacements.
We identify priority sidewalks based on the annual inspection program.
We're also continuing to work on the forest sidewalk expansion.
So that's in consultation with the new proposed school there
in forest. So we want to really increase the pedestrian
links in that area. So that everyone can get safely
to the school. And then West Dipper wash were proposing
a paved shoulder. So that's to continue on. The work
in that area. Again, more active transportation, which is really
popular. With the residents in Lampton shores. Continuing the ongoing
Ontario Street Grand Ben Bridge. It's obviously a big capital
project here. So proposed to finish that in the spring
of 2026. We have our brush road culvert, so that's
pending the completion of the drainage. Report in that area.
Decker Road culvert's actually been awarded. It's shown in the
budget, so. That's just kind of outside witter station golf
course there. So that's our. Placement of any existing culvert
into a concrete box culvert. And we have Canard road
culvert. So that was just recently identified in a recent
osims. It's a failing culvert, so I have a picture
right here. You can see the ribs there at the
bottom are really deteriorating, so that's a priority. Project for
this year. Your worship. Quick question, please. Sure. The culvert
on decker road. Is that the one? That's close to
the highway on the paved portion of the road. So
is it going to close the road? Because I'm sure
I'm going to. Get questions. Just heading it off at
the pass. Unfortunately, it will have to be closed. It'll
take about a week. Like they'll do it. They have
to bring a crane in. So it'll happen pretty quick
once it's done, but it'll have to get dug out
and replaced. Do the in water work. It'll have to
be. After July 1. But our feeling is that it'll
happen in the fall. I know the owner of the
course has been aware of the work and what we're
doing there, so we're going to coordinate it. I hope
with the business. Because there's still another way to get
in. It's just we got to make sure his customers
know. That. Obviously, we identified that pretty quickly, that that
was going to be a big impact. The business is
aware that this project is happening, and we've had some
conversations about timing. And what we can do. To make
it run smoother for everyone. It's necessary work. I hate
to close the road, but we'll do as best we
can to minimize the impact on the business. Thank you.
That's all. Thank you for recognizing that, too. My questions
on funding sources for. The bridge in grandmother I think
I saw referred to development charges. And then there's the
grant. Some from water, some from sewer. How much is
on the levee? I don't think there's any of that
cost on the levy, but I can. Double check for
you, but I'm pretty sure it's not. I'll take the
good news. That's great. Thank you.
So through the mayor, the capital highlights for the community
services department includes replacement of windows and led lighting conversion
at the Arcona Community Center. At Port Frank's community center.
We will be replacing and adding eavesdrops where nonexist currently
and replacing the soffits and fascia throughout the facility. The
forest parquet phase two is included into the capital budget.
So there's a photo. Of the Parkit as it sits
right now. Phase one completed the wall restoration concrete site
works. And electrical addition. There will be sawdud going in
in the spring as well, but. We just unfortunately ran
out of time this fall. We also have included funds.
For servicing a four season washer met the rotary park
and forest. So our funds for the capital budget include
site works and then the servicing requirements for that washroom.
That one. As council recalls, the washroom and purchase itself
was funded partially through the Ontario Trillion Foundation. The Legacy
recreation center compressor. This is an original compressor to the
ice plant, so it is in need of replacement. 2025.
We replaced compressor one. This is compressor two. That requires
replacement. It is. Original. So the probability of failure is
likely. And the conseque. Consequence is high if that one
fails. We have funds included in the budget at both
the Shores Recreation center and the legacy recreation center. To
replace our hot water heaters in our Zamboni rooms. The
current units are undersized. The purpose of those hot water
heaters is to heat the water that we use. To
fill the zambonis. So that is done after every single
ice flood, and we believe that there will be significant
cost. Savings, both in utilities and staff time to replace
these undersized water heaters. We've included funds to replace the
siding and the sliding door at the pony barn at
the legacy recreation center. We use the pony barn for
storage of a lot of community services equipment. A lot
of our lawn mowing equipment and benches that we need
to bring in, among other items. We've included funds as
well for Port franks and tennis pokeball court resurfacing. So
that's the rubberized surface that you see. There in the
picture, the green, blue and white. So it will replace
that rubberized surface it does not include new asphalt. Asphalt
is in good shape and does not need to be
redone. But the rubberized surfaces deteriorating. We've included funds for
utter park ball diamond lighting. So, as I noted in
the operational budget. We have five of our six ball
diamonds, our lit ball diamonds. The replacement of lighting. Our
lighting is old. At all of our ball diamonds. It's
becoming obsolete. Difficult to fix, difficult to find parts. So
our intention would be to replace the utter park ball
diamond lighting, because it is the most used ball diamond
for both tournaments and our adult leagues, and then we
can repurpose the parts from that replacement to repair our
other ball diamond lights. In the short term. We've included
funds for the. Village green Pavers this is a continuation
from 2025. Again, we're just doing a section at the
time to minimize the impact to the park so it
stays open. And it's minimally disruptive. Same approach as we
did down at the Grand Ben beach when we replaced
the pavers there. So this is year two, I believe,
of that project. And other highlights include fleet edition of
a pickup truck. Just because we have been renting a
pickup truck in the past, and that's getting very costly.
So it made more sense to purchase a truck to
use year round. We have funds in there for replacement
of Thomas hall chairs. And tables that are just at
end of life. They're starting to get broken. They're very
well used. We've included funds for Port Frank's community center,
a new sound system there, which has reached end of
life. We have funds for an HVAC unit for the
legacy center, which we continue? To replace annually lake track
centers for each track units in that facility. Funds for
harbor buoys. A new pump out at the Grand Ben
Marina flagpole replacements in both Arcona and forest. The decommissioning
and engineering for replacement of fuel tanks at Grand Ben
Marina. That project was started in 2025. You should see
a tender out for that. Shortly in the new year.
And then led conversion for our remaining community centers. So
our Kona community center, our Kona. Senior center. There were
some areas at both the shores and legacy, particularly dressing
rooms and storage areas, that were not completed. And will
be this year, as well as the grim bend beach
hose. Councilor Wilcox. In the initial budget.
That the finance committee seen. Was there a roof on
the legacy center? So that's just been pushed off of
the future. So through the mayor that's proposed now for
2027. And that's a complete redo. Like you've looked at
all options to try. To fix what the problem is
there, or that's the only way to do it. So
through the mayor, we did have a third party review
of that roof. Done. The roof has been sealed. In
the past, but it is an original roof to that
building, so it has absolutely reached its end of life.
There are two options. We are recommending the less expensive
option. It's in a future budget now. Anyway, thank you.
It's still getting addressed. It's just. No worries and. We'll
continue to repair leaks as required and needed. Yes, of
course. I just want to speak a little bit to
that. So we did talk about at a staff level
as well. One of the things we looked at is,
could we do bits and pieces as we move along?
Frankly, I was the one that said that is not
the way to do a big roof like that. And
the reason I say that is because the bits and
pieces you do always join together. At some type of
flashing wall. Whatever. If you have any issues. It's not
the guy that just did it. It must be the
other guy's. Fault, so we opted to push the whole
thing off and do it as one. Contractor. They're responsible.
As opposed to trying to do it in bits and
pieces. So. We discussed this fairly thoroughly. Surveilling through you.
I've got some questions about the boat launch in Grand.
Bend and any needed repairs. I noticed they're not in
the capital budget. Do we have a plan here. So
through the merit. Yes. We have submitted applications to do
some in water work for repairs to both the grand
Bend and the portfronts boat launch in 2026 that will
be conducted through operating. As opposed to capital needs through
the Marriott. That's correct. Yes. Thank you. Councilor mcguire.
Gear worship. For the condensers or the compressor you have
to repair. At the legacy center there. Have you looked
at getting a heat exchanger to possibly heat water? From
the energy made by the condenser and cooling tower. I
know we use that in our facility to reduce hot
water use. So for the condenser or the hot water
heater, the compressor, the whole cooling system. We actually take
the heat off it to heat hot water. Yeah. So
through the mayor, this is. Just one component of the
entire ice plant. So there are other components, like the
hot water cooler. That are included, just not this year.
So it's a component of the. Ice plant. It's not
part of the condenser, though.
Water capital. So on the water side. We are continuing
or proposing to continue with our water meter change out.
So we're proposing. To do about 1000 meters this year.
Pretty good chunk of what we have outstanding. We have
the winter Springer, water main and Thetford. That tender closes,
actually, very shortly. We got funding for that project. It's
a big portion of that project, and then we're proposing
Northville Tower maintenance. So that's the water tower out here
there's? A picture of it right there. And that's based
on? We do regular inspection reports on that facility, so
there's a number of recommendations in that report. To do
there. So that's a project we're proposing. And also capital
water. So there's a Highway 21 chamber maintenance project we're
proposing. So. If you're driving to Grand Bend, it's across
the road, kind of on the park View area. Where
that street is. So the main water main that feeds
the north end of Lampton Shores comes in across the
highway, and then there's a chamber there. It opens and
closes to fill, actually the tower here in Northville. So
it's something. That was originally built back in 2008, and
it has been running since that time. So it's just
a lot of times gone by, it just needs some
maintenance, some stuff. To repair some valves to repair. Sort
of proposing that project this year. On the wastewater side.
We're proposing a project at the Arcona sewage treatment plant.
There's some filters. There that are at the end of
their useful life, they become very maintenance heavy and there's.
A lot better technology out now. That's a lot less.
There's a lot less moving parts. And it's just a
project that is necessary for the long term operation of
that facility. And we're proposing a project at the forest
lagoon. So if you look at the picture, at the
bottom right, the lagoon cell that's showing. The process at
the forest plant is the sludge that's generated from that
sewage treatment. Facility actually gets pumped across and stored in
that lagoon cell. Since that plant's open, that lagoon cell
has never been dredged of the sludge that's built up.
It's just in the past year, it's become a problem.
With the operation. It's built up a lot, so it's
time to dredge. That out. So we're proposing $500,000 to
remove the sludge there and. That should. Buy us 20
years ish of space there, so we're proposing that project.
You got a question there, councilor Wilcox? A couple of
questions, your worship. Thank you. Just with that new water
main, the Springer Road one. It appears to be running
down the side of Whitter Road. Is it? On the
west side. In that drawing. It is. Or. No, it's
on the east side. I know what's on the east
side. Yes. It's on the east side. Yeah. Regardless which
side it's on, are we. Going to queue up with
the business owner that operates a business on both sides
of the road. There to make sure we're not negatively
impacting their operation when they're busy. Like, as part of
our projects, we always make people aware of what's happening
and try to work with them as best we can
to avoid impacts in this project. There'll be multiple ways
again. Like you said, there'll be multiple ways around it.
There'll be. Periods where the road will have to be
closed. But we'll always make sure that there's detour roots
in place that people can get where they need to
go, even where I know. The business that operates on
the east side. They have an entrance at one end
of the building. And an exit of the other to
make sure. We're just queuing up what they can and
can't do there. Have a conversation with that owner. Somebody,
please. You all know that for sure? And then the
lagoon. I imagine we got to pay to get rid
of. What comes out of there. Is that part of
that cost? So, like, the way the contract works is
someone will have to come in and remove that material.
There'll be a lot of water in it, like it's
a lot of labor. So we'll be paying to get
rid of it. If whoever the contractor is will be
responsible to find a disposal site. Usually this stuff is
land. Applied, but it'll be up to them to figure
that out. Councilor Scott. So we're looking at. The forest
lagoons. How are the lagoons and any other lagoons we
have? Are they all in good shape? Or are they
going to be upcoming in the next few years that
we're going to have to do sludge, remove a lot
of them. Yeah, through the mayor. I'm not aware at
this point that any of the other ones are a
problem. The forest. One definitely snuck up on us. But
the other ones. We're not aware of a problem at
this time.
It didn't sneak up on you. It crawled up on
you. Ted virtually a lot younger. Next section that we
have. Is the financial outcome and affordability section. Here you
can see we've listed what the impact is going to
be on the typical or median property. So the median
property is the one that falls directly in the middle.
If you stack all of the assessments from lowest to
highest, 50% of the properties will be less than 50%
will be more. So, on the first line, we see
that the single family home. The assessment, of course, hasn't
changed, and the assessed value is $252,000 and that household
could expect to see a tax change of $38.66 that
represents a tax change of 2.73%. In terms of frequency
distribution. So I introduced. This chart last year. What we
can see is for the residential properties. We have 7900
properties. Approximately 96% of those properties are going to see
an average change. An increase of $39. And no residential
properties will see a decrease. You will see. Some outliers
there with bigger amounts. Those are all going to be
ones that had some additional assessments. So they probably had
a permit, did some work, which makes them an outlier.
Historically, this chart shows some of our taxation rates, so
you can see they have been on an upward trend
in terms of. The municipality and the county, but the
education. Tax rates have been frozen, and they're frozen once
again for 2026. And then we also have a comparison
chart where we show all the other municipalities in Lampton.
County with Lampton shores, they're highlighted in red. I have
also included some information in regards to debt repayment. We
do have some debt that's going to end in 2020.
Six regarded to the beach parking lot. One of the
recommendations included in the asset management plan was. That an
option would be that these funds would go to help
offset that infrastructure gap. Funding gap. So, next steps. Council.
You have an opportunity now. To discuss the budget presented
and if any changes are made, staff will implement those
changes as directed. By council. And then later on, we
will bring back the tax rate bylaw, so won't. Come
back right away. We need to wait for the county
to come up with the tax. Ratios. So we're here
for questions. We finished the budget presentation. I guess questions
have been asked on it. There are a few reports
here that we still need to go through that may
affect. I don't know if they're going to affect the
budget. That we need to discuss regarding. Policing cost. Fire
protection grant. And vibrancy fund request. So if we go
through those. Item 6.2. Is regarding the policing costs for
2026. Saying that continuing liais with the
Lampton OpP. Officers, staff pardon me requesting the options related
to additional seasonal resources required in lamp insures in an
effort to manage the overtime costs currently charged the lamp
insurers, and I think everybody realizes that. A large portion
of what we do. Pay extra is our overtime, summertime
that we need. For the opp. At this point, CaO
and myself are trying to arrange a meeting with staff
Lampton opt. To figure out kind of what we're going
to do for this moving forward. Forwardcocks. Thank you, worship.
I know you guys are working hard on what you
can do. Best for the municipality, so I'll move the
recommendation. To my councilor Gwyer any further discussion. All in
favor? Thank you. Do you want to talk to us?
Sure. Sorry, your worship, I just wanted to add. Mayor
Cook and I have talked about this, and we will
try and meet with our detachment commander. And potentially some
other politicians. My frame of mind is still that we've
paid for the pilot study. Now time for them to.
That's what you need to lease lamp asshores, that's what.
You need so we can make that argument whether. Mayor
Cook made it already to the OPP commissioner. But again,
nothing changed. But I will add that. The attachment. Commander
has sent an email out. To me about coming and
presenting to council just on the general occurrences in Lambda
shore. So what? My plan was for the mayor and
I to meet with him, and then. Have him come
and address all of council. Just so council is aware
that will be coming. Just a comment from my perspective
in Bedford. It seems to me we're getting back to
community policing, where the officers are regular. They're friendly. They're
talking to people. And it just seems like old school
community placing. They're listening to what residents have to say
they're addressing what they can, when they can. And. I
don't think we have a lot of local crime so
much as transient crime. When others come in, so I
think they're doing a good job if you can relay
that. Too. Item 6.3. Regard to a fire protection grant.
The addition of grant funding in the amount of $84,230
in materials purchased in the amount of $84,230. The mayor's
budget for 2026 be approved. So this is an offset,
obviously. And it represents 100% of the eligible funding for
the project cost moved by Depp and Mayor Sageman, second
by councilor Ferguson. Any questions? All in favor? Thank you.
Six point. Four. Bailey's declaring conflict. This is regarding the
vibrancy grants for community vibrancy grants for 2026. There's quite
a number of them there. Total amount of 66,738.60. That
excludes the ones that are still outstanding. Or not. So,
Mr. Mayor. There is an application requiring council direction within
the report. So the 66,000. 400 and something dollars includes
the eligible costs that are included in this report, including
application. For the 41 26, 40, 112 76 for lamps
and Shores minor baseball. Are excluding. So, Mr. Mayor, that
one's been included for council discussion and direction. Okay? Thank
you. So there's a total on the floor. For the
vibracy grants. How does council. Councilor Scott. Move the recommendation.
Second councilor Ferguson. Any discussion. Questions. On questions. Sure. Are
we going to discuss? The one that's not there, or
we do that after. Discuss it now. Yes. There was
two, right? Mr. Mayor, there is just the one application
requiring direction from the Lampton Shores minor baseball association. Just
to be clear, so everyone's clear, because I want to
make sure I am. The 66,000 does not include. It
doesn't include this one. Right, right. This is the 40.
112 would be in addition to the 66. It's already.
I guess I didn't ask my question properly. I read
that section over a couple of times. Why did it
not go through? What's the hold up on that. What,
they didn't qualify? Why? So through the mayor. This one
is. We're asking for direction on this one because. The
applicant. Is a sports association. So just to catch up
to my brain, just give me 1 second. They are
not an eligible applicant under the vibrancy because vibrancy does
not fund sports groups, however. Council can make an exception
if the project. Or purchase. Is open to the public,
so as an association, they are not eligible. This is
an event that is a fundraiser for the association. It's
the Falcon fund day. That's correct. And that's a whole
community. Event. So through the mayor. It is an event
operated by the association that is open to the community.
That serves as a fundraiser. For the minor ball Association.
Does the minor ball association ask us for revenues from
the taxpayer or anything? So
don't fund minor sports. No. As far as ball goes,
they get the facilities for free, but. They don't get
money. I think the nuance in there is that our
vibrancy fund is specifically set up. That it doesn't fund
so. Minor hockey. Can't put an application. Can we get
vibrancy fund to reduce our. Registration fees for our players.
Right. I think the thought process during the vibrancy discussion
was. That's a closed group and that type of thing.
This one's a bit different. Because. It's a sports association,
but the event they have is open to the public.
But it is meant solely to fund their association, so
that's why we bring it to council. So it would
fit in the rules. Just thinking out loud here is
if they worked with an Optimus club. And then they
asked for it, and then that money was. I'm just
using that as. An example was then donated to their
association. Would that have qualified then? So through the mayor.
Yes. An Optimus club is eligible. Events run by Optimus
clubs are eligible. There are several events that council. Is
making a decision on throughout the vibrancy applications. The challenge
here, as the CIO mentioned, is because they are. A
sports group. They are not eligible under our policy. So
if they worked with another social club, they could maybe
bring this back in and be successful. Applications are closed,
right? So? Yes, Mr. Mayor. The application is closed in
September for this. I'll leave it up to council to
see if there's any other direction. Councilor? Scott. I think
that we should move ahead on the six that are
already approved. And then we should discuss the other one.
We already have a motion for those six. And we
have a seconder. I think that these ones are already
acceptable. By. The community policy. And I think we should
be voting on this. And then coming back to that
because I think it's a totally different. So I'd like
to call the vote. We have a mover in secondary,
so. Okay. We can do that. So we move our
second or on the 66,000. 738, 60. All in favor?
Opposed. Carried. Thank you. All right, so then we just
have. Correct. We still have the minor baseball to discuss
if we want to discuss it further. At my pace.
Hopefully they're listening. Where? Are you recommending it? I'm not
making a motion. I just have a discussion, okay? Now
that I understand. Councilor Ferguson. Councilor Dodge. Sorry.
Well, just a point, Mr. Mayor. What's the difference who
applies for it? It's still not. In the rural book.
So why would you bother discussing that? There is no
way to get this through the grant. Is that correct?
I don't think it matters just because the optimists are
quantitative or somebody applied. I make a motion that we
deny the request. Isn't the
previous motion accomplished that?
Deputy mayor, do you want to step in? Yeah. We'd
like the emotion to deny. I'll be back.
Deny it. We have a motion.
Here's your mic, sir. Please. Sorry, I'm new to this.
It just happened really quick. Did you read the motion
again, please? For number seven. There's no motion on the
table.
I was going to say. It's come back, okay? We
were just about to send the search and rescue for
you. If I thought it was serious. We kind of
did. A change in the mayor's. Deputy mayll Doug exactly.
And the mayor, Lee. Way to stick it with me
at the last sector. Meet a coup when you're away.
Can it be the deputy mayor's budget at that point.
You get a car, you get a car. All right,
so we're moving on to. Item seven. Which is the
Forest Lampton Museum. Increase from 70.
Commotion. Deputy mayor. Pardon me by, councilor Dodge.
Over the motion. Just for clarity. So that one item
that was discussed earlier in the presentation, the request from
the Forest Lamptom Museum Society. For their annual grant be
increased from $7,000. That's an item that. We need considered
by council. If you. Choose to make that change, then
that would be an amendment to the mayor's budget and
I know. Councilor Bailey. Got it right off the top
there, Councilor Bailey. Is possibly interested to adding to that
recommendation or one of his own. Right now, I have
that. The Forest Lamptom Museum Society annual grant be increased
from $7000 to $10,000. Yeah, and I have a mover
councilor dodge. Second by Councilor Ferguson. Councilor Bailey, I make
a friendly amendment that the amount increased to the forest
museum be matched to. Include the Grand Bend Chamber of
Commerce for the same activities. Councilor Wilcox. Shouldn't that be
made by the chamber? Council has the decision, they could
make what they want. If they decide to do it,
they can do it. Should be coming forward and asking.
If I could. Well, it's a conflict of interest, I
think. He just signed one for the other ones. Is
it withdrawing? Don't mean to point out the obvious. So
we don't know that they need money at this point.
Is that true? Not our question. We haven't received a
request from them at this point. So right now, we're
just going to deal with. The forest Museum. Any further
discussion. All in favor? Okay, carried. Are there any other
amendments to the forest budget? To the mayor's budget. For
discussion. Councilor Wilcox. I'd like to make a comment, your
worship. It's been a different type of budget cycle. And
I just like to thank staff. There's a lot of
unknowns, especially for myself. Going into this cycle with the
mayor's budget, and I just want to comment, I think
Staff and the mayor has done a great job. And
thank you for your hard work. Very difficult to make
everybody happy in this day and age. I think what
we've proposed here is reasonable for this year, so thank
you. Jeffrey mayor sageman. Building on what councilor Wilcox just
said. Just the thought I've had throughout this process. Is,
I feel like I've understood this budget more. There's been
more involvement that I feel more comfortable with this budget
than I have with others in the past in terms
of the amount of information that we've assimilated. I think
the finance committee part of it really helped. Thanks. Worship.
I'm going to jump in, too, and. I'm going to
point the finger straight at our director of financial services
for this budget. I think she's done amazing job. She's
put hours of work into this, I don't know, last
two months. Oftentimes one of the last leave. But she's
still here. So kudos to her. And as a CEO,
I just want to say appreciate all that hard. Work
from her. You were taking her coffee every day. Seems
to me that it choked up the mirror. I didn't
know how to get it across the finish line. And
I guess I just want to add my thank you.
To financial staff and senior staff, everybody. It's been a
different process this year, I think, as I pointed out
at the beginning, the mayor's budget is something that was
foisted on us by the provincial government. And regardless of
whether you wanted the mayor's mayor's superpowers or not, This
is something that is legislative that you have to do,
and I appreciate all the input from senior staff, and
especially Rebecca, for what has happened. Thank you. Councilor Scott
like to make a comment to this morning at 07:00
I was reading this book for the third time. And
I don't think I've ever seen a budget that has
made sense as it followed through. Like, as I went
through each module and I went through each thing, I
think the explanations were excellent. And I thought that everything
just fell into place and made sense, and with you
guys standing. Up here explaining things. Even a little more
in depth than what we've normally had. I think it
was a great budget. I'll jump on this bandwagon. I
wanted to say that the normal complaint is. About government
waste, whether it's from people who aren't involved and they
just want to opine. And this budget process and the
experience I've gained over the last three years has given
me the ability to look people in the eye and.
To tell them that their municipal monies are well spent.
Fair and honest all along the way. And this puts
it in black and white, but it's. The day to
day activities of the entire staff, all 50 or 70
or, depending on how many are in the summer, but.
It makes representing. The constituents. Easy when you have faith
in the staff and in the process. And I'd like
to collectively thank you all for being able to make
my life a little easier. Okay, so one last thing.
With this being a new process this year and this
being the mayor's budget, as everyone is aware. Once the
mayor's budget is put out for review, council and the
public have 30 days to review it. 30 days for
this budget is, it's the 18 January, so. I'm going
to say the 19th, because that's next Monday. So council
has the opportunity to pass a resolution. To shorten that
period. So if everyone is happy today, you have another
council meeting tomorrow. Where? You could bring something else forward,
I suppose, but after tomorrow, you don't really have any.
Other opportunity as a council to amend the mayor's budget.
So I ask if you would consider a recommendation or
a resolution to shorten the 30 day period. To 23
days so that we can put an end to the
budget review period today, and then adding on to. That.
If you recall, there's a 30 day review period, then
the mayor has ten days. To consider vetoing, and then
council has 15 days to override the veto, so. If
we shorten the 30 day period to 23 days. Today.
That puts an end to the review period. To today.
Then I will ask the mayor to do a direction
to shorten his veto period. To 1 minute and then
I'll also ask council to Shorten. Their override of the
veto. To half a minute to shorten all these things
so that everything can be completed today. Motion. To shorten.
That.
Any discussion. So that's 30 days from when the budget
was published and released public. So the public has already
had time to have comment. To council or the mayor.
As the draft budget was posted on the 19 December.
For 23 days now.
Any comments? Always about the public having an opportunity to
have a comment. So even if we waited till tomorrow,
to do this. I'd sleep a lot better tonight. But
we got a motion on the floor. We could change
the date to tomorrow. If you want. They got a
day. An amendment to tomorrow, and I'll second to the
amendment. Public didn't know what the approved budget
was till right now, counsel. And the mayor has done
it. So even if they've got a day to have
a look at it and make comment. If nobody gets
a call, so be it. If the phones ring off
the wall, then we can discuss it. Maybe tomorrow night.
Quickly, through the merit. You're somewhat correct. The approved budget
is not approved anymore. It's adopted. It's. The mayor's budget.
The mayor really didn't have to have this meeting to
talk it over at you if he chose not to.
So it isn't really approved today. But you've collectively talked
about it today, correct? I understand. What we're doing is
we give one more day to the public for comment.
If they choose to, great if choose not to. Have
a good night. Mr. Bailey. I agree with council at
Wilcox. It's only a day, but it's only a day.
Super good for tomorrow. As long as the two are.
What was the amendment? Just tomorrow? Councilor Dodge and Council
Marsh. Yes, it's fine with. Me. One day we'll make
a difference. I don't know how long I got to
go. You're not feeling well, Ron. You're not feeling well,
I'm starting to choke up. I don't really give a
damn. I just said my motion is to shorten to.
Figure out how short you want it. To be that
out. Agree to shorten. Okay, so. No vote required. That's
right. We don't need a vote, we need a loop.
Here. It's adopted to beep that out, okay? So we're
adopting it tomorrow. That's the motion on the floor right
now. Morrow, I will ask council to pass the resolution
to shorten the review period. Two days, three, whatever. Everybody
be here tomorrow. All right, so there is a couple
of bylaws. That we need to discuss. Motion pass. From.
Breed them first. Get our director to read out the
motion, the bylaws first. So. The first bylaw being authorization
to sign the fire services grant that you dealt with
in a previous report and the confirming bylaw for this
afternoon. By councilor Dodge, second by deputy mayor Sageman. All
in favor? And at 227, we'll call this budget meeting
to a close, most to adjourn. Councilor Ferguson, councilor Scott,
all in favor? Thank everyone again. Thank you to staff
Chief.