Niagara-on-the-Lake council rejected a plan Tuesday to spend $95,029 in leftover community and youth grant money, leaving the full amount with the town for now.
Staff had recommended using some of the money to support four one-time requests that either fell outside the grant program’s rules or were not submitted through the regular application process.
Those requests included $8,000 for Friends of Fort George’s Canada Day cake funding, $13,200 for Red Roof Retreat’s unbudgeted project costs, $2,500 for the Niagara Regional Science Fair’s sponsorship request and $2,043.95 for Niagara-on-the-Lake Pickleball Club tournament fees.
Staff also recommended spending about $20,000 on free public swims for the rest of 2026 and up to another $1,000 on targeted senior and youth drop-in recreation programming.
The remaining money, up to $48,285 under staff’s plan, would have stayed in the town’s general revenues.
Instead, council rejected the spending proposals, leaving the full $95,029 in the town’s general revenues until council decides whether to redirect it elsewhere.
The decision came after council deferred staff’s original recommendation May 12, when some councillors pushed back on using the leftover funds for eligible town recreation programs and wanted the option broadened to other community and youth programs.
Several councillors raised concerns about finding new ways to spend the money after the grant process had already wrapped up.
Coun. Maria Mavridis said leftover money should not be spent just because it exists.
“The discretionary grant program is set up for a reason,” she said.
Mavridis said the remaining money should be “put towards next year’s budget,” rather than redirected outside the program’s usual rules.
“My concern is we fund a swim program this year for $20,000 and then next year, the kids come and say, ‘They got it free last year, what about this year?’” Mavridis said.
“I feel like it’s on the fly, so while I appreciate that councilors have requested the staff come back with something like this, and I appreciate that you came back this fast, I can’t support this,” she said.
Coun. Erwin Wiens agreed, saying council deferred the item earlier so it would not be decided too quickly.
“I’d like to see the money go back towards the budget for next year,” he said.
But Coun. Andrew Niven said he preferred keeping the money tied to community and youth needs, rather than sending it into a broader town account.
“(If we) allocate those funds specifically for community and youth needs in the future, as opposed to just a random bucket, I think it’s still aligned with what we, as council, wanted the funds to go towards, and it may be useful in the future,” he said.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor said the town has more urgent priorities.
“I would rather see the remaining funds go to something that is a priority, such as perhaps defending decisions this council makes at the (Ontario Land Tribunal),” she said.
Coun. Gary Burroughs asked for the outside requests and recreation spending to be voted on separately, but council ultimately rejected all the spending proposals and left the money with the town.
