Niagara-on-the-Lake’s council made a few changes to the draft of its annual budget for next year, which have brought the potential property tax for 2026 up to 2.19 per cent, compared to the proposed 1.81 per cent from two weeks ago.
At an assessed value of $546,000 per household, this represents a bump in the annual property tax of $33.60, versus the old draft, which would’ve seen NOTL residents pay an extra $27.87 next year.
Council had the opportunity on Monday in a special council meeting to propose amendments to the town’s newly announced budget, part of the new process under the province’s “strong mayor powers” legislation.
Councillors presented eight two possible changes, two of which passed. Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa now has until Nov. 25 to veto them.
The first change, proposed by Coun. Gary Burroughs, called for hiring a certified engineer as the development engineer, replacing the originally planned engineering technologist.
Burroughs argued that having an engineer would be an asset to multiple prongs of the municipality’s daily affairs.
“There are so many departments that would benefit from an engineer’s thought process,” he said.
This change adds $64,000 to the operations budget, bumping up the property tax by 0.36 per cent from 1.81.
The engineer would serve in the planning, public works and infrastructure departments. While Coun. Erwin Wiens did not oppose the idea, he emphasized that the town would still need to seek outside expert guidance on planning, public works and infrastructure matters.
“I don’t want to set our residents up with the expectation that the expertise will all be in-house,” said Wiens.
Coun. Wendy Cheropita expressed support for the amendment, especially if it meant having two engineers — one in the planning department and another as director of public works.
Chief administrative officer Nick Ruller described such speculation as “premature,” but Cheropita’s support grew after he spoke.
“I’m even more supportive now that we would have an engineer on the planning staff,” she said.
Burroughs estimated the cost of the amendment at $64,000, or 0.36 percent of the budget.
The second amendment, proposed by Coun. Adriana Vizzari, sought to extend the 15 per cent discount currently offered to residents with three or more children for swim lessons to include the swim team, recreation programs and camps.
This change adds an extra $3,000 to the budget, bumping up property taxes by 0.02 per cent from 1.81.
Vizzari supported extending the discount to non-residents as well, explaining that non-residents could only access the discount after spots were filled by residents.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor supported the discount for residents but expressed hesitation about extending it to non-residents.
“I would support the discount for residents, but I’m not comfortable extending it to non-residents,” said O’Connor.
Parks and recreation manager Kevin Turcotte clarified that residents have a five-day window to register for programs before non-residents can sign up.
Wiens, however, saw the proposal as beneficial, even if it meant non-residents might receive a discount.
“I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water,” he said.
One of the six proposed changes that didn’t go through was O’Connor’s idea to raise the parking rate for all paid parking areas in the town by 25 cents, which would’ve raised an extra $152,000 in revenue, with no direct impact on the tax levy.
“This is a nominal increase,” said O’Connor.
Right now, the town is charging $5.25 an hour to park on Queen Street and $5 elsewhere in NOTL.
Wiens supported the idea, saying that compared to parking rates in bigger cities, NOTL’s rates don’t attract many complaints: “I don’t see people being upset saying, ‘I’ve had to spend an extra 75 cents to park on Queen Street for three hours.'”
The town is waiting on a parking study, which will not be ready until late 2026. Because of this, Coun. Andrew Niven said he would prefer to wait until the study is completed before the parking rate is hiked.
Other proposed amendments included reducing a grant to Niagara College, funding wayfinding signage, implementing vehicle-usage monitoring programs, installing floating docks at River Beach and using municipal accommodation tax funds for signs.
Under the strong-mayor powers, the mayor tables the budget, and council has 30 days to propose amendments. Council can overturn a veto with a two-thirds majority. The lord mayor has eight days to veto the amendments made to this budget.
The town has set a Dec. 3 deadline to finalize the budget. If no amendments had been made, the budget would have passed without changes.
