Fiscal Responsibility
In the period 2023-2025 Wilmot's population increased by less than 1%. Council approved payroll increases of 24.6% (2023 Financial Statements and Strategy Corp report) and tax increases of just under 40%. This is not sound financial management. Council has committed to raising taxes by 9%, each year, for 2027 and 2028(January 27, 2025 Budget meeting) I will provide strong financial leadership to ensure that your tax dollars are spent as efficiently as possible and tax increases are kept as low as possible.
Here is my plan:
Work to keep property tax increases as low as possible.
As the 2024 and 2025 Financial Statements have not been released it is impossible to determine the actual financial position of Wilmot. 2025 was the year of the 18.2% increase which should have a significant affect on the Township. No candidate can guarantee that they can keep increases to a certain level and if they do it is just telling you what you want to hear.
To keep tax increases to a minimum I will focus on ensuring that any increases go to the front lines and the Reserve Funds not to build the bureaucracy. Decision making will focus on minimizing lifetime costs and minimizing waste. For example, Council just approved a multi year contract that was supposed to start this year. Not one councilor asked if the project was ready to proceed. Now that the contract is awarded it is found that the township was not ready to proceed which will cost delay penalties and increased cost. A total waste of money.
Get all financial reporting up to date.
Wilmot has not released their 2024 or 2025 financial statements. This makes it impossible to comprehend the actual financial condition of the township.
This also, shows the outside world that the township has or is miss managing it finances.
Similarly, the township is required to file, 5 months after the year end, an information report with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. At this time they are 2 years behind. This could affect the townships ability to receive grants.
Freeze hiring until a better understanding of the financial position of Wilmot
There will be no new employee positions created for the 2027 tax year. The township will continue to hire for vacant positions
I will form a committee of councilor's to develop a pay scale for the top 19 people on the sunshine list to ensure that Wilmot has pay grades comparable to similarly sized townships. At present Wilmot's past CAO earned $55,000.00 than Woolwich's CAO(Sunshine List) even though they are 22% larger than Wilmot.
Provide budgets that allow the user to understand where their money is going
A properly written budget should be easy to read and provide the relevant information to conduct a proper understanding of the future. It should hide nothing. The past budgets have created a high degree of distrust within the community. This is not acceptable.
Past Observations
In the context of a municipality it should be the optimal use of the taxpayers’ dollars for the benefit of all taxpayers. In 2025 when the 18% tax increase was announced it was blamed on inadequate reserve funds. What percentage of that increase was used for reserve funds? Of the 18% tax increase only 9% went to increase the reserve funds. Where did the balance go? The other 9% went to increased operating costs. With Wilmot showing limited population growth why was a 9% increase in operating funds required. The top 7 employees enjoyed pay increase from 10.3% to 17.9%. The next 3 employees enjoyed increases of 7.6% to 9.1%.(Sunshine List) When a municipality is in questionable financial condition are these increases reasonable? I think not.
I compared Wilmot with Woolwich as there are similarities in structures. It is important to note that Woolwich’s population is about 22% higher and it has a land area about 23% larger, yet its budget is only 9% higher(from Woolwich and Wilmot Finacial Statements). Woolwich has a similar number of director level staff but Wilmot has 27 managers compared to Woolwich’s 20. Perhaps this should be reevaluated. (Strategy Corp Report)
My findings lead me to believe that Wilmot council needs to be doing a much better job. The increases in the 2026 budget were not entirely to reserve funds but were to the administrative side of the municipality. By departments here are the approved increases. Again, is this responsible?
Development Services 49%
Office of the CAO 31%
Corporate and Financial services 29%
Community Services 11%