Draft budget projects 5.9 per-cent tax rate increase for 2025

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The bottom line for the recently released draft 2025 budget is a 5.9 per-cent increase to the tax rate over last year.

According to the City of Stratford’s property tax calculator, a relatively new tool available for residents on the city’s website, with that rate, a home assessed at $350,000 would owe $5,665.27 next year. That is $316 more than this year’s total.

Though impressed with the work that staff have done, Mayor Martin Ritsma said he would like the tax rate lowered to five per cent or lower during deliberations.

“I'm being a realist,” Ritsma told the Times. “Some people will say two per cent but I know that two per cent will cause us to fall behind as opposed to stay current and stay on top of issues in our community. And once again, I'm one of 11. … That’s not meant to push or cause our council to rethink what their plans are, but certainly that’s my wish as the mayor of the city.”

The full budget was released on Oct. 28 ahead of the deliberations Stratford city council will do in late November and early December. It is composed of three items: the operating budget, capital plan and expansion initiatives.

The operating budget composes each city department’s day-to-day budget to keep the status quo service level. The capital plan consists of projects related to tangible capital assets. The expansion initiatives are initiatives staff have identified as avenues to expand services.

According to the treasurer’s summary included in the budget, the 2025 draft budget is focused on maintaining current service levels and incorporating goals important for the community.

Operating expenses are expected to increase by $14 million compared to last year, sitting at $33.5 million, and non-taxation revenues are expected to rise by $8 million to $20 million.

Capital projects are expected to cost $37 million next year. The most expensive projects included are mainly road-reconstruction projects like the Avondale and Avon reconstruction priced at $5.6 million, though the capital plan lists federal and provincial funding for said project. For that specific reconstruction, $3 million is on tap from upper levels of government.

Expansion requests are not included in the 5.9 per-cent levy increase and, if approved by council, will raise the rates. If all requests are approved, they will add just over $3.4 million or 2.29 per cent to the total levy.

Most expansion requests come in the form of staffing, of which 14.5 full-time equivalent positions are being suggested across multiple departments.

This year is also the first time that corporate services has structured a multi-year operating budget with the intent to focus on this year but also look at the period between 2026 and 2028.

“Council will only be approving the 2025 budget, but this forward-looking approach for operations as well as capital requirements through the 10-year forecast should assist in efforts to create cost predictability,” the treasurer’s summary reads. “It is the first year, so it will require a lot of additional work through the upcoming year to identify those higher-risk and more volatile revenues and expenses and set parameters around discretionary impacts.”

Last year’s tax rate began at 8.27 per cent and fluctuated during deliberations, when council expanded and cut different line items, until it was approved at 7.51 per cent. This year is noticeably less, but as noted in the treasurer’s summary of the draft, 2024 was a year of “higher-than-historic” inflation and general uncertainty regarding finances.

Interested residents can use the property tax calculator to see a dollar-breakdown of the budget – where each dollar of their taxes goes to.

For instance, for the average home assessed at $350,000, $602.39 goes towards the engineering, roads, fleet, waste and storm divisions’ operations, $625.41 goes towards the Stratford Fire Department operations, and $848.80 goes to the Stratford Police Service’s operations, the three largest pieces of the city’s operating budget.

Notably, the assessed value that is key to what residents pay each year comes from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) rather than the market value of a home.

The last time a general provincewide assessment occurred was in 2016, before housing prices exploded across much of the country. Last summer, the Ontario government amended the Assessment Act to extend the postponement of the reassessment through to the end of the 2021-2024 assessment cycle. A home’s assessed value is included on tax bills.

The first full day of budget deliberations occurred on Nov. 28, after press time. Two more all-day meetings are scheduled for Dec. 3 and Dec. 9. A full report on the meetings will be included in the Dec. 13 edition of the Stratford Times.

The full, 620-page draft budget can be found at www.stratford.ca/en/inside-city-hall/resources/CORPORATE-SERVICES/FINANCE/Budget/2025-Budget/MASTER-digital-2025-draft-budget-package.pdf.