2026 Budget Update: Practical Savings and Responsible Decisions

2026 Budget Update: Putting Your Tax Dollars to Work—Carefully

When families and businesses are stretched thin, the last thing they need is a Council that isn't watching the same bottom line they are. In this year's budget deliberations, my focus remained simple: find real savings without cutting the services Ward 11 residents count on.

My Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility

As your representative, I want to be very clear: I have never supported the City’s annual tax increases. In fact, I have consistently voted against budget increases every single year since I was elected because I believe the City can, and must, do a better job of managing the resources it already has. My priority is finding real savings without cutting the services Ward 11 residents count on.

Navigating the New "Mayor’s Budget" Process

Under the province’s new "Strong Mayor" legislation, the budget process has fundamentally changed. I no longer have a final "yes or no" vote on the budget as a whole; instead, the process only allows me to propose specific cuts and amendments to the Mayor's pre-set plan. Within this restricted framework, I have used every tool available to push for practices that lower the tax burden and bring more common sense to City Hall.

Changing the Way the City Does Business

Last year, I introduced a motion for staff to study contingency funds within Public Works. My goal was to see if project managers could work with tighter budgets that safely dedicate fewer funds to "just-in-case" contingencies, keeping that money in your pocket rather than padding City reserves.

As a result of that study, I brought forward two motions this year—one for Public Works and another for Planning and Economic Development capital projects. Together, they identified $1.9 million in savings on this year’s budget and will continue to save taxpayers money on all future capital projects.

Furthermore, a practice inspired by my motion from last year—which was originally defeated at the budget table but subsequently adopted by staff—resulted in an additional $9.1 million in savings through "right-timing" budget asks. These shifts reflect a new, more economical way of doing business at City Hall.

Leading by Example

I also voted to eliminate taxpayer-funded working lunches during Council and standing committee meetings. When residents are watching every dollar, their elected officials should be too. While these amounts are smaller in the grand scheme of a city budget, it is important to me that we change City practices to be more cost-effective from the top down.

Protecting Vital Services

Beyond these motions, I supported several measures to keep our long-term financial house in order:

• Staffing Limits: Supported limiting new non-essential staff additions to keep long-term salary costs in check.

• Infrastructure Management: Voted to defer $500,000 in capital spending to 2027 to reduce immediate pressure on the levy while keeping vital work on track.

• Service Protection: Supported continuing commercial recycling pickup using reserves and funding our climate change office initiatives.

• Rural Maintenance: Fought for a proper review before any changes to grass-cutting levels, ensuring our rural areas are not unfairly impacted.

  
  

The Bottom Line

Disciplined budgeting isn't about cutting for the sake of cutting. It's about making sure every dollar spent is actually earning its place and lowering the tax burden for our residents. I will continue to advocate for a "line-by-line" review of our spending to ensure Ward 11 gets the value it deserves.