Special Council Budget Meeting

Date: Wednesday November 12, 2025
Time: 7pm

Location: City Hall, Council Chambers, 26 Francis Street, Lindsay or via Livestream on the City’s YouTube Channel.

The meeting begins with an overview of the Mayor's proposed budget by Ron Taylor, Chief Administrative Officer and Sara Beukeboom, Director of Corporate Services.

Get Involved

Members of the public are welcome to speak to Council for five minutes on a topic related to the budget, either in person or via zoom. This is called making a deputation to Council.

To make a deputation relating to the 2026 Proposed Budget:

To make a deputation electronically via zoom or to register in advance to make a deputation in-person submit a Deputation Request Form by 12:00 pm on November 12, 2025. The Form is available on the website: Deputation Request Form.

Or

To make a deputation in-person in Council Chambers, the deadline to register will be 6:45 pm on November 12, 2025. A sign-up sheet will be available at City Hall for the in-person registration.

OR

Submit correspondence relating to the 2026 Proposed Budget by sending an email to clerks@kawarthalakes.ca by 12:00pm on November 12, 2025.

Read ahead:

• View or download a copy of the 2026 Proposed Budget online, and follow along with all other meetings in the Budget process at www.kawarthalakes.ca/budget.

What Matters Most:
Residents’ Priorities for $1.6M in 2026 Budget Funding

Top funded projects in order of priority. Right columns notes the additional funding proposed in the 2026 Budget.

Priority	2026 Proposed Budget Increase over 2025
Local Health Care	$154,000 Support for the Kawartha Lakes Health Care Initiative to help recruit doctors and operate after-hours clinics. This municipal contribution complements provincial health care programs and helps ensure residents have access to care when they need it.
Infrastructure Levy	$804,000 Increased from 1.5% to 2% to build and maintain roads, buildings and other city assets
Enhanced Emergency Response and Recovery	$100,000 Emergency Contingency Reserve to be used for unforeseen weather events.
Homelessness Supports	$417,000 Including a new Integrated Care Hub, run in partnership with the John Howard Society, that will offer 12 emergency shelter beds and drop-in services that connect people to housing, health, and social supports. The City is helping sustain these important community services while provincial funding remains limited.
Tree Planting	$117,000 Doubling of local tree planting to replenish tree canopy.
Child Care	$90,000 127 new licensed child care spaces are planned to open for children aged 0 to 4 by the end of the year, pending approvals.
No change, keep taxes as low as possible	Mayor directed Budget Committee to lower the operating increase to 4%. Budget Committee lowered further to 3.75%

1. The municipal budget is complex.

Watch a video series to explain the budgeting process, where the funds come from, how taxes are spent, and more.

2. It's helpful to think of the municipal budget like your household budget.

• Both households and municipalities must balance income and expenses, prioritize essential needs, and make choices about where to spend limited funds.
• Both plan for regular (operating) and improvement (capital) spending, and must plan carefully to avoid overspending.
• Municipal budgets, like household budgets, must be balanced—if expenses exceed revenues, service level cuts or tax increases are needed.

3. Municipal Budgets have fixed and variable costs.

The 2025 Budget had approximately $105 million in fixed costs, as shown below.

Variable Costs

While a large part of the municipal budget is fixed, either by previous Council decisions, or due to provincially mandated standards, a portion is flexible and can change based on service levels set by Council.

The flexible portion of the budget funds core services and programs, such as emergency services, parks and recreation, road improvements and maintenance, customer service and many of the services residents use every day.

Within these areas, the Mayor and Council have choices on where to spend additional funds to meet community priorities, and your voice helps guide those decisions. These additional funds may come from grants, user fees or funding from other levels of government, or they may come from increases to the tax levy.