‘You’ve lost control’: Wilmot residents have their say on a proposed 51% property tax increase

With a little over one week remaining to make changes to the draft budget for 2025, council and staff at the Township of Wilmot turned to residents to find solutions and hear their opinions on a proposed 51 per cent increase to property taxes.

Nearly two dozen residents of communities across the township flocked to council chambers on Tuesday to make their voices heard in the face of an unprecedented increase to property taxes.

The latest edition of the draft budget, discussed at a council meeting in early December, includes a gross expenditure budget of more than $33 million with a property tax levy requirement of more than $18 million — a 50.84 per cent increase from 2024.

Wilmot’s chief financial officer, Greg Clark, previously pointed to decisions and directions from prior administrations as contributing factors for the hefty increase.

“We voted for you, we hoped that you were going to represent us to our benefit, not to our bad situation,” Andre Barkratz, a Wilmot resident said at the meeting on Tuesday.

He noted that if council and staff need help balancing the books, there are many knowledgeable seniors in the community who would offer up their time free of charge to solve this issue and find areas where money can be saved and costs can be cut.

Another resident, Ted Shapiro, noted that Wilmot is made up of mostly retired seniors on fixed incomes with no opportunities to go out and earn more money to meet a “ridiculous tax increase,” especially as they’re already facing a long list of taxes from multiple levels of government.

“Many Wilmot resident are already struggling,” said Rory Farnan. “There are neighbours in our community who are choosing between paying their bills or feeding themselves.”

Richard Jacks claimed that the township has an apparent history of financial mismanagement, also noting that the council were not trained in municipal finances upon their election, and are now being asked to navigate their way through what he called a “crisis.”

“If after hearing everybody tonight you still come back to us and say ‘We need a double-digit increase in taxes,’ I’m going to say to you it’s probably time to pull the rip-cord,” said Jacks. “Pick up the phone, call the province, and ask them to put in place a special financial monitor, because you’ve lost control, and you have no idea how to fix the problem.”

Councillor Stewart Cressman claimed that there were a number of errors in the statements made by Jacks, noting that a number of councillors have been chairs of boards where they had oversight on between $50 and $75 million in spending, giving them adequate financial know-how.

The budget will be finalized at a council meeting on Jan. 16.