The increase is larger than what Mayor Frank Campion had originally proposed. Pictured: Welland City Council. Photo Credit: City of Welland.
Wellanders will see their property taxes rise by 3.95 per cent in 2025, a larger increase than Mayor Frank Campion had originally proposed.
That represents an increase of $72.78 for the average home in Welland, which has an assessed value of $232,000.
Campion had originally pitched a property tax hike of 3.54 per cent, nearly half a percentage point lower, but councillors introduced several amendments to Campion’s proposed budget that saw spending rise.
Importantly, the 3.95 per cent property tax increase does not include the Niagara Region upper-tier increase, the final value of which is still up in the air.
It also doesn’t include education taxes.
Ultimately, 12 amendments to Campion’s budget were voted and approved by Council.
Campion still has the opportunity to veto amendments made by Council. Under the Ford government’s strong mayor powers, mayors have 10 days to veto any changes. Still, Council can override a mayor’s veto with a two-thirds vote.
Campion has not used strong mayor powers to veto budget changes in the past.
One amendment that led to an increase in spending, and therefore taxes, was to spend $30,000 to start funding Welland Public Library’s bookmobile program next October instead of waiting until 2026, so that training could take place ahead of the new year.
Councillor Graham Speck of Ward 5 wanted an opportunity to speak to individual amendments and debate the merits of some of them, but Campion insisted there would be no debate on the amendments and there ought to just be an up or down vote.
Discussion regarding the amendments had already occurred at previous meetings.
Campion and Speck got into a heated back and forth over whether there should be time allowed to debate the amendments to Campion’s budget, but Campion won the day, citing Council rules, meaning there were simply up or down votes.
Under Council rules, the amendments could have been voted on together as a block of 12 or individually. Alternatively, councillors can propose voting on amendments as a block but pulling individual items out of that block vote to be voted on separately.
Councillor Bonnie Fokkens of Ward 6 asked for two items of the 12 to be pulled out for separate votes: the bookmobile funding and the hiring of a part-time social services advisor. Council voted to keep both in the budget.
Therefore, Council voted on the package of 12 amendments in three separate votes.
Fokkens also wanted to freeze the wages of Welland’s non-union employees, but Campion said that would have legal implications and would go against pre-approved Council policy and ruled the motion out of order.
Council also approved an updated water and wastewater budget based on Regional Council’s 2025 water and wastewater rates, which were set by the Region late last month.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
