Region approves 9.6 per cent budget increase

Niagara Regional council has approved its 2025 budget with a 9.6 per cent increase to the levy impacting local taxpayers.

For the average home in Niagara, the increase equates to about $191 on the regional tax bill.

One of the most contentious items in the nearly $540-million budget was $213-million for the Niagara Regional Police, which went through a series of ups and downs in recent weeks.

On Nov. 14, the Region’s budget review committee endorsed the police service’s spending plan for 2025, after asking for cuts to the tune of $3.65 million that would come in the form of staggering the hiring of 33 new frontline officers and deferring those salaries until next July. This set the police’s budget increase at 13.2 per cent, a step down from the 15.1 per cent initially pitched by Chief Bill Fordy.

The trimmed budget was set to be approved about a week later, with further cuts requested by council asking for an additional $1.067 million in savings be found. But top brass at the police refused to make that change.

On Thursday night, during a lengthy discussion that touched on multiple components of the region’s budget, council ended up approving a spending plan that is lower than what the NRP was sticking with in their request.

This came after St. Catharines Coun. Brian Heit recommended the NRP take $842,149 off its budget, referring to a statement made by the chief during a police services board meeting that this amount could be put on hold.

St. Catharines Regional Coun. Laura Ip, also a member of the police services board, offered some clarity to the rest of council and staff as to what Fordy’s reasoning was behind the dollar figure.

She said the majority of the police board voted against the recommendation for further cuts because the amount the police were looking for was meant to address a massive workload being felt by detectives assigned to domestic violence cases.

“That’s why the board voted against making further adjustments,” said Ip, adding it's “really important to understand the context.”

Heit’s amendment was approved by a 15-10 vote and the overall police budget, much later in the meeting, was approved by a 19-8 vote.

The Region is also telling the province that $10 million of the police budget should be covered by that upper level of government, due to 5.7 per cent of the increase being attributed to changes mandated by the province.

The province recently announced a $77-million fund for small and rural municipalities served by Ontario Provincial Police.

Regional chair Jim Bradley said funding should also be made available to cover costs of local police, and noted that the argument made by Fordy about the NRP’s needs recently were “reasonable.”

Another hot topic that generated plenty of debate at Thursday’s meeting was the hiring of 12 full-time staff across various departments with a cost altogether of about $2.3 million.

Niagara Region CAO Ron Tripp insisted on a number of occasions that the positions are “very necessary,” despite some councillors calling for them to be put on hold.

Before those positions were eventually approved when a vote took place later in the evening, Tripp said if they weren’t, “council can expect them recommended next year.”

Fort Erie Regional Coun. Tom Insinna called an increase above nine per cent “ludicrous,” and asked if council and staff have “lost our marbles” by raising taxes by such an amount. “How can we do that?” he asked. “I find that a bit hard to swallow.”

Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini said potential savings that may come from changes in how the Region and lower-tier municipalities interact through land use planning matters, which start at the end of March, should be an avenue to alleviate a tax increase. He called what was being recommended by staff “unsustainable.”

Port Colborne Regional Coun. Fred Davies also raised questions about the planning changes and agreed to raise concerns at an upcoming planning committee meeting in the new year.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Regional Coun. Andrea Kaiser said she appreciates a stance shared that the provincial and federal governments need to support lower-tier governments like the Region, but said, “we have a buck that stops here.”

She’s not in favour of cutting services and staffing, nor having a mindset of “less impact for today and more for tomorrow,” as council will be faced with another large increase in 2026 budget deliberations.

St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe said it would be “chaos” if the budget doesn’t get approved, and added that staff have done everything they can to cut corners without compromising a required delivery of services.

“The professional people we pay to come up with a budget have done that,” he said.

The 2025 budget continues to reflect the ongoing pressures faced by local government, said budget chair and Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop.

“This year’s budget process has been challenging. We have worked to address critical budgetary needs including investments in our municipal infrastructure and support for our programs and services that Niagara residents rely on,” Redekop said in a news release.

“In order to continue to deliver cost-effective provincially mandated social services and policing to our residents in a sustainable manner, municipalities clearly need greater financial assistance from the province.”

The levy budget is impacted by the operating budget for regional departments, NRP, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Niagara Regional Housing and Court Services, as well as the consolidated $376-million capital budget.

Below are highlights of the 2025 budget, according to the Region’s news release:

General Levy Highlights

• $5.4 million in development grants to support major industrial investments

• $1.5 million to support additional ambulance services

• $1.3 million to support a new homeless shelter in South Niagara Falls

• $700,000 to support investments to stabilize our Niagara Region Housing stock

• $1.8 million to support investments in social assistance for 21 new staff members to improve the ratio between case managers and clients

Capital Budget Highlights

• $100 million for Infrastructure upgrades to support major industrial investments

• Eastside Pumping Station Forcemain replacement in Port Colborne

• New Barrick Road watermain in Port Colborne

• $29 million for capacity improvements on RR98 Montrose Road – Lyons Creek to Chippawa Creek Road in Niagara Falls