Fort Erie residents to feel impact of Niagara Region budget with 9.6-per-cent increase

Fort Erie Regional Councillor Tom Insinna says he is confronted regularly by local residents concerned about raising taxes.

He said this last week during a budget review committee meeting at Niagara Region headquarters, part of an hours-long discussion that eventually led to the Region’s general levy being increased by 9.6 per cent from last year.

This comes on top of a seven per cent increase last year.

Insinna said he hears from people who claim they have to decide whether to pay their bills or to put food on their tables.

Many talk about the “prospect of losing their home,” he said, also calling the Region’s 2025 increase “ludicrous.”

The increase adds up to about $191 on the regional tax bill for the average home.

“How can we do that?” asked Insinna.

The Town of Fort Erie’s budget process is underway but not yet completed.

The average household in Fort Erie will be paying $136 a year more for water next year.

Town councillors approved the water and wastewater operating budget at a December 4 budget meeting. The 7.98 per cent increase works out to $136 a year, or $11.36 a month for a home that uses 16 cubic metres of water a month.

Increasing costs from the Region is driving much of the local increase. Regional treatment costs account for just under two thirds of the town’s water and wastewater budget.

Fort Erie’s general levy budget, which will determine how much local taxes will be going up by, is scheduled to be approved in the new year.

The capital budget has been approved at $26 million consisting of 66 projects.

The plan calls for no new debentures next year, with two thirds of the money coming from reserves and the bulk of the remaining being paid for with development charges. Grants and other external funding make up the rest.

At the Region, Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop is budget chair, the member of regional council that runs meetings related to the 2025 spending plan.

He said the 2025 budget continues to reflect the ongoing pressures faced by local government.

“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,” said Redekop in a news release from the Region.

“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,” he added.

One form of assistance the Region is asking the province to cover is $10 million of the Niagara Regional Police (NRP) budget, due to 5.7 per cent of the increase being attributed to changes mandated by the province.

The police budget was approved with a 13.2 per cent increase, totaling about $213 million.

But approving the police budget was not an easy task, as it was approved and then put on hold until the top brass at the NRP could find more than $1 million in savings after already finding a way to save $3.65 million by staggering the hiring of 33 new frontline officers.

Insinna said $1.067 million in savings should still be found but the police denied exploring those cuts, and the budget ended up being approved last week.

However, through a motion by St. Catharines Regional Councillor Brian Heit, regional council did approve the budget with more than $800,000 being cut.

The Region’s levy budget comprises the operating budget for regional departments, police, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Niagara Regional Housing and Court Services, along with the consolidated $376-million capital budget.

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