There is a legitimate process for extending “urgency” deadlines. The mayor needs only to declare in writing that they are sharing powers among Council as a body, and the budget is no longer a “strong mayor’s budget” and becomes a “Council (of 6) budget”. The 30 days after tabling deadline disappears and democratic decision making reappears.

The “Strong Mayor” CAPITAL Budget as tabled needs to be amended as follows:

  1. Inconsistencies and/or omissions on page 7 of the mayor’s 2026 Budget document (Revenues vs Expenditures don’t balance) be reconciled, and,
  2. Inconsistencies and/or omissions in projected Capital Budget costs (page 7 vs Appendix A data) for the mayor’s 2026 budget be reconciled, and,
  3. Inconsistencies and/or omissions in projected Operations Budget costs (page 7 vs Booklet pages 21 to 37) for the mayor’s 2026 budget be reconciled, and,
  4. Inconsistencies and/or omissions in projected Water & Wastewater / “Utilities” Budget costs for the mayor’s 2026 budget be reconciled, and be presented in a separate budget section, and,
  5. Inconsistencies and/or omissions in projected Non-tax Revenues for the mayor’s 2026 budget be reconciled, and,
  6. KPMG, through the mayor, in cooperation with staff, is directed to clarify and confirm the estimated cost amount for line item #22, “Consulting Services for New Official Plan” as submitted by the Director of Development Services, Report DS-2025-05, and include that item in Appendix A in the format of a “2026 Capital Budget Request Form #x”, with an accurate, individually discrete identification number, and amend the capital budget accordingly if required, and,
  7. KPMG, through the mayor, in cooperation with staff, is directed to clarify and confirm the cost amount for line item #26, “Infrastructure Services” as submitted by the Director of Development Services, Report DS-2025-05 and add that cost to the Appendix A list’s total costing, and amend the capital budget accordingly, and,
  8. KPMG, through the mayor, is directed to provide rationale for why a presently ongoing capital expense, ($95,000 in 2026 and $500,000 in 2027) as reported in the 10 Year Capital Plan submitted for Council’s information, for a SWM Facility at Nithview, is not included in the Appendix A listing and subsequent total request, and to amend the omission by adding it to the Appendix A, capital projects list of the mayor’s budget, and amend the capital budget accordingly, and,
  9. KPMG, in coordination with Township staff, is directed to label all 2026 Capital Budget Request Forms with accurate, individually discrete identification numbers for clarity and transparency to Council and the Wilmot citizens / tax payers, and,
  10. These revisions shall be released ‘in toto’ to councillors and Wilmot citizens / tax payers, and subsequently,
  11. These revisions shall be returned to Council at a future public meeting of Council for review and potential suggested amendments contributed by the citizens / tax payers of Wilmot to their councillors, and,
  12. Any further discussion of the capital portion of the budget shall be tabled definitely until amended data is received from KPMG and the mayor at a subsequent meeting of Council, and,
  13. The dates outlined on page 41 of the mayor’s tabled budget be revised by extension so that KPMG has sufficient time to make all needed amendments, and the citizens / tax payers have had opportunity to review the amended data and make suggested budget amendments to their councillors, and,
  14. To facilitate a timeline to ensure the transparent review to produce accurate information the mayor, as head of council, shall TONIGHT, in written documentation delegate her powers to solely propose a ‘Strong Mayor 2026 Budget’, to Council as a body of 6 members to become a ‘Council 2026 Budget’, and thus the arbitrary date of February 1st becomes moot, and,
  15. The total request of $2,600,000 for item #23, aerial ladder truck, be distributed over 4 years, from 2026 to 2029, which could align with the potential construction of a fire station into which it may be located, as recommended in the 2020 Fire Master Plan, and thus permit the Township to gradually address its fiscal situation.
  16. The capital request for a replacement aerial ladder truck by capped for the 2026 capital budget at $300,000 and $900,000 in each of 2027, 2028 and 2029.
  17. An additional capital budget request be submitted that addresses the construction of a fire station in New Hamburg, with a capped 2026 capital budget ask of $600,000. (See line #20, Station 3 design and construction, in November 10th “2025 Draft 10 Year Capital Plan”, 7-pages document.)
  18. The mayor’s budget be amended by addition on page 6, “Message from the Mayor”, a new paragraph 5 be inserted which will read as follows;

“In addition to paying provincial taxes, Wilmot tax payers also pay taxes to the Region of Waterloo. Examples of additional external cost pressures on local tax payers is the services’ costs which were historically the responsibility of the Province of Ontario downloading onto municipalities, thereby reducing previously assigned municipal revenue sources. Added costs include addressing challenges such as the housing crisis, the opioid epidemic, homeless encampments, etc. Revenue losses include the Province disallowing Wilmot from collecting Development Charges from construction or renovation of Long-Term Care homes. This revenue was used, previously, to pay for the added infrastructure costs such growth created. Those infrastructure costs are now borne by all Wilmot tax payers.”, OR, The above insertion be placed on a new page in the Budget.

19. The mayor, Human Resources and KPMG are directed to provide a complete list of all FTE with descriptions of their FTE, role, title and purpose, total annualized compensation costs corresponding to positions presently filled, and the FTE corresponding to existing vacancies to be filled, and,

20. The mayor, H.R. and KPMG are directed to provide a complete list of all additional FTE with descriptions of their FTE, role, title and purpose, total annualized compensation costs for all positions that are proposed to be created through this budget, for example Deputy CAO, Economic Development Officer, etc. and,

21. Any and all additional FTE (for examples – Deputy CAO, Economic Development Officer, etc.) positions will be approved individually by Council during this 2026 budget process, and,

22. KPMG, through the mayor in cooperation with department heads, will amend by additional clarity, each department’s budget chart such that the “Compensation” line has an additional sub-column indicating the total FTE for each budget year, with corresponding changes reported, and,

23. KPMG, through the mayor, in cooperation with department heads, will provide an additional budget page that is a summary of the corporation’s FTE by department such that the bottom-line totals accurately report the total FTE, and the total FTE compensation cost for the Township’s budget, with year-over-year changes from 2024 to 2026.