{"id":6460,"date":"2025-12-11T19:32:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=6460"},"modified":"2025-12-11T22:44:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T03:44:01","slug":"strong-mayor-powers-wilmot","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=6460","title":{"rendered":"Strong Mayor Powers & Wilmot’s Budget Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

If when scrolling through the pages the “I” pointer or arrow \u00a0changes to a hand, then click on a URL link.<\/h3>\n

Legislation Requirement<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ontario “Regulation 530\/22: PART VI.I OF THE ACT<\/em><\/strong><\/a>“, states,<\/p>\n

“In writing requirements re s. 284.3 of Act<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>2. <\/b>When directing municipal employees under section 284.3 of the Act, the head of council shall, by the next business day, provide a written record of the direction to the clerk and chief administrative officer, if one is appointed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other in writing requirements<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>3. <\/b>Except as otherwise provided in the Act and this Regulation, when exercising a power or performing a duty under Part VI.1 of the Act the head of council shall,<\/em><\/p>\n

(a)\u00a0 by the next business day, provide the written record produced in accordance with subsection 284.4 (1) of the Act to each member of council and to the clerk; and<\/em><\/p>\n

(b)\u00a0 subject to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, make the written record available to the public.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Wilmot’s Compliance with Recordings<\/span><\/h3>\n

To comply with the regulation Wilmot has created a page on its website where Strong Mayor Powers and Duties are outlined<\/a>, and a record of mayoral decisions and\/or directions are published. Not all of the mayor’s directions to staff are recorded because of interpretations of the F.O.I. Act to keep some private from publlic scrutiny.<\/p>\n

MDE-2025-02<\/a> reports that the Acting CAO, Greg Clark, was reassigned. It does not indicate that he was terminated shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

MDE-2025-14<\/a> reports that the mayor has hired KPMG “to assist the Township of Wilmot in the preparation of the 2025 municipal budget and the development of a long-term fiancial<\/em> plan”.\u00a0<\/strong>It is interesting to note that KPMG has been hired, as of October 21, 2025, to prepare a 2025 budget – which has supposedly been in place for 10 months already. The reality is that the approved 2025 budget<\/a> was approved by Council on February 24, 2025, but as it is published on the website, consists of a single page of “levy<\/a><\/em> requirements<\/strong>“, not expenditure and revenue sources numbers. In other words, the Wilmot financial affairs are a “mess”. This explains why KPMG has been hired to recreate a budget for 2025<\/span><\/strong>, based on an analysis of “actual expenditures”.<\/p>\n

KPMG Hired to Prepare 2025 Budget & Long-Term Financial Plan<\/span><\/h3>\n

The phrase, “to assist the Township of Wilmot in the preparation of … a long-term fiancial plan<\/em><\/strong>” means KPMG will also be preparing documentation that is the usual task of hired professional staff. Things such as: the 2026 Capital Budget proposal<\/span>, the 10-year Capital forecast<\/span>, the 2026 Utilities levy calculation<\/span>, the asset management plan for above-ground and underground infrastructure risks<\/span> over the next 30 years, the reports required by the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing<\/em>, called\u00a0Financial Information Returns<\/strong><\/a><\/span> for the years 2023 and 2024 (which were in arrears as of November 10, 2025).<\/p>\n

Wilmot versus a Comparator Municipality<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is the link to the Wilmot<\/span><\/strong> 2025 budget<\/a> as shown on the Wilmot website as of Dec\/11\/2025.<\/p>\n

These are the links to the 2025 Strathroy – Caradoc<\/span><\/strong> budget, which is used by consultants as a “comparator” municipality. Notice the amount of detail in a “budget” in Strathroy versus a “levy” budget in Wilmot. Yes, the Wilmot financial affairs are a mess and it is appropriate that major changes in the personnel and software capabilities be installed immediately.<\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2025 Budget Presentation<\/a> 1<\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2025 Budget Presentation<\/a> 2<\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2025 Tax Calculations<\/a><\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2025 Draft Detailed Operations Budget<\/a><\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2025 Proposed Capital Budget<\/a><\/p>\n

Strathroy: 2023-25 Taxation & Grants<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilmot Mayor Using a Closed Budget Process<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Wilmot mayor has followed some other mayors in assuming that she has no choice but to propose a budget before February 1st. \u00a0WRONG<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Follow the sequence of legislation items, right up to where February 1st is bypassed if the budget goes to the council.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The legislation, in effect, has language that can be interpreted the way a mayor chooses<\/strong><\/span> to.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The O.M.A. section 284.16 (2) states,\u00a0“The head of council shall, in accordance with\u00a0<\/span><\/em>the regulations<\/span>, prepare a proposed budget for the municiplaity and provide the proposed budget to the council for the council’s consideration<\/i>.”<\/li>\n
  2. Regulation 530\/22, section 7, states,\u00a07<\/strong>. (1) The head of council shall, on or before February 1 of each year, (a) prepare a proposed budget for the municipality that includes the estimates of sums required under subsection 289 (1) or 290 (1) of the Act, as the case may be; (b) provide the proposed budget to each member of council and to the clerk; and \u00a9 make the proposed budget available to the public.<\/li>\n
  3. Regulation 530\/22, section 7, states,\u00a07<\/strong>. (2) If the head of council does not propose a budget to council by February 1<\/span> in accordance with subsection (1), the council shall prepare and adopt the budget<\/span> <\/strong>for the municipality.<\/li>\n
  4. Ontario Guideline “10-strong-mayor-powers-and-duties#section-5<\/a>” states, “Municipal budgets help define priorities for service delivery and projects each year. The budget process for designated municiplaities is outlined in this regulation. (530\/22) It is a local respopnsibility to determine the scope of a head of council’s powers and how they apply in the municipality’s circumstances.<\/span><\/strong><\/em>“<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. THEREFORE, a mayor chooses to either a) take the controlling power over proposing a budget, b) delegating the task of creating all parts of a budget to professional staff and\/or outside consultants, or c) a mayor can choose early in the process to not meet the February 1 timeline and instead work in cooperation with the council to follow the traditional consultative process that requires a mayor, councillors, a CAO, professional staff, consultants if chosen, and citizen\/tax payers to all cooperate and contribute to building all parts of a budget for “the municipality’s particular circumstances“.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
  6. Wilmot’s mayor has chosen option (b) – KPMG & department heads. THere is no guaranteee that tax payers will have meaningful opportunities to (a) get presentations from the mayor, KPMG and staff in townhill public forums, (b) ask questions in townhall public forums, (c) listen to each others’ questions and the answers to develop an understanding of the issues and options, (d) make informed suggestions \/ amendments to councillors, (e) develop trust in the corporation through meaningful participation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If when scrolling through the pages the “I” pointer or arrow \u00a0changes to a hand, then click on a URL link. Legislation Requirement Ontario “Regulation 530\/22: PART VI.I OF THE ACT“, states, “In writing requirements re s. 284.3 of Act 2. When directing municipal employees under section 284.3 of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5916,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6460","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6460"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6499,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6460\/revisions\/6499"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}