On February 5, Selwyn Township hosted a special council meeting to go over the taxation and area rate draft budget for 2026.
The township’s Manger of Financial Services, Lane Vance, presented the draft budget to council for consideration with the hope of passing the budget the following week. However, much discussion about certain aspects of the budget gave councilors pause, and they asked staff to come back with revisions.
During the draft budget presentation Vance told council that there were some impacts from 2025 that would be carried over to the 2026 budget including the arena deficits which were to be expected as well as the unexpected deficits of over $250,000 in the winter operations due to the ice storm that occurred in 2025. These deficits, Vance said, will be carried over to 2026 and cleared using a transfer from provincial grants.
He also highlighted that some of the major impacts for the 2026 budget include succession management as many of the townships senior staff members will be retiring this year, a municipal election in the fall, new HR activities to hire for Fire services and a potential new Manager of Development Services, potential to cancel or continue the LINK transportation program, taking over operations of the Lakefield Campground, and the replacement of the Ennismore Arena floor.
Sharon Stafford of Ennsimore and Jean Hall of Otonabee enjoyed the trails at Kawartha Nordic on Wednesday Feb 11. Skiers at Kawartha Nordic can rest assured that should they find trouble or injury on the trails, the ski patrol is there to help.
Trent Lakes Council approved a tax rate increase of 3.84 per cent for the 2026 municipal budget at this week’s council meeting.
This increase means that the average homeowner in Trent Lakes will pay $84.50 more in property taxes in 2026 than they did in 2025.
This amount only covers Trent Lakes taxes and does not include amounts for education and for Peterborough County.
CAO/Treasurer Donna Teggart told council that items impacting this year’s budget include increased training certification requirements for emergency services, wage increases under a new CUPE contract, costs to replace equipment and rolling stock as well as police, insurance and legal cost increases.
This also includes the cost of dividing the current CAO/Treasurer position into two different positions when Teggart retires later this year.
Douro-Dummer Treasurer, Stacy Grenier presented a report to council on Tuesday evening outlining council and committees remuneration packages for 2025.
Grenier referred to the municipal act which states that the treasurer has to give an itemized statement of remuneration of both council and local boards before March 31 of each year.
Council remuneration reported in the report is provided under bylaw 2022-37 – Council Remuneration, and this includes the annual adjustment effective January 1 of each year.
The 2022 base honorarium rates per year for members of Council as set out in the By-law are: Mayor $32,403.17, Deputy Mayor $24,566.16 and Councillors $21,995.44
These honorarium are subject to increases on January 1 of each year.
This short documentary is a portrait of a tiny town, Lakefield, Ontario, and its independent weekly, the Herald. Across North America, newspapers are dying, but in Lakefield, Terry McQuitty, the town paper’s publisher, carries on a rich, 150-year-old tradition. Set to the pace of small-town life, Unheralded is a testament to the vital role newspapers can still play, and the close bond between reporter and reader.
