1.5% tax increase expected yearly to finance capital needs
HALDIMAND—Haldimand Council met Thursday, February 5, 2026 to review $46 million of infrastructure spending for 2026 and $382 million in planned spending over the next 10 years for the 2026 Tax-Supported Capital Budget.
Haldimand County CAO Michael Di Lullo spoke ahead of the presentation, thanking County staff for their hard work preparing the budget.
“The capital budget pays for major assets and long-term investments and is heavily focused on enhancing and building new municipal infrastructure, like roadways, public facilities, parks, and community recreation amenities,” said Di Lullo, who announced a total of 301 capital projects planned for 2026 across Haldimand.
Financial Services General Manager Mark Merritt said the budget was driven by two key principles: alignment with the Council-approved asset management plan and financial stability over the forecasted period.
“Due to provincial legislation, we updated our asset management plan in the summer of 2025. Part of that update required a long-term financial plan,” said Merritt. “That long-term plan looked at all the asset needs … for replacement and growth (and) determined the financing needs.”
The plan identified the need for a 1.5% increase to the capital levy each year over the next 10 years as a necessity to address funding shortfalls.
Merritt said that should the County ignore this increase and keep current investment levels, County-owned infrastructure assets would quickly start to degrade. He called the budget the first major step in aligning the County’s capital budget and asset management plan.
“We’ve put all the projects into the same categories as our asset management plan, and we’ve realigned our financial plan to align with those major capital asset categories,” he explained. “That requires us to create some new reserves, close a bunch of reserves, and redistribute those annual contributions we’re putting into the reserve funds.”
Haldimand’s plan is to eventually fund the capital budget and all financing plans directly through the asset management plan.
“We’re not there yet, and a lot of things must change to make that happen, but this is big major step in aligning our asset management plan,” said Merritt.
Since 2021, Merritt shared that Haldimand has failed to meet its three main financing principles when it comes to the capital budget.
“We don’t want any of our reserves to be negative in any one year greater than 25% of our annual contribution…. At the end of the 10-year forecast we don’t want any of our reserves to be negative, and the last one, is we set an upper limit for how much debt we’ll take on,” explained Merritt.
“Since 2021 to today, we’ve done a series of financial mitigation measures to sort of get us back on track with respect to full funding and reducing that infrastructure gap,” he said. “That included, starting in 2023, we took $1.6 million from our contingency reserves as a one-time fund. In 2024 we took $3 million from our access investment income and put it towards our capital plan to reduce that shortfall, and in 2025 we took another $4.2 million from our contingency fund to offset some of those shortfalls.”
Haldimand has been slowly increasing its annual capital contribution, raising the municipal levy by 1% at the start of the new Council term, then to 1.25% in 2025, and now 1.5% in 2026.
Realizing these long-term financing goals required shifting some capital projects, with Merritt noting several roads-based projects would need to be spread out over longer periods of time.
Senior Financial Analyst Cliff Burke walked Council through the budget. He said that even with the 1.5% levy increase, the County has some “ramping up” to do to realize their expansive infrastructure plans over the next decade, but said it is important to tackle these issues while keeping affordability for the taxpayer in mind.
For 2026, the lion’s share of the projected $46 million in spending will go toward Engineering and Capital Works projects, with $33 million going toward projects that make up 70% of the County’s planned projects.
Haldimand County shared the following 2026 highlights in a release:
- $22.6 million for roadway infrastructure improvements, e.g. road reconstruction and resurfacing or bridge/culvert rehabilitations.
- $4 million for the replacement of the Dunnville parks & facilities maintenance workshop.
- $2.8 million for playground replacements and upgrades, as well as construction of the new Village Green park in Cayuga.
- $1.7 million for scheduled upgrades/maintenance at arenas, parks, pools, and splash pads.
- $1.2 million for corporate technology/security system upgrades.
- $1 million for tree conservation and re-forestation initiatives, including the Downtown Street Tree Revitalization Program.
- $1.1 million for the design and engineering phase of the Dunnville Fire Station and Paramedic Base replacements, alongside $1.8 million to construct Jim Gregory Drive to access that emergency services base and the future affordable housing development.
- $1 million for accessibility improvements at Edinburgh Square Heritage & Cultural Centre and other public spaces;
- $1.5 million for essential Emergency Services equipment/gear and station upgrades.
Some highlights over the next 10 years include:
- $13.3 million in Public Works Operations spending between 2026-2029, including plans for a new yard.
- $60.2 million in fleet equipment and vehicle replacement costs.
- $7.7 million to the Forestry department for capital works, including stump removal, tree planting, etc.
- $13.2 million for pool replacements in Hagersville and Dunnville, scheduled to begin engineering in 2028 and construction in 2031.
- $16 million for construction of the new Dunnville Fire/Paramedic station in 2028.
- $193 million for roads and bridge rehabilitation programs.
“The 2026 capital budget addresses our community’s immediate needs and provides an actionable plan that will allow us to keep pace with infrastructure demands while being mindful of inflation, changing provincial legislation, and other factors that impact our long term financial strategy,” said Di Lullo.
Haldimand Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley said, “This year’s Capital Budget reflects our commitment to fiscal responsibility and the future of Haldimand County. Staff have developed a budget that focuses on maintaining and improving critical infrastructure while making smart, strategic investments for the future. Most importantly, it takes into account what matters to the community and ensures that we continue delivering high-quality services that stay affordable for residents over the long term.”
Coverage if the final 2026 budget, the Tax-Supported Operating Budget on February 12, will be in the February 19 Haldimand Press.
