HALDIMAND—Haldimand County Council has approved the 2025 rate supported operating and capital budget, otherwise known as the Water and Wastewater Budget, with a hefty 7.77% increase for the average user in 2025.
The budget is funded exclusively though user rates, with no property tax funding. Haldimand provides water and sewer services to over 10,400 homes and businesses through the use of treatment, collection, and distribution systems that carry a replacement cost of over $1.4 billion in infrastructure assets.

“Operating these systems is highly legislated and requires approximately $17.1 million to do so in 2025, which equates to an annual impact of $6.79 or 7.77% per month for the average residential user,” read a County release.
The 2025 budget was reviewed at a special meeting on December 5, 2024. It includes $11.6 million in capital expenditures, with $8.2 million on water and $3.4 million on wastewater to maintain, improve, and optimize the operation of existing systems, and to add capacity in response to growth.
County CAO Cathy Case spoke ahead of the budget presentation.
“The objective … is to ensure that safe, reliable, sustainable water and wastewater services are provided to the community now and into the future,” said Case. “Making sure this happens requires extensive co-ordination across departments to anticipate system needs, prepare accordingly, and respond, while also using long-term financial planning practices to appropriately suggest funding sources.”
The main drivers for this increase includes a rate model adjustment to the number of customers and consumption estimates in the model used to develop rates.
Case explained, “Increases over and above our historical actuals have been seen this year for various components of day-to-day operations, including the Council-approved compensation adjustments that resulted from the market review we did last year, and is just now hitting the rate budget.”
County staff must also budget for increased contract rates, such as a “significant Canada Post cost increase related to our billing and collection,” and an “increase of 10% in water rates for water purchased from the City of Hamilton that are impacting this budget,” said Case.
She noted that while this represents a higher rate than Haldimand residents are used to, those rates remain “significantly below surrounding areas over the last several years. The 2025 rate, despite being a big jump from recent years, is still significantly less than those of our immediate neighbours, including Norfolk and Hamilton, who are both anticipated to see double digit increases.”
Haldimand’s Chief Financial Officer Mark Merritt wrote in the budget preface that despite Haldimand County’s complexity, “water and wastewater rates have remained competitive over time through long range financial planning and good fiscal stewardship over the annual operations.”
Some of the main water-related projects included in the 2025 budget include:
- New Caledonia Wastewater Treatment Plant
- McClung Road Forcemain River Crossing to new Wastewater Treatment Plant
- Caledonia North Water Storage Expansion
- Hagersville Wastewater Treatment Plant grit removal system
The budget also includes $29.1 million in operating expenditures, with $17 million on the water side and $12.1 million on the wastewater side.
Other factors impacting the 2025 rate-supported budget and user rates include:
- An increase to Ontario Clean Water Agency wastewater and Veolia water operations contracts based on inflation and historical actuals;
- The addition of a new, enhanced risk mitigation and compliance program to ensure the County continues to comply with provincial legislation and plan for potential issues to prevent negative impacts; and
- A detailed review of water/wastewater users and consumption statistics that showed lower users and consumption rates than historically estimated, necessitating a one-time adjustment to the rate model to ensure cost recovery and prevent future deficits.
The new rates will come into effect as of January 1, 2025.
The Water and Wastewater Budget is the first of three 2025 budget reviews, with the Tax-Supported Capital Budget set for review on January 30, 2025 and the Tax-Supported Operating Budget set for February 27.
You can find additional information about the County’s budget at haldimandcounty.ca/financials.