Insatiable

The unrelenting burden of feeding Shire Hall will be heavier again next year—continuing a trend since the municipality was formed 26 years ago. Your property taxes will be higher. Your water bills will be greater, and the fees you pay for services such as garbage will be more next year.

It happens every year. But when decades go by, and the taxing and spending remain unchecked, it changes a place. It defines who can live here and who cannot. This year, Shire Hall will distribute waterworks bill relief of up to $500 to struggling households that qualify. Twenty years ago, $500 was the total annual water bill for many residents. There is seemingly no self-awareness or consciousness when scraping more money from County residents.

Your municipality has never managed to live on what it extracts from residents. Not last year. Or the year before that. Or ever. Shire Hall has never managed to limit its expansionary increases to the cost of living— the business of Prince Edward County has never managed to operate within the confines of the inflation rate. There is no sign that Shire Hall’s appetite is easing.

The tax levy (the money collected from property taxpayers) for 2025 was set last week by council at $54 million. That’s a 6.5 per cent increase over the amount budgeted for the current year (not yet counted). It is 14 per cent more than the $47.3 million collected in 2023 (the last real numbers available).

Since 2021, the average increase in the tax levy has risen at a rate of 7 per cent. At this pace the tax levy will double to more than $100 million in 10 years. (Sadly, highlighting this trend has not tempered Shire Hall’s craving in the past—as the current tax levy has increased fivefold since 1998). Meanwhile, the population remains stuck at about 25,000 folks. Same number of taxpayers, five times the burden of taxation.

In 2002, Shire Hall spent $26 million running the municipality. Next year, it will require more than $81 million to keep it fed. Same number of folks. Same network of roads. Same rinks. Same parks. Costs are rising much faster than the cost of living.

In 2025 the County has about $160 million in capital projects on the books. Two projects, the replacement of the H.J. McFarland home and the perennial dream of rehabilitating County Road 49, occupy the bulk of the potential spending. Currently, Shire Hall says that County Road 49 will only proceed with help from senior levels of government.

Meanwhile, the province has committed to fund about 80 per cent of the capital cost ($94 million) of the new long-term care home in Picton. But much of this money will be paid over 25 years— meaning more borrowing and more interest expense.

To fund the municipal portion, Council approved a special one per cent addition to the tax levy. The notion is that this levy—originally proposed at two per cent—will become a permanent feature, though the rate may fluctuate.

Shire Hall will also rebuild one kilometre of Rednersville Road in 2025—for $1.7 million.

WATERWORKS
It will cost $6.6 million to operate the County’s waterworks in 2025, up from $6 million last year. It cost $5.4 million to run this utility in 2018.

But it isn’t operating costs that are driving the rapid and unrelenting increase in water bills— rather, it is the expansion of the pipes, water tower and tanks in Wellington behind the surge in costs. Six years ago, the waterworks utility spent just $1.5 million on debt repayment and reserves. Next year, these two items will gobble up fully $4.6 million. Shire Hall, meanwhile, is just getting started.

DEBT
The municipality didn’t carry much debt in the early years, so it wasn’t a big expense on the income statement. But since 2002, when the long-term (LT) debt was just $2.3 million, municipal borrowing has been on a steep incline—soaring with waterworks spending since 2021. LT debt in the next year is projected to exceed more than $77 million.

As debt rises, so do servicing costs. In 2002, carrying the County’s debt cost just $187,000. Next year, interest expense will be more than $6.1 million.

Council spent last week tweaking here and there, but in the end, it managed to trim just half a percentage point from the proposed increase of 6.9 per cent.