Perth Town Council Approves 2025 Budget

On Tuesday, December 10, the Council of the Town of Perth approved the 2025 Budget. This decision follows careful and extensive deliberation; as Council worked to address mounting infrastructure needs, inflationary pressures, and declining reserves, while continuing to deliver essential services for residents and businesses. Councillors often referred back to their core Strategic Plan to maintain a focus on affordability for property owners in both short-term and long-term decision making.

“Much of the infrastructure we rely on today, like roads, water systems, and sewers, was built in the 1960s and 1970s,” states Mayor Judy Brown. “These systems are now aging and require significant reinvestment. At the same time, we’ve experienced unusually high inflation over the past five years, which has put added strain on our financial position. Council has carefully considered these pressures while striving to keep increases manageable for residents and businesses.”

The approved 2025 budget includes:

• A 6% property tax increase, resulting in an annual impact of approximately $169.31 for a residential property assessed by MPAC at $300,000.
• A 6% increase to water and sewer rates, with an estimated annual impact of $51.

This year’s budget prioritizes maintaining and replacing critical infrastructure and assets to ensure the Town’s long-term sustainability. This includes reconstruction of a significant portion of the road, and storm, sanitary, and water systems on Craig Street, replacement of the pumper fire truck, updates to three sewage pump stations, and more. A complete list will be available in the coming weeks on the Town Projects page of the Town of Perth’s website.

Understanding Your Property Tax Bill

The residential property tax bill is divided into three components:

• Town of Perth services, including OPP contract: 63% of the total.
• Lanark County services: 26% of the total.
• Education: 11% of the total.

The Town of Perth Council has direct control over the billing for the Town’s services. Lanark County services and budget are governed by County Council, made up of representatives from all eight municipalities within the County; while the Province of Ontario determines education rates.

The 2025 Budget and Strategic Plan can be found on the Town of Perth’s website.