Letter to the Editor of the Woolwich Observer
by Hardy Willms, Conestogo
A three-ring circus of incompetence. That’s the only way you can describe Region of Waterloo’s Woolwich Township council after the that last budget process.
It’s hard to know where to begin with this group. Firstly, you never, and I mean never, start a fiscal year without a budget. This council didn’t even start the 2025 budget process till early January and finally finished seven weeks into the fiscal year. That means they spent millions of dollars for seven weeks without a budget.
The budget process started with the township CAO giving a speech to council telling them that taxpayers nowadays want too much from government, they want it all now, but they don’t want to pay for it.
That speech goes contrary to the survey that the township took where 52 per cent of Woolwich respondents said they were OK if service levels declined just as long as tax increases were limited. In other words, keep the tax increases near inflation.
In a democracy, government should listen to the will of the people. So, what did this council do? They raised taxes 10 per cent, five times the rate of inflation. This council has now raised taxes 29.3 per cent over three years during a period where inflation rose just 8.4 per cent.
The mayor didn’t think that was enough (the mayor is also a member of regional council) and so she also voted to have regional taxes go up 9.5 per cent.
The day after the budget was approved, the township posted on social media a communique that stated “our commitment to affordability to current residents” and “the 2025 budget is a reflection of our responsibility to deliver value to our residents.” Nowhere in the communique did they state that taxes were going up 10 per cent.
A second communique was issued that day that stated that the township was there to assist businesses with U.S. tariff issues. This was after they had just increased taxes on their businesses by 10 per cent, and businesses pay tax rates that are twice what residents pay. You can’t make this stuff up.
Property taxes aren’t the only thing that this council is raising. Water rates are going up 7.6 per cent in 2025, and sewage rates are going up 9.7 per cent.
Woolwich council is also responsible for your electricity rates. The Township of Woolwich is a part owner of Enova Power (former Waterloo North Hydro) and instead of reduced electricity rates for residents, the township maximizes the rates and takes huge dividends. In 2024, the township received $300,000 more than it expected in dividends from Enova and proceeded to still raise taxes 10 per cent in 2025.
More than seven per cent of all Woolwich taxpayers are delinquent on their taxes. Residents are struggling out there and all this council can do is give us double-digit tax increases.
So, what is this council spending money on? Wages and benefits have increased 36 per cent in the past three years. If you take out the new hires in the 2025 budget, the existing staff’s wages and benefits are increasing 10.3 per cent. This council believes it is more important to increase overpaid employee wages than to bring in a budget increase that residents can afford.
The Fraser Institute has told us for years that government employees with comparable education and experience make 25 to 35 per cent more than a similar private sector worker in wages and benefits. This council is only increasing the gap.
So, what can be done. The Property Taxpayers Alliance is heavily lobbying the Ontario government to put legislation into effect that puts guardrails onto municipalities like Woolwich whose councils cannot control their spending. The state of Florida is looking at the idea of getting rid of property taxes and raising other taxes and having higher levels of government give the municipality the money they need.
Probably the best way to get some financial sanity is to vote out this council in the 2026 election.
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