Woolwich’s 7.8-per-cent tax hike could have been erased if one staff position was cut and payroll increases were capped at 5% instead of 15%, local campaigners revealed.
That measure could have lowered the 2026 wage and benefits bill by around $1.44 million, slightly more than the levy increase, leaving bills unchanged.
Instead, council kept staffing at 96 full-time positions and approved a 15% rise in employee costs to over $14.8 million, adding about $100 to the average township portion of property taxes.
Additionally, the Region of Waterloo separately increased its share by 5.1%, adding $145 more per household.
For the first time, Woolwich followed the provincially mandated strong-mayor system, giving Mayor Sandy Shantz the power to propose the budget and veto council amendments, which some residents called “undemocratic.”
When the $1,411,643 levy increase was approved on January 20, there was no discussion of expense reductions, despite three previous inflation-busting tax increases of 8.0, 8.7 and 10 per cent.
With staffing costs rising from 42 to 47 per cent of operational expenditure since 2020, even modest cuts could have helped struggling households, the Property Taxpayers Alliance (PTA) noted (www.propertytaxpayer.ca).
Conestogo’s Hardy Willms, heading up the Waterloo Region branch of the PTA, said eliminating the one-person climate action department and limiting staff-cost increases to five per cent would have resulted in no tax increase.
The one-person climate action department, rare among similar-sized municipalities, is set to cost taxpayers $139,185 in 2026, up 6.14 per cent from last year.
It includes a $97,877 salary, $10,745 in group benefits, and a $10,454 private pension contribution.
Removing the role from the 2025 payroll and raising the remainder five per cent totals $13,406,875, saving $1,436,558, enough to offset the levy and yield a tiny 0.14 per cent tax cut, The Observer calculated.
Willms, who also made that calculation, said he was surprised by how quickly he could find a solution.
“All I did was take an arbitrary five-per-cent increase, which I would have thought was more than enough, and eliminate just one unessential position, and when I did the calculation, it just happened to work out to zero,” he explained.
“Originally, I was just hoping to bring the tax increase down to two or three per cent, but that was enough.”
Willms, who has run his own business and currently serves as a minor hockey treasurer, said he would like to freeze wages for three years to fix the township’s finances.
“If you include benefits, they make between 25 and 35 per cent more than the equivalent job in the private sector, even when you take into account similar education and everything else,” he said.
“So, if you went two or three years without an increase, you’d still be way ahead of what a person’s making in the private sector.”
While the base cost-of-living adjustment was 2.9 per cent for salaries, much of the 15-per-cent staff-cost increase reflects annualizing pay for employees hired after January last year.
Willms said successive tax increases have had a “devastating impact” on local families, noting that seven per cent of Woolwich residents were in tax arrears at the end of 2024.
The 2026 budget includes $445,000 for interest and penalties on overdue accounts, up from $330,000 last year.
“The people who have the hardest time paying their taxes are being asked to pay 2.5 per cent of the total budget,” Willms added.
“This council is making sure that township employees receive gold-plated wages and benefits at the expense of the people who pay the bills.”
Gordon Haywood, a Woolwich resident who has argued at council meetings that the township is overstaffed, said the tax hike was unnecessary.
“This 7.8-per-cent increase shows what happens when tough decisions are avoided and council adopts another ‘don’t-rock-the-boat’ budget,” he said.
Haywood said the township’s full-time workforce grew nearly 60 per cent over 15 years to 2024, while households increased by 32 per cent, calling staffing “the elephant in the room” amid looming infrastructure pressures.
Last month, The Observer found that Woolwich has one of the highest ratios of staff to taxpayers among comparable municipalities.
With 96 full-timers, that equates to 10.26 employees for every 1,000 households.
Out of seven Ontario municipalities with populations within a fifth of Woolwich’s, the township ranked third.
Tecumseh topped the list with a ratio of 10.84, while LaSalle, with 8.33, had the lowest ratio.
If the same proportion applied in Woolwich, the township would have 78 full-time employees.
This newspaper also revealed the personal hardships faced by several residents who are struggling to pay their burgeoning taxes.
As part of the budget, chief administrative officer David Brenneman was tasked with reviewing the organizational structure this year to identify savings for 2027.
Many have cast doubt on him finding any, particularly solutions that target fellow civil servants.
“I’m not optimistic that this will come to grips with reducing staff numbers or their cost,” said Haywood.
Willms, who noted that government managers often look for “self-preservation” over efficiency, was more scathing.
“Isn’t that like asking turkeys to vote for Thanksgiving?” he joked.
Haywood pointed out that Woolwich is set to hold elections on October 26.
He hopes the new council will listen more to residents.
Mayor Shantz said crafting the 2026 budget involved “no easy choices,” as council and staff tried to balance affordability with long-term planning amid ongoing financial pressures.
She said council deliberately chose to pause adding new tax-levy-funded positions in 2026, despite the township’s growth, citing the “fiscal realities we are facing.”
However, Shantz said council rejected short-term staff cuts to avoid a tax increase, arguing such moves can “undermine thoughtful planning” and lead to higher costs over time.
She added that council has directed staff to continue reviewing operations and seeking efficiencies to remain fiscally responsible while protecting the township’s long-term health.
This story was also published at https://www.observerxtra.com/group-proposes-alternative-budget-to-counter-massive-woolwich-tax-increases/