Every time your street is plowed, your garbage or recycling bin is collected, or you visit Kerwood Park, you are witnessing your tax dollars at work. Municipal budget decisions set the funding for important infrastructure, programs, services, and facilities we depend on to maintain our quality of life.
Asset Management
An Asset Management Plan enables informed decisions regarding the building, operating, maintaining, renewing, replacing and disposing of infrastructure assets. It is structured to including the following important elements:
Council approved the municipality’s asset management plan which consolidated the municipality's existing asset management.
On December 13, 2017, the province approved a municipal asset management planning regulation under the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015, with a six year phase-in period for implementation. In accordance with regulation, we finalized our Strategic Asset Management Policy in 2019 and updated our Asset Management Plan to include all municipal infrastructure assets in 2022.
About Municipal Budgeting
A municipal budget is a policy and planning document that outlines our municipality's priorities, and is a balancing act between often competing priorities - what can we afford and providing a high level of services to citizens.
Every year, municipal staff put forward a preliminary budget and then the Mayor and Council, with input from Adelaide Metcalfe residents and businesses, make choices about municipal services and programs. It is an ongoing process as each year budgets are drafted, revised, reported, presented, approved, adopted, and monitored. Your annual budget is made up of three parts:
- The operating budget provides the necessary resources to deliver programs, services and facilities services to meet the needs of our community, and accommodates for inflationary pressures. The operating budget is funded primarily through property taxes and user fees.
- The capital budget provides for the infrastructure requirements of the municipality as identified in our Asset Management Plan. The capital budget is funded through property taxes, reserves, debt and grants. The capital budget is used to either build or rehabilitate assets that will last for more than one year.
- Reserves and reserve funds receive annual contributions from the operating budget to assist with creating a solid financial position to support the municipality’s future cash requirements. Maintaining sufficient balances in reserves and reserve funds is a critical component of a municipality’s long-term financial plan as it strengthens its long-term financial sustainability, helps to minimize fluctuations in the tax rate and provides funding to sustain infrastructure.
2025 Budget Process
Setting Priorities for Municipal Services, Programs and Infrastructure
The municipal budget is a key policy and planning document that outlines our Township’s priorities for services, programs and infrastructure. Setting the budget is a balancing act between often competing priorities – providing the high level of services that residents deserve and expect versus what we can afford.
Each year, municipal staff put forward a draft preliminary budget for comment. There are two parts – the operations budget that covers the day-to-day services of the Township, and the capital budget that covers large infrastructure and other long-term projects. The Mayor and Council, with input from Adelaide Metcalfe residents and businesses, make choices about what municipal services, programs and infrastructure projects should be included in the budget.
Process for Developing the 2025 Budget
It takes many months to develop the Adelaide Metcalfe budget.
Public engagement in the budget process starts when the budget development process begins in August, typically with the resident budget survey. Internally, the budget process begins with staff reviewing their department work plans. From there, staff begin to outline their department’s operating costs and capital requests.
This information is then taken into consideration as the individual department budgets are consolidated and reviewed to determine funding (revenue) sources available and whether additional funds are required to meet the approved budget objectives.
During the fall, the management team and two appointed members of Council form an ad hoc budget working group. This group discusses the development of the budget in detail and completes a line-by-line budget review.
Once a consolidated and cohesive budget package has been completed, it is presented to Council for their review. The budget package presents the funding and priorities for the coming fiscal year. When the budget has met the approval of Council, a budget by-law is passed.
Budget Survey
We encourage members of the public to get involved in the budget process. This is your chance to tell us what you value and where we should prioritize spending for the coming year.
- 2025 Budget Survey Closed - Thank you to everyone that took the time to respond to the budget survey. The budget survey was open from August 1 to September 6, 2024. Staff presented the results from the survey to Council at their meeting on October 7, 2024. The presentation and the additional written comments are attached below.
Draft Budget
Municipal Budget Basics
2025 Budget
Council approved the 2025 municipal budget at their December 23, 2024 meeting.
Previous Municipal Budgets
Council approved the 2024 municipal budget at their December 18, 2023 meeting.
Financial Reports
Financial statements for the Township of Adelaide Metcalfe are compiled and audited annually according to Public Sector Accounting Board standards. Statistics are compiled according to the provincially mandated Performance Measures Program. The purpose of this program is to provide alternative measures from financial results to stakeholders.
For more information, we encourage you to read these financial documents:
- Municipal Financial Statements (2023)
- Municipal Financial Statements (2022)
- Municipal Financial Statements (2021)
- Municipal Financial Statements (2020)
- Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing - Financial Information Return
The documents presented above will be made available in alternative formats if required.