On November 29, 2023, City Council amended and adopted Guelph’s 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget with investments that focus on maintaining City services while supporting existing and growth-enabling infrastructure, as well as housing and homelessness. The budget will help advance the Council-approved Future Guelph strategic plan. As part of a multi-year budget process, in 2024, City Council must review, update and confirm the budget for 2025. This process is a pulse check done each year after a full multi-year budget is adopted. It provides the City and Council with the opportunity to review what was planned and work in an agile and flexible way to adjust for the current environment, including new direction from the Mayor or Council.

Where are we starting from?

The 2025 budget was adopted as part of the 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget at a net tax levy increase over 2024 of 9.80 per cent.

New direction

This year, new direction was provided by the Mayor in a Mayoral Direction asking staff to prepare an update to the adopted 2025 operating and capital budget with a property tax impact of no more than four per cent. The property tax impact must be split proportionately between the City and local boards and shared services providers.

Local boards and shared services

Just like a household, we have one City budget that includes capital and operating costs (like for home upgrades or repairs), and rates and fees (utilities). The City’s budget covers a wide range of services like road maintenance, parks, waste management, and more. It also includes the financial needs of our local boards and shared services.

These are specific budgets managed by the boards of local service organizations, including:

• The County of Wellington
• The Downtown Guelph Business Association
• The Elliott Community
• The Grand River Conservation Authority
• The Guelph Police Services Board
• The Guelph Public Library Board
• Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health

Each board is responsible for its own budget, which allows them to fund and manage the delivery of specialized services. Together, they create a balanced and comprehensive approach to meeting our community’s needs.

By understanding these differences, we can better appreciate how each budget contributes to making Guelph a great place to live.

To learn more about each of Guelph's local boards and how to advocate for the services that affect our community, visit the websites linked above.

Next steps

City staff is working to review and update the 2025 budget based on the Mayor’s direction and informed by our Future Guelph Strategic Plan, and results from both the Guelph Satisfaction Survey and Multi-Year Budget engagement from 2023. The Mayor's draft 2025 budget update will be available on Guelph.ca/budget on October 17, 2024 and will be presented to Council on December 30.

Residents will have an opportunity to share feedback on the proposed 2025 budget update at a series of town halls in early November (details to come) and can delegate to Council on November 19.

Budget amendments will be presented at a special Council meeting on November 27, after which there may be a Mayoral veto period and budget override period before the budget is formally adopted in late-2024.

Check back for updates - we'll provide more detail as soon as it's available.