$16,700,956investment income in 2025, against a budget of $2,944,700
A town earns investment income on money it holds before it spends it: reserves, grants and tax money waiting to be paid out. Ajax’s audited statements show $16,700,956 of investment income in 2025 against a budget of $2,944,700, about 5.7 times as much (worked out by us). The year before it was $19,531,940. At the end of 2025 the Town held $140,204,354 in cash and $107,921,579 in “pooled funds - equity”, which the statements say had a market value of $122,933,729. The Town’s budget book says any investment income above the budgeted amount goes into its capital reserves. So this is not a hidden surplus: the Town has said where it goes. The open questions are how much of the income is interest and how much is gains in the funds, and how risky the equity funds are.
$2,010,500of Elexicon revenue removed from the Town’s 2026 operating budget
Elexicon Corporation is the electricity company the Town part-owns (22.7609% at the end of 2025). It used to pay the Town dividends, which the Town put into its capital reserves. The audited statements say that under a Memorandum of Understanding dated September 15, 2025 the owners agreed to suspend dividends and to refund the overpayment of 2024 dividends. The Town’s share of Elexicon’s earnings fell from $1,209,708 in 2024 to $261,499 in 2025, and the Town’s 2026 budget removes $2,010,500 of Elexicon revenue (and $1,250,000 of Casino Ajax revenue), then raises a 1% capital levy to help make up the difference. The Town has not, in what we read, said why the dividends were suspended.
$8.1 millionyearly renewal funding gap in the Town’s asset plan before the new levy (about $29.6 million needed against $21.5 million funded)
A reserve is money set aside for a future need. Ajax’s statements list $175,767,392 in reserves and reserve funds at the end of 2025, up from $147,327,977, and municipal debt of only $12,139,000. Yet the Town’s December 2025 asset management plan says that keeping current service levels needs about $29.6 million a year in renewals against $21.5 million of funding, a gap of $8.1 million a year. The Town’s own answer is a capital infrastructure levy (a part of the tax rate set aside for repairs): 2% in 2025 and 1% in 2026. With it, the plan’s ten-year gap falls to $2.5 million. The plan also warns that Casino Ajax and Elexicon revenue may not last. What we cannot see is how much of the reserves is already committed to named projects.
$107,200increase in the Mayor and Council office’s salaries and benefits budget, from $858,500 to $965,700
The Mayor and Council office’s budget line “Full Time Salaries & Benefits” rises from $858,500 to $965,700 in the 2026 budget, a $107,200 or 12.5% rise (worked out by us). The year before it rose from $841,000 to $858,500, or about 2.1%. The 2026 budget book says the rise is “mainly due to cost-of-living increase and benefit rates”. The same book shows the Town’s overall inflation driver is 5.03% of the tax levy. We did not find the rate the Town used for the cost-of-living change for Council, or how it is set.