Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Beckwith's budget, taxes and council decisions. A lower-tier township in Lanark County, Ontario, whose Reeve presents the municipal budget each spring. Every figure links back to the public record.
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Each one is a question, not an accusation. Every one lists ordinary reasons it could be true, and the documents it comes from.
$107per home on council, 2025
Beckwith spent about $107 per home on council in 2025. The typical similar town spent $50. Only 4 of 46 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
$10,000,000municipal office redevelopment, listed in both the 2024 and the 2025 capital budgets
A capital budget lists the big one-time jobs (buildings, roads, trucks) and says where the money for each comes from. The Reeve's 2024 presentation lists "Municipal Office Redevelopment" at a project cost of $10,000,000: $3,800,000 from reserves (savings), $350,000 from development charges (fees on new building), $850,000 from grants, and $5,000,000 under a column headed "Other /UCO". The 2025 presentation lists the same project name at the same $10,000,000, now paid for with $2,200,000 from reserves, $2,000,000 from development charges, $800,000 from grants and the same $5,000,000. The project is not on the 2026 list. Worked out by us: between the two years the reserves share fell by $1,600,000 and the development charges share rose by $1,650,000. The slides do not say whether this is one project shown in two budgets because the work ran over two years, or two separate amounts. They also do not say what "UCO" stands for.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$5,000,000listed under "Other/UCO" for the municipal office in both the 2024 and 2025 capital tables; the loan size is not stated
The Township's asset management plan (February 13, 2026) says the yearly debt payments it forecasts leave out the payments on money borrowed to build the new municipal office, because those payments are expected to be paid in full from earnings on the Township's investments in guaranteed investment certificates (GICs, which are savings that pay a fixed interest rate). The budget slides list $5,000,000 under "Other/UCO" for the office in 2024 and 2025, but none of the documents we had gives the size of the loan, its interest rate, how long it runs, how much the GICs hold, or how much they are expected to earn each year. We could not tell whether the $5,000,000 is the borrowed amount.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$2.92 millionyearly gap in the asset plan, between a $5,002,000 target and $2,081,000 in the 2025 budget
An asset management plan says what a town owns, what it will cost to keep it in shape, and whether the town is saving enough. Beckwith's plan (Watson & Associates Economists Ltd., February 13, 2026) puts the cost of replacing the Township's assets at $179,306,000 and says the yearly amount that should be set aside is $5,002,000. The 2025 budget set aside $2,081,000, so the plan states a yearly funding gap of $2.92 million. To close it gradually by 2035 the plan says the tax levy (the part of the budget paid by property tax) would have to rise 9.15% a year, from about $4.89 million in 2025 to about $11.73 million. The Township's 2026 levy is $5,097,937 and the tax rate rose 2.75%. Worked out by us: that yearly rise on the 2025 levy of $4,885,852 would give about $5,332,900 for 2026, about $235,000 more than the levy adopted. The part of the levy that pays for capital work directly was $763,980 in 2025 and $758,826 in 2026.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 6 sources
$50,000for the same four heritage jobs, from reserves, in each of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 presentations
A capital budget lists one-time jobs and how each is paid for. In all three of the Reeve's presentations (2024, 2025, 2026) the same four heritage jobs appear, all paid from reserves (savings): a Cow Byre in Heritage Park $20,000, a Prospect Church floor $15,000, monument irrigation $7,500 and a monument walkway $7,500, a total of $50,000 each time. The Beckwith Recreation Complex dehumidifier is listed at $60,000 from reserves in all three years. Trails are $150,000 ($75,000 from reserves and $75,000 from development charges, which are fees on new building) in all three. A pickleball court ($130,000) and a toboggan hill ($25,000) appear in both 2024 and 2025 with nearly identical figures, and the 2025 slides also list a basketball court ($25,650). Ashton Station Road is $500,000 in both 2025 and 2026 with the funding split changed. If each line were a new purchase, the dehumidifier would cost $180,000 and the heritage jobs $150,000 across the three years (worked out by us). The slides give the Township's own explanation for one repeat only: the 2024 slide marks Brunton Side Road as a "Possible a two (2) year project", and 2025 shows it again, paid by grants.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$100,000"Replace MPSF Turf" paid from the 2026 levy, after $800,000 listed in 2025
The Reeve's slide "Share of Taxation by Department" shows Recreation & Cultural at 15.7% in 2025 and 18.0% in 2026, and Public Works at 34.1% in 2025 and 30.7% in 2026. The capital tables show where part of the shift comes from. The levy paid straight into recreation capital work was $80,000 in 2025 and is $234,502 in 2026; for public works it was $586,075 in 2025 and is $404,324 in 2026. Worked out by us, recreation is up $154,502 and public works is down $181,751. Of the $234,502, $130,000 (worked out by us) goes to two turf items paid entirely from the levy: "Replace MPSF Turf" $100,000 and "Design Concept Plans for Multi Use Turf Building" $30,000. The 2024 presentation lists "Replace the MPSF - Turf" at $395,000 from reserves, and the 2025 presentation lists it at $800,000 ($395,000 from reserves, $340,000 under Other/UCO and $65,000 from the levy). The slides do not spell out "MPSF" or say whether the 2026 $100,000 is more work or a savings contribution. The asset plan says a new indoor turf building is planned for 2031.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$5,097,937Township levy for 2026, up from $4,885,852 in 2025 and $4,655,649 in 2024
The levy is the part of the budget the Township collects through property tax. The Reeve's presentations give it as $4,655,649 for 2024, $4,885,852 for 2025 and $5,097,937 for 2026. Worked out by us, that is a rise of about 4.9% in 2025 and about 4.3% in 2026. The tax rate rose 2.2% in 2024, 3.75% in 2025 and 2.75% in 2026. The Township explains the difference on its last statistics slide each year: new residential growth (new homes adding to the tax base) was 2.93% in 2023, 1.15% in 2024 and 1.55% in 2025. The rate rise plus that growth comes to about the levy rise in 2025 and 2026 (worked out by us), so the gap is explained. For context, the 2026 levy apportionment slide shows Beckwith's share of the Lanark County levy at $6,361,331, more than the Township's own levy.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$50,000 vs $15,000heritage jobs on slide 15, against Community Development in the 2026 capital summary on slide 16
Two things in the 2026 presentation do not line up on their face. First, the Heritage slide (slide 15) lists four jobs totalling $50,000, but the Capital Summary (slide 16) shows Community Development at $15,000, and its total of $3,268,018 is the sum of its five rows as printed. In 2025 the same row was $50,000. Second, the "Sources of Revenue" pie charts for 2025 and 2026 print the same figures for five of seven slices: Taxation 26.3%, Reserves & Reserve Funds 27.1%, Other Revenue 25.8%, Other Municipalities 4.5% and Unfinanced 0.9%, yet slide 4's total revenue fell from $17,593,085 in 2025 to $7,574,260 in 2026 (about 57% lower, worked out by us). Also worked out by us: on slide 4 in both 2025 and 2026, total revenue plus the levy equals total expenditures, so the "Total Revenues" figure leaves out the levy, while the pie includes Taxation as a slice. We do not know what base the pies use.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
A property tax bill in Beckwith pays for three governments. Only part of it goes to the town, and that part is what Beckwith council controls.
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