Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Cobourg's budget, taxes and council decisions. A town in Northumberland County, Ontario, with a mayor, a deputy mayor and five councillors. Every figure links back to the public record.
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Questions worth asking
Each one is a question, not an accusation. Every one lists ordinary reasons it could be true, and the documents it comes from.
$8.7Min savings at the end of 2023
Towns keep savings (called reserves) to pay for new trucks, roof repairs and surprises. Cobourg had $8.7M saved at the end of 2023, down from $9.4M in 2019. That is 17% of one year's spending. None of the 63 similar towns had less, compared with what they spend.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
May 27, 2026date of the auditor's report on the Town's statements for the year ended December 31, 2023
Audited financial statements are the Town's yearly report card, checked by an outside accountant. The Town's financial statements page lists its own statements for 2017 to 2023. The newest, for the year that ended December 31, 2023, has an auditor's report dated May 27, 2026, more than two years after the year ended. The 2022 statements were signed on September 11, 2023. We did not find the Town's own statements for 2024 or 2025 on that page. The page also lists separate statements for Town of Cobourg Holdings Inc., the company that runs the Town's electricity business and is 99.9% owned by the Town. Those are not the Town's own. The 2023 statements also correct 2022: a note says the Town found grants from earlier years that should have been counted as revenue when approved, and that raised its 2022 balances. The auditor's opinion on 2023 is clean ("present fairly").
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$11,603,189unfinanced capital at December 31, 2023, up from $9,975,260
"Unfinanced capital" means the Town spent on projects without money set aside to pay for them, so the bill sits in its accounts until it is covered. The 2023 statements show it at $11,603,189, up from $9,975,260 a year earlier (a rise of $1,627,929, worked out by us). The Town's own finance review says the balance goes back to at least 2012 and that the auditors have flagged it since the 2017 statements. It calls it "not acceptable nor a fiscally responsible long-term practice", says it is equal to a one-year 32% rise in the tax rate, and says tax levy money will be needed over time to fix it. In the same 2023 statements, the day-to-day (operations) fund is $5,055,122 in deficit, against $822,006 the year before. The 2026 budget book shows the capital levy line going from $661,034 to nothing.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$22,095,177restricted (obligatory) reserve funds at December 31, 2023, up from $11,924,088 a year earlier
Development charges are fees on new buildings that the law says must be spent on the growth they cause. Gas tax money and similar grants are also restricted. The Town's finance review, posted in redacted form from a closed meeting on November 26, 2024, says these funds were tracked in the general ledger like ordinary reserves, with no separate bank accounts, and that at December 31, 2022 "Operating Cash Overdrawn" was ($8,305,627). It says an overdrawn balance points to restricted money having been used for general operating purposes. It also says the last yearly development charge report was done in December 2020 for 2019, that $6.3 million of charges should have been used to fund spending, and it recommends separate bank accounts from January 1, 2025. The 2023 statements show restricted funds more than doubling, from $11,924,088 to $22,095,177, with development charges at $15,372,209.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$8,851,0862026 net police budget, against $7,843,279 in 2025 and a 2025 projected cost of $9,020,557
Police are the Town's largest single budget line. The 2026 budget book shows "Police - Net Operating" at $8,851,086, up 12.85% from $7,843,279 in 2025. The Mayor's December 8, 2025 draft release described a police levy increase of 6.31%. The Town's December 23, 2025 release says Council cut the planned use of police reserves from $1,113,000 to $600,000, and the police budget shows four reserve lines. The police budget also shows the actual cost in 2024 was $9,756,106 and the 2025 projection is $9,020,557, both above the 2025 budget of $7,843,279. Last year's budget book forecast the 2026 police cost at $7,843,279, no change. The police sheet's own 2027 forecast total ($9,952,130) also differs from the budget summary's ($9,205,129).
Found by reading the town's own documents · 6 sources
$4,350,000debenture listed in the 2026 capital budget, for the Midtown Creek Culvert Realignment
The Town's December 23, 2025 release says 2026 is the first year it has not used the tax levy for capital projects and that all capital projects are "fully funded through existing reserves". The 2026 capital budget is $11,273,870. Its funding table shows a tax levy of $0, but also a Debenture (a long-term loan) of $4,350,000, all for one project, the Midtown Creek Culvert Realignment ($4,700,000, with $350,000 from a developer). At the end of 2023 the Town's total long-term debt was $3,150,508. The operating budget's long-term debt line stays at $276,036 in 2026, 2027 and 2028. The Town's finance review also says capital budgets have listed debentures that were not actually issued.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 6 sources
8.14%forecast rise in the municipal levy for 2027, after 2.74% in 2026
The levy is the part of the tax bill that pays for the Town's own services. The 2026 budget book shows a Total for Municipal Levy of $33,875,596 (up 2.74%) and a 2027 forecast of $36,632,394 (up 8.14%). It notes that the 2027 and 2028 forecasts have not been reviewed or approved by Council. Part of the jump is visible in the book. General Government rises 21.42% in the forecast. The operating budget counts on a $750,000 draw from the Northam Industrial Park (the Town's industrial property), and that draw is $250,000 in 2027 and nothing in 2028. Last year's budget book forecast 3.40% for 2026, and the final figure was 2.74%.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$92,6942025 projected legal fees in the Finance budget, against a budget of $520
The 2026 budget book shows the Finance department's "Legal Fees" line at $2,831 in 2023, $15,384 in 2024 and a 2025 projection of $92,694, against a budget of $520 in both 2025 and 2026. A separate corporate line also shows legal fees of $129,058 in 2023, $145,363 in 2024 and a 2025 projection of $56,200, against a budget of $150,000. A third line for Integrity Commissioner legal fees went from $10,603 to $20,085 to a projection of $35,778, against a budget of $25,000. The Town's first-quarter 2026 report says legal costs for all of 2025 were "approximately $126,000" and that legal costs "are not always incurred evenly". We could not tell from the documents what the legal work was.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
2023 tax year · Cobourg, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Cobourg's share pays for.
Ontario still uses property values from January 1, 2016 for tax, so your assessed value is probably well below what your home would sell for today.
It is on your property assessment notice from MPAC, and on your tax bill. We filled in the typical value in Cobourg.
a year in property tax, at 2023 rates
Cobourg council sets only its own share. County or region sets its share, the Province sets the school rate.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Cobourg's share by what each service cost in 2023 after its own fees and grants (for example, water bills pay for much of a water system). Real bills also depend on your property class, local charges and any rebates.
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Each number links to the public document it came from. Check it yourself.
We ask questions. Every one lists ordinary reasons a number could look odd.
Towns are only compared with places of a similar size and kind, from the same yearly reports.
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