Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Grey Highlands' budget, taxes and council decisions. A municipality with a mayor, a deputy mayor and five councillors. Every figure links back to the public record.
Follow Grey Highlands in one tapWhere it goes
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.
$137per home on council, 2024
Grey Highlands spent about $137 per home on council in 2024. The typical similar town spent $51. Only 8 of 89 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
$164.4 millionten-year funding gap for tax-funded services at the benchmark level, against $36.5 million at the level the Municipality proposed
An asset management plan is a town's plan for keeping roads, bridges, buildings and vehicles in working order. Grey Highlands' 2025 plan, prepared by Hemson Consulting, values the Municipality's assets at $885.0 million (in 2025 dollars). It shows a ten-year "benchmark" gap of about $164.4 million between what tax-funded services need ($245.8 million) and the funding in place ($81.4 million). Closing it would take a tax levy increase of about 20%. The plan also shows a smaller gap of about $36.5 million to reach a lower "proposed level of service", which would take about 4.5% ($810,000) more levy a year. Staff recommended the 4.5% option, and the Mayor's 2026 draft budget builds it in. The plan also says water and wastewater rates would need to rise by about 5.5% a year.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$8,164,000of bridge capital work the 2023 inspection report puts within one year, out of a ten-year total of $19,196,000
In February 2024 staff gave Council the 2023 bridge inspection report. It says only 47.9% of the Municipality's structures are in good condition, and that capital work (repairs, rehabilitation and replacement done by a contractor) would cost $8,164,000 within a year, $6,622,500 over one to five years and $4,409,500 over six to ten years, for a total of $19,196,000. Staff wrote that the bridge operating budget was $42,200 a year and that the funding deficit should be addressed now. The Mayor's 2026 draft budget includes $2.45 million for bridge replacement, repair and engineering. The pages we read do not show how much of the $8,164,000 list was done in 2024 and 2025.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$20,151,616approved 2026 levy, with a blended tax increase of 5.9%
The levy is the amount raised from property taxes. The Mayor's January 2026 draft proposed a total levy of $20,274,116 and a blended tax rate increase of 6.3%. The approved 2026 budget has a levy of $20,151,616 and a blended increase of 5.9%, which is $122,500 lower than the draft (worked out by us). The draft's capital levy starts from a base of $2,490,966 and adds the asset plan's 4.5% ($810,000) plus "an additional contribution of $238,732". The Hemson plan said the 2025 budget tax levy was $18.1 million, so a levy of $20,151,616 is about $2.05 million, or 11%, higher (worked out by us), which is more than the 5.9% rate increase. We did not find the Municipality's explanation of the difference, and the budget documents are on a portal we could not open.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
+13%town property tax, 2023 to 2024
In 2024, Grey Highlands collected $1.8M more in its own property tax than in 2023. That is a 13% jump, while prices went up about 2.4%. Only 9 of 89 similar towns raised theirs by more. Almost all of it came from a higher tax rate (up 8% for homes); the value of homes on the tax roll grew only 1.8%.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 4 sources
+60%water, sewers and garbage, 2019 to 2024
Grey Highlands spent $2.4M on water, sewers and garbage in 2019 and $3.9M in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$3,258per home on long-term debt, 2024
Grey Highlands spent about $3,258 per home on long-term debt in 2024. The typical similar town spent $1,201. Only 9 of 89 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
1 vetoof a council amendment in the 2026 budget (Road 170 gravel conversion, $163,019); override window cut from 15 days to 4
Under Ontario's strong mayor rules the Mayor writes the budget, council can amend it within 30 days, and the Mayor can veto amendments. Council can then override a veto. The Municipality's draft budget release says the override period is 15 days and that "Grey Highlands Council opted to shorten" it to 4 days. In the approved budget release, the Mayor vetoed one council amendment: to downgrade Road 170 to a gravel surface at a cost of $163,019. On February 18, 2026 Council did not get the vote needed to override, so Road 170 stays a hard surface and the budget was deemed approved.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
−$3.2Mnet financial position, 2024
In 2019, Grey Highlands had $2.5M more in cash and money owed to it than it owed to others. By 2024 it was −$3.2M. About 34% of that change ($2.0M) is a new accounting rule from 2023: towns must now record the future cost of closing things like a landfill. That is not new spending or borrowing. Even leaving that out, only 12 of 89 similar towns are in a weaker position.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$507per home on garbage, dump and recycling, 2024
Grey Highlands spent about $507 per home on garbage, dump and recycling in 2024. The typical similar town spent $153. None of the 89 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
2024 tax year · Grey Highlands, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Grey Highlands'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 Grey Highlands.
a year in property tax, at 2024 rates
Grey Highlands 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 Grey Highlands's share by what each service cost in 2024 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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