Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Shelburne's budget, taxes and council decisions. A town of about 9,000 people in Southwestern Ontario. 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.
+77%running the town office, 2019 to 2025
Shelburne spent $1.4M on running the town office in 2019 and $2.6M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time. Only 3 of 46 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
+70%parks, arena and library, 2019 to 2025
Shelburne spent $1.4M on parks, arena and library in 2019 and $2.4M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time. Only 4 of 46 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
+88%roads and snow, 2019 to 2025
Shelburne spent $1.5M on roads and snow in 2019 and $2.8M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time. Only 3 of 46 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$3,930,686capital spending in 2025, against a budget of $8,186,210
Capital spending is money spent on things that last, such as roads, parks and buildings. The Town's budget book shows a capital budget of $8,451,377 for 2024 and $8,186,210 for 2025. The book's year-end columns show $3,697,821 and $3,930,686 spent. The 2026 budget asks for $8,444,758 again. Some of the gap is large single projects that did not start: the Fiddle Park project, the roads workshop, and parks work. In the 2024 audited statements the same pattern shows up: the budget for buying tangible capital assets (things like roads and buildings the Town owns) was $10,567,990 and the actual was $5,161,349. The Town explains part of it: the parks pages say several projects were "moved from 2025" or carried forward, and that the Town will not collect development charges from new development until the wastewater plant expansion is done.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$1,200,000budgeted for the workshop expansion, against $443,000 in the Town's own development charge study estimate
The 2026 capital budget has $1,733,500 for the roads workshop, in three main pieces. Beside each, the Town prints what its development charge (DC) study estimated. A development charge is a fee on new homes and businesses that pays for growth. The workshop expansion is budgeted at $1,200,000 against a study estimate of $443,000. Cold storage is $400,000 against $120,000. The generator is $126,000 against $70,000. The workshop was also in the 2024 budget at $1,415,000 and the 2025 budget at $1,722,500, and the book's year-end columns show $21,516 and $30,421 spent.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 1 source
$2,401,687speed camera revenue in 2025, against a budget of $100,000
The 2025 budget expected $100,000 from automated speed enforcement (speed cameras). The 2026 budget book's year-end column shows $2,401,687 received in 2025, and $2,380,649 moved into reserves (savings accounts for later use). The Town also shows $319,829 from a provincial road safety fund, moved to its own reserve. For 2026 the budget counts no speed camera revenue. The Town says the proceeds are "to support local public safety (traffic calming) and educational initiatives". The 2026 road budget takes $100,000 from this reserve.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$1,616,204OPP contract in the 2025 budget, down from $3,174,658 in 2024
Shelburne is served by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The budget book shows the "OPP contract policing agreement" at $3,174,658 in 2024, $1,616,204 in the 2025 budget and $1,648,669 in 2026. It also shows credits for prior years: "OPP prior year reconciliation" of $(666,072) budgeted and $(788,887) in the 2025 year-end column. At the same time the Town moves money to "TSF TO RESERVE FOR FUTURE": $1,882,834 budgeted for 2025 ($2,167,270 in the year-end column) and $1,508,144 in 2026. The 2026 budget also takes $284,436 from a reserve "set up in 2025 for additional savings" to help pay for police. We did not find a printed explanation of the drop or of what the reserve is for, in the 2025 or 2026 budget books.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$14,259,041development charges held at the end of 2024, after the Town recognized $1,677,897 against a budget of $5,602,474
Development charges are fees the Town collects from builders to pay for the roads, water, sewer and parks that growth needs. The 2024 audited statements show the Town's development charge balance at the end of 2024 at $14,259,041, down from $17,580,771 a year before. The Town recognized $1,677,897 as revenue in 2024, against a budget of $5,602,474. The Town's budget book says for the parks projects planned for 2027 and 2028 that "There are not enough DC Reserves available", and that it will not collect development charges from new development "Until the Waste Pollution Control Plant expansion is complete". The Town's development charge page lists yearly summaries only up to 2023.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$1,295,000new long-term loan in the 2026 budget, for a $4,000,000 project
The 2026 budget has a $4,000,000 project to rebuild Pinegrove with urban-style roads, paid by two provincial and federal grants and "LTD - 10 Years @ 3.65%", a new long-term loan of $1,295,000. At the end of 2024 the Town's audited statements showed cash of $30,662,172, of which $15,168,810 is described as restricted (held for particular purposes) and $15,493,362 as unrestricted. The Town's long-term debt was $7,057,096. The Town does not say in the budget why it borrows for this project.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$835,600planned draw on the tax stabilization reserve in 2026, against $300,000 budgeted in 2025 and nothing taken
The 2026 budget raises the Town's tax rate by 5.0%. The Town's own table shows its part of the tax bill on an average single home rising from $2,918.81 to $3,064.75, or $12.16 a month. The administration budget adds a new "special capital levy 2%" transfer of $229,475 into reserves. At the same time the general revenue budget plans to take $835,600 from the "tax stabilization reserve", a savings account used to soften tax increases. That is more than the $300,000 budgeted in 2024 and 2025, when the year-end column shows $0 was taken. The budget also sends the 2025 surplus of $476,138 into the same reserve, and its forecast for 2027 expects the tax levy to rise again by about 5% (worked out by us from the printed totals of $11,636,132 and $12,212,226).
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$2.3Mowed in unpaid property tax, end of 2025
At the end of 2025, $2.3M of property tax had been billed but not paid. That is 12% of everything billed. Only 7 of 46 similar towns had a higher share. A year earlier it was $2.0M.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$44,984net cost to be raised for Fiddle Park in 2026, after $261,953 of revenue, on $306,937 of spending
Fiddle Park's operating budget goes from $17,000 in 2025 to $306,937 in 2026. Almost all of the change is two new lines: a "Community Harvest Initiative" of $249,937 and a "Commissary Kitchen" of $12,000. The Town says they are "Offset by Grant, Reserves, and other donations". A "Local Food Infrastructure Fund" line shows $187,453. The net cost to be raised from taxes is $44,984, up from $17,000. The Town's explanation is in the budget; this note is to point it out, not to question it.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 1 source
A property tax bill in Shelburne pays for three governments. Only part of it goes to the town, and that part is what Shelburne council controls.
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