Central Huron Council passes 2025 budget with few changes

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

On Monday night, Central Huron passed its 2025 budget, largely unchanged from its last presentation, which includes a tax rate increase for Central Huron purposes of 5.01 per cent, equating to a total tax rate increase of 3.9 per cent, when Huron County and education budgets are included.

 

Treasurer Jeff Boyes made the presentation to council and made note of some small changes he had made to the budget to reach the desired outcome of a 3.9 per cent overall tax rate increase. Those changes include a transfer from the economic development reserve of $40,410.05, a reduction in the transfer to the facilities reserve of $15,000, the removal of a $50,000 contribution to the roads reserve and the deferral of the approach paving to Ball’s Bridge, in the amount of $45,000, to the 2026 budget.

 

The tax rate increase represents $55.91 more in residential taxes per $100,000 of assessment. Almost $38 of that is used by Central Huron, $18.06 for the county and nothing for the school boards, which came in with a zero per cent increase to the levy, which has become the norm in recent years. Of the total taxes being paid by a Central Huron resident on $100,000 of residential assessment, $793.41 is for Central Huron purposes, $541.65 for Huron County and $153 for the school boards.

 

Boyes also provided council with some notes on the budget, including the fact that net transfers from reserves are up in 2025 from 2024 by nearly $700,000 and that the municipal debt is over $1.7 million less than it was last year. He also noted that the surplus is more than $2 million higher than it was in 2024 and that capital grants are nearly $4.5 million higher than they were last year.

 

Total levy requirements for this year’s budget are just under $10 million at $9,923,021. The levy increase is 6.28 per cent and some assessment growth has offset that figure to bring it down to the aforementioned 5.01 per cent increase.

 

Council passed the budget by motion, and then later in the meeting by bylaw, with little more discussion.