You’re going to hear “respect tax dollars” from just about every candidate in this election — including me. But on its own, that phrase doesn’t tell you much. Of course we should respect your money. The real question is what a candidate is actually going to do at the budget table, and that’s where I’d like to be specific. So let me show you the ledger I’m looking at, and then what I’d do about it.
First, credit where it’s due: West Perth is not drowning in debt. The audited 2025 numbers show about $24.8 million in reserves against roughly $6.4 million in debt, and no new borrowing that year. I won’t pretend otherwise. My concern is the direction things are heading. This year’s levy went up $861,803 — a 5.65% tax-rate increase even after growth, about $106 a year on a median home. Our OPP policing costs are heading toward roughly $2.24 million in 2027, with no guaranteed provincial cap. The development-charges reserve — money growth is supposed to pay into before growth spends it — is running about $1.5 million in overdraft. And only about 60% of last year’s capital budget actually got spent, with the rest carried forward. None of that is a crisis. All of it is a trajectory. Here’s how I’d manage it.
One: rigorous line-by-line budget reviews, where every line has to earn its place.
When a budget comes before council, I want to go through it line by line, and for each one ask a simple question: what does this buy residents? Some spending will pass that test easily — the roads we drive on, the services we count on. Some won’t, and those lines should have to justify themselves instead of sliding through because “we’ve always spent that.” When the levy rises $861,803 in a single year, residents deserve to know which lines drove it — the OPP contract, arena debt payments, new services — and which ones nobody can explain. I’m not talking about slashing for the sake of it. I’m talking about making sure your money goes where it actually serves Mitchell.
Two: save steadily for the repairs and replacements we know are coming.
Pumps wear out. Roofs fail. Equipment reaches the end of its life on a pretty predictable schedule. A town that saves a little into reserves every year for those known costs is a town that doesn’t get surprised into borrowing — and borrowing always costs more. The development-charges overdraft shows what happens when spending gets ahead of saving: growth’s bills arrive before growth’s payments do. Planning ahead isn’t glamorous, but it’s how you keep tax bills stable instead of lurching from one emergency expense to the next.
Three: plain-language reporting on where the money went.
The municipal budget is a public document, but let’s be honest — almost nobody reads a 200-page budget, and I don’t blame them. Residents deserve a short, clear summary in plain language: what came in, what it was spent on, and what it bought. When only 60% of the capital budget gets built in a year, that gap between “approved” and “done” should be reported, not buried in carry-forwards. That’s how people can actually judge whether they’re getting value, and it’s how trust gets built. “Just trust us” isn’t good enough when it’s your money.
Here’s the part I want to be clearest about: fiscal responsibility is pro-services. Cutting waste isn’t about shrinking what this town does — it’s how we protect the things families actually rely on. Every dollar wasted somewhere is a dollar that didn’t go to the roads, the arena, or the programs our kids use. Being careful with the budget is how those stay strong.
That’s my approach: read the lines, ask the questions, save for what’s coming, and show you plainly where it all went.
Where do you think council spends well — and where do you see waste? Send me your thoughts. I read everything, and I’ll respond.