From the Township of Lake of Bays
At a Special Council Meeting on January 28, 2025, the Township of Lake of Bays Council approved the 2025 Operating and Capital Budget. This budget ensures property owners in Lake of Bays will experience the lowest dollar-amount tax increase compared to other Muskoka municipalities. Additionally, the Township continues to maintain the second-lowest overall residential tax rate in the District of Muskoka.
For 2025, the tax rate increase, with an assessment growth of 1.78%, is set at 5.99%, following several Council deliberations that successfully reduced the initial proposed increase by 2%. As a result, property owners will pay an additional $12.72 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.
Over the past decade, the Township has achieved an average annual tax rate increase of just 2.65%, maintaining long-term affordability while meeting community needs. The increase this year addresses deferred infrastructure and service needs that have accumulated over the past decade.
To balance the 2025 operating and capital budget, Council approved $4,061,108 in debt financing and transferred $2,149,087 from reserves. An earlier financial and asset management review in December of 2023 confirmed the Township’s strong financial position to manage and incur new debt. With decreasing interest rates from the Bank of Canada, the timing for borrowing allows the Township to tackle important projects, keep reserves for future needs, and deliver an affordable budget for Lake of Bays residents.
The approved budget focuses on public safety enhancements, infrastructure improvements, and upgrades to community spaces. Notable investments include:
- Fire Services: A pumper truck ($650,000) and extrication tools for Baysville ($70,000).
- Roads and Infrastructure: $2.2 million for road construction and upgrades, with a placeholder allocation for a joint project with the District of Muskoka to upgrade the entrance to Baysville via Muskoka Road 117 (final costs and external funding still to be confirmed).
- Community Facilities: $1.7 million for the renovation of the Dwight Community Centre and Library over the next two years, $250,000 for Glenmount Dock improvements, and $90,000 for a chair lift at the Port Cunnington Community/Seniors Centre.
For a complete breakdown of the 2025 operating and capital budget, the full document will be available once finalized at Lakeofbays.on.ca/Budget.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
We live in the middle of a great natural recreational area.
I do not need many of the “services” provided by the local municipality. Some are “nice”, some are “necessary” and a lot of them are of questionable value when looked at from a cost-benefit point of view.
Many are duplicated with each level of government, local, District, Provincial and then there are the various Ministries, such as MNR, MOECC, Health and so on. I have to feel we are “over governed” and at a high end of the day cost, with not much to show for it all and I have not even touched on Federal levels of spending.
Municipal government has ballooned over the years so that it is now the largest spender and employer in the municipality it represents. Salaries and benefits are, by any standard, above the local, non government norm I think.
Most of the working people, the ones who own or operate local businesses, do not find it an easy or pleasurable experience to try to attend municipal meetings. Zoom is highly impractical and in person meetings suck up whole days of time that we should be using to run and improve our businesses so we can afford to live and pay the taxes of the very municipal government involved.
Some rules are outright ridiculous and need major revisions to actually be applicable to reality.
A 6% tax increase is one thing. Add a 25% tariff from our friendly pale orange skinned comb over of a leader from the south of us and it is another altogether.
When our dollar becomes par with the peso we can all spend the winter in Mexico and they can come here to help us with the summer rush. We might have to fly “around” the USA but that is what oceans are for and at least we can avoid the infamous “I-95 corridor” where all bad weather from anywhere in North America seems to end up.
On the other hand, maybe if the USA took over Canada they could “solve” our indigenous issues? But wait they have their own and have not solved them yet either so this is probably a non starter of an idea.