PERIOD REPORT
DATE: January 26, 2026 Report No. FIN-26-002
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Ian Irvine, Director of Financial Service
SUBJECT:TITLE Financial Services and IT Departments - 2025 Third Period Report
Body
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Financial Services and IT Departments from September 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
I. DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Reporting
• In preparation for the 2026-2030 Financial Plan, capital and operating budget information was submitted by each department. Financial information was reviewed and consolidated in preparation for Council consideration during the first period of 2026.
• Interim audit work by the Township’s auditors was completed during November. The year end requirements, reconciliations and analyses are being completed in preparation for the annual financial statement audit scheduled for March and April 2026.
• The ability to remit amounts to suppliers, employees and other payees via electronic fund transfer was implemented and more are added to the program as they are identified. To date, more than 85% of payees have been set up for these payments.
2. Property Taxation
• As of December 31, 2025, more than 96% of all folios were paid in full and nearly 92% of the total tax levy was collected. These numbers remain consistent with previous years.
• The total 2025 amount received from Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) for Property in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) was $5,300 less than the budgeted amount. This discrepancy was considered immaterial and no PILT appeal was filed as a result.
• All delinquent property taxes were fully collected prior to the tax sale deadline and, as a result, the Township did not hold a tax sale at the end of September.
• Under the alternative tax scheme in place, penalties relating to homeowner grants claimed between July 3 and September 2 were reversed. During this period, 412 regular and additional homeowner grants were claimed which resulted in penalties of $28,049 being reversed.
• The Township continues to provide online functionality for property tax payments made with a credit card. For the 2025 year, taxpayers made 294 payments totalling $797,781 through the online application. This represented a 28% increase in the number of payments and a 46% increase in the total payments received.
3. Information Technology
• Important upgrades were made to the Archives database as the previous version was no longer supported with security updates.
• Improved operational workflow for the finance department through the development of a secure solution for viewing documents. This ability was disabled as part of recent Windows updates.
• Identified and implemented a resolution to address an issue which was impacting the annual renewal process for dog and business licences as well as the generation of property tax reminder notices.
• Worked with the project manager for the new public safety building to plan for access point deployment and installation.
• There were 643 tickets closed in this period, compared to 676 tickets during the same period last year. This represents a 5% decrease which is partially attributed to an increased number of in-person requests received from staff.
II. COMMITTEES
The Local Grant Committee met in September to review permissive tax exemption applications for the 2026 taxation year. Recommendations were made by the Committee to grant exemptions at varying percentages for several not for profit organizations. These recommendations were reviewed and approved by Council and the bylaws were adopted in advance of the October 31 deadline.