The end of the year is almost here and East Hawkesbury Township council faces a challenge in trying to avoid a high tax rate increase for the 2025 municipal budget.

Council members reviewed the preliminary budget during their November 12 session. Unless any changes the municipality is looking at an eight-per-cent tax increase.

About half of that increase is due to the higher cost of policing for the municipality starting next year. The OPP policing bill for East Hawkesbury in 2025 will increase by $66,974. That represents a 3.92-per-cent increase in the municipal tax rate.

During a phone interview Mayor Robert Kirby indicated that inflation is the main reason for the high increase in the tax rate that the municipality faces.

“It’s just the day to day operations,” he said. “Everything is up.”

There may be some relief for the township on its OPP bill. In response to a growing number of complaints from municipalities about the increasing costs of policing services from the OPP, the provincial government announced that it will provide some financial assistance. Specific details are no available yet on whether that assistance will apply to all municipalities who contract with the OPP for policing or what conditions make a municipality eligible for assistance with its OPP costs.

East Hawkesbury`s 2025 municipal budget includes one capital works item. The Concession 3 road west will see 4.9 kilometres of paving done from west of the County Road 14 intersection as far as the Cunning Road intersection. The work is budgeted at $441,900 and will be paid with the township`s gas tax allocation.