Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander, who also previously served as Northumberland’s warden for the last two consecutive terms, is weighing in on the province’s 2026 budget.
He tells MBC he sees some upsides in the budget, including the removal of the HST for first-time buyers of a home valued up to $1 million dollars.
He also says the province’s doubling of the fire protection grant from $10 to $20 million dollars is good news.
However, Ostrander says he remains concerned over what he calls “continued rhetoric” around the removal or lowering of development charges without revenue replacement.
Ostrander says he does like the tools the province has provided to allow a municipality to put off development charges until a home is sold so the charge isn’t being collected in advance.
Ostrander notes this helps cash flow to pay for keeping up the pace of development.
Meanwhile, provincial leaders, including Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini say the push for municipalities to reduce development charges is necessary to ramp up affordable housing and construction.
Piccini didn’t hesitate to put out the call for municipal leaders to accept his “challenge” following the release of the 2026 budget.
Back to Ostrander, he also says he is disappointed that the Ford government’s budget doesn’t address the property tax system, which he says is stressed beyond its limit.
Ostrander notes the things municiaplities are being asked to pay for and the decades of downloads are creating significant pressures on municipalities without revenue from the province of compensate.
