Building Whitby's Budget

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Community engagement is an important part of the Town's annual budget process.

Earlier this year, the Town launched new digital engagement tools to make it even easier for residents to share their feedback and help inform the budget. The results are in! Whitby residents want to see more invested in the waterfront, municipal technology that improve service delivery, and climate change actions that reduce carbon emissions. Learn more.

Also new this year, the Town will move to a multi-year Budget, better positioning the municipality to continue to implement the action items of the Whitby Community Strategic Plan and focus on four main goals:

  1. Service delivery enhancements and additions as supported by the Community Strategic Plan
  2. Support for existing programs and services
  3. Operating funding to support new capital assets
  4. Continued increased investment in infrastructure renewal

This new approach will help the Town plan investments to meet its service delivery requirements as Whitby continues to grow – so community feedback matters more than ever.

Heard about and interested in what a Strong Mayor's Budget means? Read Mayor Roy's August column to learn more.

You can also learn more about how how taxes are calculated in Whitby.

Share Your Budget Priorities

Thank you to the more than 3,300 people who engaged in the budget process to date to share their priorities.

New this year, feedback to inform the budget was collected through two unique and interactive online tools:

  • Simulate – residents used a new and interactive simulator that showed the financial impacts of their choices in real time as they increased, decreased, or kept funding the same for key municipal service areas. Overall, most participants want to keep funding the same for the Town’s various service areas.
  • Prioritize– residents took part in participatory budgeting through a new and interactive tool that invited them to rank/prioritize possible capital projects for inclusion in the budget. Out of seven possible priorities, participants said that they would put $100,000 towards the following in the next Budget:
    1. Waterfront Investments
    2. Investments in Municipal Technology
    3. Climate Change (Zero Carbon) Initiatives

Stay informed on upcoming budget engagement opportunities. Subscribe to receive email updates (submit your email in the STAY INFORMED box).

How the Budget Process Works

Each year, the Town undergoes a robust process to create an annual budget that delivers the services and programs residents and businesses rely on each day.

Check out the below videos to learn more about how your tax dollars are spent and how municipal budget decisions are made:

For more information on how Whitby uses Development Charges (DCs) to help manage the cost of growth, visit the Development Charge Background Study page on Connect Whitby.

Out of all the taxes you pay the government in a year, municipal taxes make up only 9% of the total amount. Of that 9%, the Town receives 3% from overall taxes to operate and plan for services and infrastructure that you use every day.

Municipal Property Tax Chart

To help manage these year-over-year costs, expenses in the municipal budget are broken down into two categories: operating and capital budget.

Operating Budget:

This accounts for the cost of operating day-to-day services in the Town including:

  • Fire and Emergency services
  • Town Facilities (e.g. Iroquois Park Sports Centre, Whitby Public Library, Port Whitby Marina, Brooklin Community Centre and Library and Town Hall).
  • Recreation programs
  • Road maintenance
  • Waste Collection
  • Debt payments and transfers to reserves

Capital Budget:

The capital budget consists of larger investments that help us prepare for our community’s future growth. Examples of capital expenses may include:

  • Infrastructure development, building and construction projects (e.g. building new roads, sidewalks multi-use paths, bike lanes and bridges)
  • Park and greenspace improvements
  • Fleet expansion and maintenance (e.g. purchasing new fire trucks and snow plows)

Have a question about the Town’s budget? Email budget@whitby.ca.

Community engagement is an important part of the Town's annual budget process.

Earlier this year, the Town launched new digital engagement tools to make it even easier for residents to share their feedback and help inform the budget. The results are in! Whitby residents want to see more invested in the waterfront, municipal technology that improve service delivery, and climate change actions that reduce carbon emissions. Learn more.

Also new this year, the Town will move to a multi-year Budget, better positioning the municipality to continue to implement the action items of the Whitby Community Strategic Plan and focus on four main goals:

  1. Service delivery enhancements and additions as supported by the Community Strategic Plan
  2. Support for existing programs and services
  3. Operating funding to support new capital assets
  4. Continued increased investment in infrastructure renewal

This new approach will help the Town plan investments to meet its service delivery requirements as Whitby continues to grow – so community feedback matters more than ever.

Heard about and interested in what a Strong Mayor's Budget means? Read Mayor Roy's August column to learn more.

You can also learn more about how how taxes are calculated in Whitby.

Share Your Budget Priorities

Thank you to the more than 3,300 people who engaged in the budget process to date to share their priorities.

New this year, feedback to inform the budget was collected through two unique and interactive online tools:

  • Simulate – residents used a new and interactive simulator that showed the financial impacts of their choices in real time as they increased, decreased, or kept funding the same for key municipal service areas. Overall, most participants want to keep funding the same for the Town’s various service areas.
  • Prioritize– residents took part in participatory budgeting through a new and interactive tool that invited them to rank/prioritize possible capital projects for inclusion in the budget. Out of seven possible priorities, participants said that they would put $100,000 towards the following in the next Budget:
    1. Waterfront Investments
    2. Investments in Municipal Technology
    3. Climate Change (Zero Carbon) Initiatives

Stay informed on upcoming budget engagement opportunities. Subscribe to receive email updates (submit your email in the STAY INFORMED box).

How the Budget Process Works

Each year, the Town undergoes a robust process to create an annual budget that delivers the services and programs residents and businesses rely on each day.

Check out the below videos to learn more about how your tax dollars are spent and how municipal budget decisions are made:

For more information on how Whitby uses Development Charges (DCs) to help manage the cost of growth, visit the Development Charge Background Study page on Connect Whitby.

Out of all the taxes you pay the government in a year, municipal taxes make up only 9% of the total amount. Of that 9%, the Town receives 3% from overall taxes to operate and plan for services and infrastructure that you use every day.

Municipal Property Tax Chart

To help manage these year-over-year costs, expenses in the municipal budget are broken down into two categories: operating and capital budget.

Operating Budget:

This accounts for the cost of operating day-to-day services in the Town including:

  • Fire and Emergency services
  • Town Facilities (e.g. Iroquois Park Sports Centre, Whitby Public Library, Port Whitby Marina, Brooklin Community Centre and Library and Town Hall).
  • Recreation programs
  • Road maintenance
  • Waste Collection
  • Debt payments and transfers to reserves

Capital Budget:

The capital budget consists of larger investments that help us prepare for our community’s future growth. Examples of capital expenses may include:

  • Infrastructure development, building and construction projects (e.g. building new roads, sidewalks multi-use paths, bike lanes and bridges)
  • Park and greenspace improvements
  • Fleet expansion and maintenance (e.g. purchasing new fire trucks and snow plows)

Have a question about the Town’s budget? Email budget@whitby.ca.

Page last updated: 24 Sep 2024, 09:29 AM