Building Whitby's 2022 Budget

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Community engagement is an important part of the Town's annual budget process. To date, nearly 2,000 people have engaged in the process so far - thank you for sharing your budget priorities with us.

On November 15, Whitby Town Council approved a budget target of 2 per cent increase or an estimated 0.7 per cent increase on the overall residential bill for Town services. This represents an increase of approximately 11 cents per day, per household for the delivery of important services residents rely on every day, like waste collection, snow clearing and parks maintenance. This target focuses on maintaining affordability and continued essential service delivery.

The budget target approved by Council considered the following community feedback collected through the Town’s Citizen Budget Tool.

What We Heard

For the second year in a row, feedback was collected through the Citizen Budget Tool – a budget simulator that encouraged residents to share their budget priorities and create their own ideal budget.

This year, community engagement was moved earlier in the process than ever to provide residents with multiple opportunities to share their priorities and inform each budget milestone.

Here’s the results of what you shared with us through the Citizen Budget Tool:

  • Generally, residents find Whitby an enjoyable town to live in with 74 per cent of participants reporting overall quality of life in Whitby as “excellent” (18 per cent) or “good” (56 per cent).
  • 45 per cent of participants were "comfortable with the Town's current level of taxation and services", representing the majority of the responses received.
  • Top budget priorities for participants included:
    1. more local jobs;
    2. the revitalization of the downtowns; and,
    3. more green spaces.
  • 56 per cent of participants indicated that they had learned something new by participating in the engagement process.
  • Participants also used the comment sections of the Citizen Budget Tool to share their feedback and opinions. Top themes from the comments section included:
    1. requests for expansion of multi-use path and cycling infrastructure;
    2. a desire to improve the waterfront area and greenspace;
    3. strong support for more jobs and sectors; and
    4. a desire to continue to revitalize our downtowns.

Next Steps

Upcoming key dates in the budget process are included to the right of this page.

To learn more about participating in the process and speaking at Council meetings, visit whitby.ca/delegation. For comments or questions about the budget, contact the Financial Services Department at treasury@whitby.ca or by phone at 905.430.4300 x1952.

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. To date, nearly 2,000 people have engaged in the process so far - thank you for sharing your budget priorities with us.

On November 15, Whitby Town Council approved a budget target of 2 per cent increase or an estimated 0.7 per cent increase on the overall residential bill for Town services. This represents an increase of approximately 11 cents per day, per household for the delivery of important services residents rely on every day, like waste collection, snow clearing and parks maintenance. This target focuses on maintaining affordability and continued essential service delivery.

The budget target approved by Council considered the following community feedback collected through the Town’s Citizen Budget Tool.

What We Heard

For the second year in a row, feedback was collected through the Citizen Budget Tool – a budget simulator that encouraged residents to share their budget priorities and create their own ideal budget.

This year, community engagement was moved earlier in the process than ever to provide residents with multiple opportunities to share their priorities and inform each budget milestone.

Here’s the results of what you shared with us through the Citizen Budget Tool:

  • Generally, residents find Whitby an enjoyable town to live in with 74 per cent of participants reporting overall quality of life in Whitby as “excellent” (18 per cent) or “good” (56 per cent).
  • 45 per cent of participants were "comfortable with the Town's current level of taxation and services", representing the majority of the responses received.
  • Top budget priorities for participants included:
    1. more local jobs;
    2. the revitalization of the downtowns; and,
    3. more green spaces.
  • 56 per cent of participants indicated that they had learned something new by participating in the engagement process.
  • Participants also used the comment sections of the Citizen Budget Tool to share their feedback and opinions. Top themes from the comments section included:
    1. requests for expansion of multi-use path and cycling infrastructure;
    2. a desire to improve the waterfront area and greenspace;
    3. strong support for more jobs and sectors; and
    4. a desire to continue to revitalize our downtowns.

Next Steps

Upcoming key dates in the budget process are included to the right of this page.

To learn more about participating in the process and speaking at Council meetings, visit whitby.ca/delegation. For comments or questions about the budget, contact the Financial Services Department at treasury@whitby.ca or by phone at 905.430.4300 x1952.

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 November 2021, 15:53