HEDDY SOROUR
Carleton Place residents could be facing a four percent tax increase in addition to a four percent OPP increase in 2025. This would translate to an additional $173.68 per year or 14.48 per month on the property tax bill of a home assessed at $289,000 (the median home value in Carleton Place for 2024).
The increases are the result of rising construction costs and increased services to serve new residents as well as maintaining services for existing residents. In the past the town has relied on growth to fund additional services, but that is no longer sustainable according to staff given the rising costs of materials and labour.
At the same time the OPP contract has jumped 26 percent in the past year, rising from $2,400,530 in 2024 to $3,022, 802 in 2025. An increase of more than half a million dollars.
A public meeting to present the 2025 budget will held on Tuesday November 26th, during the regular Committee of the Whole. The town treasurer’s presentation will be available on the town’s website immediately following the presentation and residents can review the document and submit comments and input on the proposed levy up until 4:30 p.m. on December 5, 2024.
“We’re no keeping up with inflation and everything is going up [in cost]. My recommendation would be a five percent increase on top of the four percent, but I didn’t do that because I didn’t think it would go over well, so I tried to be very conservative,” Trisa McConkey, town treasurer, told committee members at the Special Committee of the Whole meeting held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday November 21.
