West Perth's budget landed in a good spot for 2026 according to Mayor Walter McKenzie.
He worked closely with staff and council to come up with the budget at the most recent council meeting. He says everyone is very happy with the numbers that will maintain service levels and account for cost increases.
"So we have a tax rate increase of 5.65 per cent. On average, a typical household would see an increase of $106 a year. It boils down to about $8.84 a month. Farmland property would see an increase of $160 per year, or roughly $13.35 a month," McKenzie explained
2025 featured a number of initiatives in West Perth to better connect the community. McKenzie says one thing that council and staff did early this year was to put together a West Perth Community Guide, which not only was featured on the municipal website, but was also available in hard copy form at local churches and the community centre among other community spaces.
"Early in the new year we came up with a West Perth Community Guide. It's a hard copy, a folder or booklet if you like, listing information of organizations within our municipality, as well as events and key dates throughout the year," McKenzie added.
A big local issue this year was discussions on the future of the 52-year-old Mitchell Arena. McKenzie says an assessment was done on the community centre, which found it was structurally sound but needed roof and arena floor repairs.
After a lot of public engagement and a task force that was developed to look into the options, which included a new ice pad addition or an outright new building, the task force and council landed on a decision recently.
"In the end, council decided to repair the roof and replace the floor and the boards in the arena at a cost of close to $5 million. Staff is currently working on specs and consulting with contractors, preparing to go for quotes early in the new year," McKenzie shared.
McKenzie adds that they're hoping that the work will be done by August of next year. He also says the Wellington Street reconstruction in Mitchell was a big infrastructure project that got done.
Going into next year, there will be a number of infrastructure projects, including one that West Perth isn't directly tied to, but that will affect traffic and safety hopefully in the area.
"The roundabout in Russeldale. It has been tendered out and hopefully will move ahead in the new year. Of course, this has been the location of numerous accidents over the years and we are looking forward to the completion of that," McKenzie noted.
Also, in Mitchell, a major water infrastructure project will be completed.
"We are going to be drilling a new water well. That will be early in 2026. We have four wells altogether, and one of them has developed a leak in the casing and it's not able to be repaired," said McKenzie.
There will also be work done to service the Mitchell Industrial Park, McKenzie pointed out.
"We have a 59-acre industrial park to the east of Mitchell. We're working with B.M. Ross out of Goderich and getting that all set to go and start selling industrial lots," he said.
Additionally, West Perth will be partnering with other local municipalities to establish a new transit system to replace the routes lost on the PC Connects program.
"West Perth entered into an agreement with North Perth, Stratford and the Town of St. Marys to connect with their transportation system. This system will provide a transportation system for seniors to get to medical facilities, and provide other means for employees that need that type of transportation," McKenzie said.
Another highlight of 2025, McKenzie adds, was partnering with the Schoonderwoerd family to establish a memorial rink for their son Carter, who took his own life in 2021. The Schoonderwoerds worked tirelessly with local partners and the municipality to establish the CS8 Memorial Rink, which is now housed in the Ketterson Park Tim Hortons Pavilion, and McKenzie says it's getting loads of use, which everyone is happy to see.
