Residents expressed frustration and asked questions of Alnwick-Haldimand Township council over the 2026 budget during a recent public meeting at Fenella Hall.
About 50 people packed the hall to express concerns about the facility’s future and provide input on the budget.
Ruth Coursey asked how taxpayers were supposed to provide feedback when there was no draft budget to discuss. Others asked for financial details from previous budgets for reference.
There was a request to provide more user-friendly financial reporting to improve transparency for residents. Another request was to give the 2025 year-to-date actual, along with a three-year capital project list and a list of upcoming long-term capital projects to improve public understanding.
Gritt Koehl asked why Haldimand Court Apartments’ grant request for $2,000 was disqualified. The list of community grants was distributed at a recent council meeting.
The township released a budget survey in October. A report on those results was released on Dec. 18.
A special council meeting to discuss the budget was held on Dec. 18, 2025, at which non-unionized staff received a cost-of-living allowance, firefighters’ salaries were approved, and councillors received a report on their 2026 salary allocations. A decision was deferred.
Another budget meeting is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2026.
The budget public meeting at Fenella Hall:
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