Four commitments, each with its caveat
A promise without its limit is a slogan. Each commitment below says what I will do, what the numbers show, and what council cannot change.
1. Make the Township easier to deal with
What I heard: residents are afraid to call the building department, and by-law feels like it starts with a fine.
What the numbers show: by-law payroll is six times West Lincoln's per resident, about $458,000 in by-law legal fees over three years, and short-term rental fines collected at nine times budget in 2024.
Commitment: a published service standard for permit turnaround, a plain-English guide to what needs a permit and what doesn't, mediation before enforcement on property matters, and every resident question answered publicly.
Caveat: the Ontario Building Code is provincial. Council can fix the experience, not the Code.
2. Stop the 5 to 6 percent increases
What the numbers show: Wainfleet's levy rose 5.35, 5.97, 5.93, 5.66 and 4.98 percent over five years. Every neighbour came in between 3.5 and 4.0 percent in 2026.
Commitment: bring annual levy growth in line with Pelham and West Lincoln without cutting core services, starting with a line-by-line review of cemetery operations, the in-house drainage model, by-law legal spending, and wages budgeted above what was actually spent.
Caveat: tax relief has to be earned. The Asset Management Plan shows a real capital gap, so savings must be proven before they come off the levy. Shoreline, seasonal population and drainage are real costs West Lincoln does not have.
3. Grow a little, so the burden is shared
What the numbers show: Wainfleet collects almost the same levy as West Lincoln from less than half the residents. A new home in Wainfleet pays about $3,600 a year in township taxes. The Township's entire assessment growth in 2026 was worth about $90,000.
Commitment: support modest, rural-scale growth: a few hundred homes over a decade, on lots that make sense, with the Township as a partner instead of an obstacle. Support farmers who want to sell land they cannot farm, and advocate to the Region and the Province for the severance flexibility farm families have asked for.
Caveat: I moved here for the space. A few hundred homes on a 272-kilometre road network is about one house per kilometre. That is not a subdivision. Anyone proposing to raise rural lot minimums is proposing that the per-resident tax burden stays where it is.
4. Redirect savings to roads and safety
What the numbers show: roads need $5.4 million a year per the Township's engineers; reinvestment runs at a third of target; 34 percent of road value is in poor or very poor condition. Residents report 100 km/h on 40 and 50 roads.
Commitment: every dollar found in the operating review goes to the infrastructure levy first. A traffic calming policy with a resident petition process and a published list of candidate streets, and formal requests to Niagara Regional Police for enforcement where residents ask.
Caveat: Wainfleet has more road per resident than any neighbour. It will always cost more. The goal is to stop falling further behind. And roads are not the whole story: I want to hear from residents where the money should go, and fund the priorities you name.
How I would work
| Phase | Focus | You will see |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Read every departmental budget, the Asset Management Plan, the Roads Needs Study and the last three audited statements. Meet every department head. | A plain-language baseline of where every dollar goes, published here. |
| Comparison | Benchmark Wainfleet against West Lincoln, Pelham and two comparable townships outside Niagara. | A public benchmark report tabled at Council. |
| Review | Service delivery review of cemetery, drainage and by-law. Shared-services discussion with Port Colborne. | Costed options, in public. |
| Redirect | Budget motions to beat neighbour spending levels, fund the priorities residents name, and lower taxes. | A rising reinvestment rate, reported every year. |