Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township residents will pay about 4.5 per cent more for their municipal taxes.

Council passed the 2026 budget Feb. 17, but not before Mayor Jeff Agar made more changes to the $81,620,340 operating and capital budgets using Strong Mayor powers.

During budget deliberations, council directed staff to remove a $115,000 to infill a ditch on Hill Street and cut the grants to both the Moore Skating Club and the Mooretown Minor Hockey Association.

On Feb. 5, Agar used the Strong Mayor powers to veto those moves saying both the skating club and minor hockey associations shouldn’t have to pay to rent parts of the building – the clubs had asked for an extra $1,700 and nearly $3,500 respectively to pay for the rentals.

And the mayor said the infilling project on Hill Street was important since the street is a gateway to the community.

Agar added neighbours around the ditch don’t maintain the area, since it is behind their fence. That makes the terrain “impassible” and creates “health concerns for local residents.”

The veto could have been overturned by five of seven members of council. But only Councillor Holly Foster spoke out against the move.

Foster says neighbours along Hill Street asked for the south side ditch to be filled in previously but were told it was a county road.

She added public works officials told her the project was not a priority. But her motion to remove the project from the capital budget didn’t gain any traction.

The budget includes $20 million for the Courtright Waste Water Treatment expansion, $1.1 million for the storm sewer outfall at the Corunna pumping station, $100,000 to increase the space at the Wilkesport Public Works building for employees, $275,000 to pave the Sombra Community Park parking lot, $1.8 million for asphalt replacement and $327,906 to pay the mortgage of the golf course renovation.

With the changes, Agar says residential taxes will rise 2.7 per cent when the county and education taxes are included. That translates to over $75 more for every $100,000 in residential assessment.