A notice of motion deferred from the May 6 committee-of-the-whole meeting didn’t move forward for discussion at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of Port Hope council.
The motion, originally moved by Councillor Darrell Toms and seconded by Councillor Claire Holloway Wadhwani, sought council to “endeavor to secure at least one affirmative vote from a representative in each ward to reinforce cross-ward consensus and representation” as part of its annual review of the municipal budget.
A reason for deferment at the time was to allow for further training on Strong Mayor Powers, which Port Hope received, to be provided.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Port Hope CAO Mike Mellnyshyn said the Strong Mayors legislation has come into effect locally since the notice of motion was put forward.
“I don’t want to debate the merits of the motion. Philosophically I think council votes for a community as a whole as opposed to individual wards, particularly when one affirmative action is required,” Mellnyshyn said.
“To pass a budget for a smaller representation of the population, I don’t want to get into the merits of that…but I think it’s important to note, I do believe this becomes a mute motion. Under Strong Mayors, the mayor is the approving body of the budget. The mayor cannot delegate that authority back under the current legislation the way it is.”
“The language in the motion is council will endeavour, council can try hard to get one affirmative action, but it doesn’t mean that’s going to be the final say on the budget vote. Ultimately it’s the mayor’s final approval. We are trying to follow the process at the request of the mayor (Olena Hankivsky) to have a fully inclusive council budget deliberation. Ultimately council ends up endorsing a budget and not approving it.”
Toms was not in attendance for the virtual meeting and Holloway Wadhwani sought to have the notice once again deferred until her fellow councillor could be there for debate, but did not receive a seconder to move forward.
Mayor Hankivsky went back to the original notice of motion and needed a mover and seconder, but there were none and it was defeated.
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During a 2026 budget kickoff presentation earlier in the meeting, Director of Finance David Baxter spoke briefly about Strong Mayor Powers as it relates to the budget.
“The process has now evolved to a presentation of the mayor’s proposed budget and I know this can be and we are proceeding with a staff led budget as usual,” Baxter said.
“Once the budget has been presented then it moves into an option for council to make amendments and under the new legislation the mayor then has the option to veto the amendments and council has an ability to override the mayor’s vetoes.”
Under Strong Mayor Powers from the Ontario government, the mayor is required to propose the budget by Feb. 1 of each year and council can amend the proposed budget through a resolution within a 30-day review period.
Mayors can veto amendments within 10 days of the end of the council review period. Council can override a mayor’s veto, but need a two-thirds majority vote.
Author: Pete Fisher
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