By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The two Cobourg organizations that were the subject of Strong Mayor Directives from Lucas Cleveland on their 2026 budgets now know where they stand, with a Friday afternoon release from the mayor’s office outlining how he plans to keep the town’s 2026 tax increase to 5%.
The Cobourg Public Library was ordered to keep any increase in its 2026 budget at 3% or lower. The library warned that this would not allow them to maintain hours and services as they are, but a Dec. 1 press release directly from the mayor’s office referred to successful negotiations with the library that “will allow the library to maintain its current level of service and operating hours while limiting its budget increase to just 3.41%.
“This outcome is particularly significant given early community concerns that achieving a balanced budget could require reducing operating hours by 1.5 days per week,” it said.
Friday’s 4:17 p.m. announcement seems to say something different, setting an increase of 3% and suggesting they choose their hours of operation more judiciously and provide a greater focus to maximize room rentals.
The Cobourg Police Service was told to keep their 2026 budget increase to 4%. But taking into account what Chief Paul VandeGraaf insists are nondiscretionary legislative-mandated requirements for the service, the Cobourg Police Services Board submitted a budget with a 20.5% increase.
Though a special meeting brought VandeGraaf before council to explain his budget, the mayor’s budget committee reinforced the 4% requirement and ordered that the police draw on proceeds from their Business Unit as needed.
“The Cobourg Police Services Business Unit revenues are public funds and should always be used as part of the town’s operating budget, to mitigate tax rate pressures,” the document said – though it has been stated at Police Services Board meetings that only the board has discretion over how the Business Unit Reserve is to be used.
The document is the product of the Community Led Budget Task Force formed by Mayor Cleveland under Strong Mayor Powers that give him total discretion over how budgets are formulated. While Port Hope Mayor Olena Hankivsky, for example, chose to proceed in much the same way her municipality always has, Cleveland opted for the task force approach, with a committee structure by consultant David Dexter.
Task force members were Anthony Dew, Peter Dounoukos, Dick Kauling, Susan MacDonald, Chrystalla Manna, Mark Mills, Esther Schroeder, Susan Stoltenberg, Ken Strauss and Al Switzer.
