Cambridge council was able to lower the tax impact for residents in the Strong Mayor Budget by about 2 per cent on Monday; however, the mayor may decide to veto a number of those changes over the upcoming week.
Council considered 13 amendments to the proposed $130 million budget for 2026, looking to lower the tax impact on residents from the current proposed impact of 4.36 per cent.
Throughout this process, there has been friction between councillors, staff and the mayor as this council goes through the Strong Mayor Budget process for the first time.
At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, council was presented with a document, which included the proposed amendments along with comments and recommendations from staff. Councillors were concerned with the lack of time they had to consider notes from staff.
“We should have the time to look at these two, three, four days ahead of time,” said Councillor Mike Devine. “What’s been done here is wrong. This should not happen, and it should never happen again. Every councillor has the right to read this stuff at their leisure, not be given five minutes to read it at a break in the meeting.”
The meeting took a 30-minute recess so that councillors could read and consider staff comments.
When budget discussions eventually got underway, council discussed and eventually voted on 13 amendments to the current budget, though only one of those amendments would actually have an impact on the property tax levy.
That amendment was motioned by Councillor Helen Shwery, looking to move $2.4 million from the Rate Stabilization Reserve to reduce the tax levy by about 2 per cent. The reserve currently sits at about $15 million and is in place to offset one-time expenditures and to provide a contingency for unforeseen events.
Staff noted that reducing the burden on taxpayers in 2026 may create a burden for taxpayers in 2027, a sentiment with which Councillor Scott Hamilton agreed.
“I don’t know if it’s worth compromising the potential long-term viability of an essential reserve fund to provide a very temporary tax break of almost $34,” said Hamilton.
The balance of council voted in favour of Shwery’s amendment, lowering the tax impact of the 2026 budget to 2.44 per cent.
“When we approved some of the projects that we did last year, we did not have talk of tariffs, we did not have people in the community who have had their overtime cut, we didn’t have people who had their shifts cut, and we didn’t have people who are wondering if they’re going to have a job in the future,” said Councillor Corey Kimpson.
Over the next 10 days, Mayor Liggett can choose to veto any of the amendments passed at Monday’s meeting, which she may choose to do, considering the fact that she voted in opposition to a number of the amendments that passed.
Then, at a meeting on Dec. 15, council can choose to overrule any of the mayor’s vetoes with a two-thirds majority vote.