King Township Council Meeting - November 24, 2025

Monday’s meeting focused primarily on the 2026 Budget, and the Mayor also provided additional details about the new recycling program. Below, I’ve highlighted several key takeaways from the Budget, including an important update on Roads.

Quick Links

• Mayor's Comments

• 2026 Budget

Mayor's Comments

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  The new 95-gallon recycling bins are now appearing across King. It’s important to note that this is NOT a municipal initiative, but part of a provincial program. Starting in 2023, the province has transitioned municipalities from their traditional residential recycling programs to a new, producer-run model. The transition was meant to ensure that the businesses that supply packaging and paper are financially responsible for those materials over their full life cycle. To that end, several large corporations (Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, Loblaws, McDonald’s, Metro, etc.) got together and founded a Not-For-Profit company called Circular Materials which now contracts and pays for most recycling.

  There has been significant confusion and misinformation about the program, largely because communication from the program has been poor. Concerns are widespread as the bins are extremely large, with no small-bin option available, making them impractical for seniors, residents with long or private driveways, or those who need to transport bins by car. Further, weekly recycling pickup will also move to bi-weekly, and Circular Materials will not collect from schools, churches, or Main Street businesses, raising fears that diversion rates will drop as more recyclable material ends up in the garbage.

  Residents can apply to downsize to a 65-gallon bin or request a second bin, but applications won’t be processed until after January 1, and Circular Materials plans to conduct assessments before approving changes. A website with clearer instructions is expected soon. The Township has insisted that Circular Materials improve communication, especially because northern York Region municipalities are being treated differently than southern ones, some of which still use small weekly blue bins.

  The Township is meeting with Circular Materials to advocate for accommodations and to help them understand local needs, especially the high number of private roads and the needs of seniors. Contact them directly at 877-667-2626 or email info@circularmaterials.ca

• Two designated heritage buildings located at the King Heritage & Cultural Centre have been restored to their original glory following a $250,000 grant. You an attend the grand re-opening of the historic King Railway Station and King Christian Church on Friday, November 28 from 2 - 3:30 pm and get a tour of the rejuvenated mid-19th Century buildings. Light refreshments will be available in the East Gallery of the museum, where the annual Trees of Giving exhibit can also be viewed.

• Santa’s Cookie Bites & Holiday Lights is on from 3:30 – 5:30 PM (Drop-in). Get your photo with Santa and enjoy crafts, cookie decorating, storytime, a "Retro Forest" scavenger hunt, and a special performance by the Villanova College Choir. King Heritage & Cultural Centre at 2920 King Road. Cost: $15/person (Including Children and Adults). Children Under 1 are Free. Pre-registration required! Register HERE. 

• King City Community Tree Lighting from 6:00 – 7:30 PM. Celebrate the season with us as we light the Community Tree. Spend time exploring the newly restored heritage buildings decked out in traditional décor. Write letters to Santa and tour the "Trees of Giving" exhibit plus enjoy the sounds of the McGregor Carollers. King Heritage & Cultural Centre at 2920 King Road. Click here for more.

• A Main Street Christmas will be on December 6^th from 3-8:30pm. The event starts with the exciting Community Santa Claus Parade at 4:00, where local businesses and groups participate with creative floats and several bands march while playing rousing tunes. Between 4:30 and 7:30 you are invited to wander up and down Main Street to enjoy the sights and sounds of a bygone era with carolers singing and playing music. The evening is brought to a spectacular close with the Farmers' Parade of Lights, brought to you by our local farming community, with brightly decorated farm equipment driven down Main Street, starting at 7:30 pm.

• The annual Nobleton Tree Lighting and celebration of holiday cheer returns on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 5 - 7:30 p.m. at the Nobleton Gazebo, located at 8 Sheardown Drive. This free, family-friendly event features festive treats, pictures with Santa, face painting, and holiday crafts. Plus, listen to students from King City Secondary School, Nobleton Public School and the Aria School of Music set the soundtrack for the evening with joyful Christmas carols with the MacGregor Carollers, while sampling winter treats including apple cider, roasted chestnut and complimentary hot beverages provided by Tim Hortons. The lighting of the Christmas tree for the 2025 holiday season will happen at 6 pm.

  Spread the holiday cheer and remember to bring a non-perishable food item or new, unwrapped toy to give to local families in need. Donations will be collected on-site by King Fire and Emergency Services.

• The Schomberg tree lighting ceremony will be Sunday, Nov. 26, from 5 - 6 p.m. at Doctor Kay and Main Street. Enjoy caroling, complimentary hot chocolate and cookies courtesy of Tim Hortons.

2026 Budget

This year marks King’s first budget under Ontario’s Strong Mayor Powers, but Mayor Pellegrini was committed to the same process as before. The result was a no-frills budget that maintains service levels while keeping tax increases as low as possible. Staff delivered a responsible budget that reflects rising costs for wages, fuel, winter maintenance, insurance, and essential capital work while adding no new tax-funded staff positions. Assessment growth and savings from the provincial recycling transition were fully used to reduce the tax burden, resulting in an increase of 3.61%, including the 1.99% Asset Management levy (read more about that in this post.)

A 1% tax increase in King generates $385,174.

While the Township portion for 2026 is approximately 3.61%, residents do not pay the Township rate alone. When York Region’s and School Board's portions are factored in, the overall blended increase for a residential property is approximately 3.19%.

Based on a Residential Property Tax Assessment of $1,000,000 estimated 2026 taxes are $9,168. Of this the School Board gets $1,530, York Region gets $3,917 and King gets $3,721. This is how King spends its portion:

Following are some special interest areas of the budget:

Roads – Last year, King anticipated investing $1 million in gravel road conversions for 2026, but reduced DC revenue has lowered that amount to $700,000. Because gravel road conversions are currently funded 90% through DCs (and not your tax dollars) slower development directly reduces the dollars available for these projects. The prioritization of which roads are upgraded is determined through the Roads Needs Study. In previous years this document was presented to Council, but this year it informed the Asset Management Plan instead and was not brought forward separately. Staff are finalizing the updated study; I have reviewed the draft, provided suggestions for improvement, and will report back once the final version is available. As part of the Asset Management Plan, King has committed to paving all remaining gravel roads within the next 15 years. Staff estimate the total cost at $20-$40 million in today’s dollars. To meet this commitment, the Township would need to invest $1.3-$2.7 million annually which is far above the current $700,000 budget. I will be discussing options to achieve this goal, including whether responsible debt financing may be necessary, with the incoming CFO.

I also reviewed the preliminary findings from the road comparison study between King and Uxbridge. Uxbridge has a smaller population (21,556 vs. 27,333) and a larger land area (420.5 km² vs. 333 km²), making it a useful benchmark because it also combines rural and urban communities. Early data shows that while the two municipalities maintain a similar total length of roads, Uxbridge has paved approximately 62% more of its network and operates with a road budget more than 50% higher than King’s. Staff are continuing to review the data, and I will share more once the analysis is complete.

Invasive Species: King budgeted for a 2026 review of invasive species. The end result will include an inventory of the types of species, mitigation strategies, and costs to be discussed as part of the 2027 budget.

Fire & Emergency: King budgeted for a F&E Master Plan that will make recommendations on fleet and facility requirements along with options and opportunities related to our staffing model and any requirements for increasing PT and FT resources for the 10 year horizon.

Summer Ice: One of the budget items that remains unfunded is the summer ice at Trisan. At a cost of $168,315, this would have increased the King's tax rate by about 0.44% (to 4.05%). I asked staff to compare the usage at Trisan in summer 2024 with this past summer at Zancor and receive this information:

Bill 60 - On October 23, 2025 the province introduced Bill 60 “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act” which changes when municipalities receive DCs, shifting payment from the building-permit stage to the occupancy stage. For King, this creates an 18–24 month delay in revenue that previously arrived early enough to fund major growth-related infrastructure such as fire stations, parks, watermains, and the new Joint Operations Centre. Because the capital work is still required now while the funding arrives much later, King faces a significant cash-flow gap in its 10-year capital plan. The Township may need to delay projects, re-sequence them, or rely on debt financing. When municipalities borrow money (take on debt) for growth-related projects, the loan payments (principal and interest) must be fully paid using DCs, because DC-funded projects are legally required to be financed by growth, not by existing taxpayers. The Development Charges Act is very strict: if future DC revenue is not high enough to cover those loan payments, the municipality cannot simply shift the shortfall onto the tax base. Instead, the project must be delayed, re-phased, reduced, or avoided entirely. In other words, King can only borrow for DC-funded projects if it is confident that future DC collections will be large and reliable enough to cover the debt; otherwise, proceeding with the project would violate provincial law.

NOTE: The green line represents the projected DC Reserve Fund balance, which was in a good position before Bill 60. Under the new legislation, however, the reserve drops sharply, creating uncertainty about whether the Township will be able to move forward with several planned growth-related projects.

Overall, King's tax increase is in line with those of other municipalities: