MY TOP Six Priority Initiatives for Centre Wellington

1. Democratic Reform and Accountability

1. Recorded Votes and Public Reporting

Recorded votes will be established for all council decisions and published on the Centre Wellington website under four categories:

Financial matters

1) Financial.
2) Planning
3) Operations
4) Community and social policy for each representative and committee member.

The voting record of every elected representative and committee member will be publicly available.

2. New Finance and Operations Committees

Two new committees will be established:

A Finance Committee
An Operations Committee

Both committees will include meaningful participation from Centre Wellington citizens.

3. A Fair and Transparent Committee Selection Process

All committee positions will be open to citizens who freely apply. Committee members will be selected through a public name-drawing process conducted during a scheduled council meeting.

The current selection process is faulty and too often favours established stakeholders rather than qualified ordinary citizens who have a genuine interest in serving their community.

4. Greater Accountability from Elected Representatives

Council minutes will record the number of questions asked by each elected representative. These totals will be published monthly on the Centre Wellington website.

5. Improved Orientation and Training

Orientation for elected representatives will be rebalanced to place greater emphasis on representing citizens and addressing their fiscal, infrastructure and community concerns.

Artificial intelligence training will also be introduced for elected representatives and committee members. This training will help improve the quality of information used in decision-making and strengthen the quality of questions asked on behalf of citizens during public meetings.

6. A Municipal Referendum Policy

The Municipal Act of Ontario allows referendum questions to be placed on municipal election ballots.

Centre Wellington will develop a referendum policy that allows citizen-led referendum initiatives to be considered for the next municipal election. This will encourage greater voter participation, public interest and citizen involvement in local decision-making.

2. Back-to-Basics Fiscal Accountability

Zero Tax Increase for 2027

1. Zero Tax Increase for 2027

Centre Wellington will have a zero municipal tax increase in 2027. Further tax increases will be suspended until a full productivity overhaul has been completed.

2. Stronger Financial and Operational Oversight

The new Finance and Operations Committees will strengthen public accountability in:

Budgeting
Procurement
Efficiency
Productivity

This work will include the introduction of ISO standards or Six Sigma programs and artificial intelligence-based productivity processes.

3. Modify and Postpone the Staffing Expansion

The current staffing strategy, which proposes adding 28 new employees, will be modified and postponed until municipal growth returns to five per cent and measurable productivity gains have been achieved.

4. Review Infrastructure Contracts and Consultants

Infrastructure contracts and consulting agreements will be reviewed, and clear quality-of-service benchmarks will be established.

Where consistently poor service is identified, those service providers will be prohibited from bidding on new municipal contracts for 10 years.

5. Shelve the Short-Term Rental Tax

The proposed short-term rental tax will be shelved. It represents double taxation on private property and unfairly scapegoats small private property owners for Centre Wellington’s affordable housing and housing availability problems.

The larger issue is that the municipal administration has failed to approve major affordable housing projects. The current system prioritizes the highest possible tax revenue from building permits and development charges, regardless of the resulting cost to seniors, working families, lower-income residents and young people.

This has created a structural and planned housing shortage that benefits the stakeholder class while harming ordinary residents.

3. A New Deal with
Wellington County

1. Address the Fiscal and Democratic Deficit
Centre Wellington must begin serious discussions with Wellington County regarding the fiscal and democratic imbalance created by projected growth and representation by population.

More than 55 per cent of Centre Wellington property taxes go to the County. Over the past 25 years, this represents well over half a billion dollars that Centre Wellington has needed for:

Infrastructure growth
Asset management
Public transportation
Sewage treatment
Affordable housing
Public childcare
Other essential local services

The status quo is not fiscally sustainable. There is no clear public record showing the taxes Centre Wellington has paid compared with the assets and services it has received from the County. Citizens deserve a transparent balance sheet.

2. Restore Fair Representation at County Council

Before amalgamation in 2000, the five municipalities that now form Centre Wellington had five representatives at the County level.

For the past 25 years, Centre Wellington has effectively had only 3.5 representatives. Centre Wellington requires at least five representatives at Wellington County Council.

3. Address the Unelected Warden System

Centre Wellington must initiate discussions with the County regarding the democratic deficit created by having an unelected Warden. Wellington County has a population of approximately 109,500, yet its Warden is not directly elected by the public. By comparison, the Region of Waterloo, with a population of approximately 700,000, has a directly elected Regional Chair.

The County’s current system is outdated. It operates as a reward system for those who comfortably conform to the County’s status quo and discourages the Mayor and County Councillors from fully representing the needs and priorities of Centre Wellington residents.

4. Explore Regional or Single-Tier Government

Centre Wellington will propose serious discussions with the Province and Wellington County about either:

Establishing a regional government structure in Wellington County; or
Making Centre Wellington a single-tier municipality, similar to Guelph, Stratford or Orillia

Stratford has operated public transportation since 1953, and Orillia has done so since 1975. Both municipalities have populations comparable to Centre Wellington.

Centre Wellington cannot continue endlessly duplicating services and increasing taxes.

4. Building Community and Preserving Cultural Heritage

1. Complete Cultural Heritage Landscape Planning

Centre Wellington will complete the 2022 Cultural Heritage Landscape priorities with OPA (official Plan Amendments) to protect Cultural Heritage Areas and districts. Nothing has been done for 4 years. Protecting these areas will support and bring clarity to all long term community and economic development.

2. Introduce Volunteer Tax Credits and Recognition

A tax credit will be introduced for citizen volunteers serving on municipal committees.

The proposed annual credits are:

$1,000 for members of the new Finance and Operations Committees
$500 for members of other committees serving Centre Wellington exclusively, including Heritage, the Economic Development Board and the Seniors Centre

The program would eventually expand to provide a $250 volunteer tax credit for people serving with officially registered community service organizations. Annual public appreciation awards will also recognize citizens based on their hours of volunteer service.

3. Build Healthy and Vibrant Neighbourhoods

Centre Wellington will begin planning healthy and vibrant neighbourhood networks in all new developments.

These neighbourhoods will include:

Local community meeting hubs
Commercial space
Dynamic parks
Public gathering and meeting spaces

The goal is to build real neighbourhoods, not collections of strangers who remain isolated and must constantly commute elsewhere for services and community connections.

4. Address Overtourism

Centre Wellington will initiate serious community discussions about overtourism and the deterioration in quality of life experienced by neighbourhoods surrounding heavily visited areas.

These discussions will focus on practical solutions that protect residents while supporting a healthy tourism economy.

5. Economic Development and Private-Sector Job Creation

1. Review Barriers to Investment and Job Creation
Centre Wellington will review and correct economic development mistakes involving:

Land prices
Development charges
Municipal fees
Red tape
Other barriers to private investment

The objective is to attract investment and create new local jobs.

2. Establish Clear Timelines for Business Approvals

A realistic and measurable timetable will be established to streamline municipal approvals and remove roadblocks for local businesses.

Service benchmarks will be created. Where unreasonable delays occur, the fees charged to the business will be reduced.

3. Take Action on Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is essential to addressing the affordability crisis in Centre Wellington and across Ontario.

There has been too much discussion and too many promises, with too little action. The previous two mayors made commitments but were ultimately paralyzed by stakeholder interests that prevented meaningful progress.

4. Create a Waste-to-Energy Economic Engine

Centre Wellington and communities across Ontario are facing a growing waste and landfill crisis. Approximately 70 per cent of waste continues to be sent to rapidly diminishing landfill sites. Could be all filled in 10 years.

Centre Wellington will initiate a pilot waste-to-energy project that could:

Create hundreds of new local jobs
Establish a major new economic engine
Generate enough electricity for more than 350,000 people—approximately the combined population of Guelph, Wellington County and future growth

No new technology needs to be invented. Sweden's. WTE Waste to Energy. Sweden has demonstrated a system in which only approximately one per cent of waste is sent to landfill.

5. Expand the Role of Centre Wellington Hydro

Subject to successful collaboration and approvals from the federal, provincial and county governments, Centre Wellington Hydro would be transformed from solely an electricity distribution company into an energy producer.

Energy would be generated through the controlled conversion of waste, creating a stable and potentially more affordable source of clean electricity for local businesses and residents.

6. Fast-Track Grants and Government Approvals

With federal, provincial and county participation, Centre Wellington will pursue fast-tracked grants and approvals to address the waste crisis.

The objective is to solve the problem rather than simply discuss it, complain about it or add further regulatory costs.

7. Create a Long-Term Economic and Transportation Plan

Centre Wellington will develop a comprehensive 10- to 25-year economic and transportation plan addressing:

Ring roads
Public transportation
Affordable housing
Private-sector job creation

8. Improve and Repave Local Roads

A systematic and comprehensive road improvement plan will be developed to:

Repair potholes
Prevent future road deterioration
Eventually repave all municipal roads
Begin paving rural roads

6. Promoting Rural Opportunities and Economic Development

1. Complete All Rural Bridge Projects

Centre Wellington will develop a plan to complete all outstanding rural bridge projects through a large capital loan financed by the dedicated bridge levy. Once the loan has been repaid, 50 per cent of the dedicated bridge levy will be returned to taxpayers.

2. Support Rural Food Processing and Employment

New zoning laws and planning policies will allow small, medium and large food-processing operations in rural areas.

This will support local employment and allow more food to be processed closer to where it is produced, including:

* Abattoirs
* Custom meat processing
* Meat packaging
* Dairy product processing
* Greenhouse produce production

3. Reduce Barriers to Rural Housing

Centre Wellington will reduce costs and roadblocks affecting rural housing initiatives by streamlining taxes, municipal fees and required studies to the minimum necessary level.

Special attention will be given to initiatives that allow young people and cooperatives to farm, build housing or live in rural communities.

Farmland can only be protected by ensuring that more people are able to live, work and build their futures in the countryside—not by allowing large corporations to own an increasing share of farms and rural land.

A Different Standard of Leadership

Centre Wellington deserves leadership that puts local priorities first. For too long, residents have been asked to pay more while receiving less transparency. My commitment is to reverse that trend by opening the books, respecting the hard-earned money of our taxpayers, and ensuring every decision serves the long-term health of our community. We have a plan to get the work done. It starts with accountability on day one and continues with a relentless focus on the essential services that make our town a home.

Respect taxpayers. Open the books.
Get the work done.

Stephen Kitras for Mayor.
The Taxpayers’ Choice.