That with respect to Report EC2025-0727, the following amendment be adopted: That Recommendation 2 be deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following: Direct Administration to identify a sustainable long-term funding source to support the change in terms of reference for the Reserve for Future Capital and Lifecycle Maintenance and Upgrade Merged Reserve from allocating 2.6 per cent of property tax revenue and adding additional funds to achieve a total amount equal to 5.0 per cent of annual property tax revenue from an alternate sustainable funding source, and to return to Council with a recommendation as part of the 2027 - 2030 Business Plans and Budgets.
Council approved adding $62.2 million to the 2026 capital budget to help fix infrastructure needs. That money will come from a one-time realized gain on the sale of investments and be placed into the Fiscal Stability Reserve at year-end. Council also asked Administration to find a sustainable long-term funding source to increase the Reserve for Future Capital and Lifecycle Maintenance from 2.6% to 5.0% of annual property tax revenue and to return with recommendations as part of the 2027–2030 budgets. A separate proposal to require that the long-term funding come from sources other than increasing the property tax allocation was proposed but voted down.
This action provides immediate funding to address an identified infrastructure maintenance gap, sets a formal direction to identify sustainable long-term funding for capital lifecycle needs, and could influence future budget or tax decisions depending on the funding option recommended.