On Monday, November 17th, Council passed four amendments to the 2026 People’s Budget.
Over the past several days, I have taken the time to thoroughly consider each amendment, review the impacts on our financial plan, and speak directly with many staff & residents about these proposed changes.
After careful consideration, I believe these two amendments could have a significant negative impact on the municipality—an outcome I feel strongly should be avoided.
As your Mayor, my responsibility is to protect the long-term financial health of our Town, uphold fairness and transparency, and prevent decisions that put Aurora at risk.
In my view, these two amendments do exactly that.
Here’s what residents need to know.
VETO – AMENDMENT – FUNDING FOR THE AURORA SPORTS HALL OF FAME
This amendment demands that the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame produce audited financial statements to receive their funding — even though Town policy does NOT require it.
Our policy clearly states that audits are only required for organizations with general revenue over $250,000. The Hall of Fame receives nowhere near that amount and has fully complied with every reporting requirement we ask of them.
If the goal is true transparency and financial accountability, then there is an existing process to achieve that:
- Bring a Notice of Motion in the new year to review and update our policy
- Have staff analyze it
- Debate it openly
- Apply any new standard fairly and consistently to all organizations, big or small
That is how responsible governance works.
What is not responsible is singling out one organization during a budget meeting to impose a requirement that does not exist in policy, is not required of organizations of similar size, and has never been applied in this manner before.
The Aurora Sports Hall of Fame is a volunteer-driven, nationally recognized institution that celebrates, preserves, and educates residents about our Town’s sports heritage. They strengthen our identity as the Town of Champions — and they deserve fairness, not moving goalposts.
For these reasons, I will be issuing a veto of Amendment #3.
VETO – AMENDMENT – “0% TAX LEVY” BY DRAINING RESERVES
This amendment proposes to artificially freeze taxes at “zero” by gutting capital funding and raiding reserves.
Its trading tomorrow for today, and it’s financially reckless.
This approach is basically asking the Town to take out a payday loan.
- Borrow from our reserves today
- Pretend everything is fine
- And then pay it back — with interest — next year
- Leaving residents with the risk of a massive tax increase in 2027
And everyone knows what a payday loan means:
It might look easy upfront, but it always costs you far more in the long run and in this case, a tax hike of 5% or more in 2027.
That is not fiscal responsibility.
That is not transparency.
And it is absolutely not the financial leadership our community expects.
Aurora has built a reputation — over many years — for strong financial stewardship. Under my leadership, this Town has never seen a tax increase anywhere near 5%… and it never will..
To better preserve and protect the integrity of our established capital plan, infrastructure and service delivery and the long-term financial stability of our municipality, I will be issuing a veto of Amendment #10.
Aurora’s financial health has been built on years of responsible, steady, transparent budgeting — Not gimmicks. Not short-term thinking. And definitely not through decisions that mortgage our future for short-term talking points.
Aurora deserves responsible decision-making, honest budgeting, and leadership that protects residents both today and tomorrow.
As your Mayor, my priority is to make decisions that serve to protect Aurora from decisions that may create long-term financial instability, hidden tax spikes, or inconsistent policy application. And I will continue to use every tool available to me under the Municipal Act and the strong-mayor framework to do exactly that.
#LeadershipThatGetsThingsDone
