County's money woes
Next council faces tough decisions while hamstrung by $103 million in debt
Northumberland County is at a financial crossroads as it faces annual deficits and a huge long-term debt, but it will be up to the next council to find a way forward.
At Wednesday’s meeting, during a review of the county’s financial situation at the end of 2025, some councillors expressed regrets that they hadn’t done more to cut costs and reduce spending over the past four years.
Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland and Scott Jibb, mayor of Hamilton Township, both said they had high hopes early in their first years on council but admitted failure.
Port Hope Mayor Olena Hankivsky recalled earlier council discussions that talked about the need for a cultural change and courageous decisions to save money “and here we are. It has really hit, we’re at a critical crossroads and we know that we cannot be putting any more onto the taxpayers.”
It’s a new situation for the county, said Director of Finance Matthew Nitsch.
“I’ve been here 13 years, and I think, as an organization, we have been used to having that flexibility to be able to take on projects or opportunities or challenges because our reserves were healthy and our debt was low,” he said. “We no longer have that flexibility.”
Nitsch said a key thing for councillors to understand is that the county’s financial liabilities are growing, primarily due to the cost of the new Golden Plough Lodge and the $95 million in debt that it took on to pay for the facility.
He noted that the long-term care home is an asset for the county, but paying for it will limit future options, such as building a bridge in Campbellford.
“Northumberland County is in a period of needing to use significant amounts from reserves,” his report says. “This, combined with higher debt levels, will result in reduced flexibility for future projects/challenges.”
In 2025 there was an operating deficit of $1.6 million driven by $1.2 million in extra expenses for winter maintenance and another $1.2 million in extra costs for agency staff at the existing Golden Plough Lodge. High-cost agency nurses and personal care workers are hired to fill gaps when staff are not available. Council agreed to use reserves to cover the deficit.
Long-term debt increased in 2025 from $9.3 million to $103.6 million, due to the $96.8 million that was issued for Golden Plough.
Nitsch said the county’s internal financial controls limit its annual debt payments to about $12 million and with the new Golden Plough debt it is paying $9 million, closer to the limit than ever before.
Cleveland said he wanted it on the record that in the past council tried to limit tax and spending increases but it wasn’t always effective.
“How can we possibly be entering into any large-scale infrastructure projects in the future?” Hankivsky said. “There is no room to manoeuvre here, if we have any cost overrun or anything similar to what happened with Golden Plough Lodge.”
There is some money in reserve for the new Campbellford bridge but not enough to pay the estimated $56 million cost and the provincial and federal governments have rejected requests for help.
Hankivsky asked whether it was time for the county to consider selling assets to raise money, but Nitsch pointed out that it doesn’t own much real estate that is not needed.
Cleveland suggested the county needs to look at reducing service levels, which would allow it to reduce staff. By far the county’s largest expense is staff, largely due to the cost of operating Golden Plough.
“This is something we have been playing with and toying with for the past four years but haven’t had the conversations that we need to,” he said. “This is now going to be the next term of council’s difficult task to decide what service levels are changing and what assets need to be sold in order to address the fact that we have a large amount of debt.”
“I look forward to the challenges in the upcoming years of saving money,” Jibb said. “Just simply not spending. If that means service cuts, that’s great. If that means efficiency, that’s even better.”
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