Budgets
Budget process
Northumberland County follows a detailed and transparent budgeting process to plan for programs, services, and key priorities. In December 2023, County Council approved its first three-year budget, spanning 2024 through 2026.
Why a multi-year budget?
Multi-year budgeting offers several benefits:
- Aligns long-term goals with funding plans.
- Provides residents with more certainty about service levels, fees, and property taxes.
- Improves accountability and transparency in spending.
- Streamlines the budget process for both Council, staff, taxpayers and community members.
The multi-year budget process
- Development of Multi-Year Budget: Staff prepares operating and capital budgets for all County departments, covering a multi-year period.
- Initial approval: In the first year of a cycle, Council approves the multi-year budget framework. If the budget includes years that fall into a subsequent Council term, those years must be adopted by the new Council.
- Annual review: Each subsequent year, the budget is reviewed and re-adopted, as required by the Municipal Act, 2001. Adjustments ensure compliance with financial obligations and may address such changes as:
- New or changed regulation: Legislation or regulations with financial impacts on the County.
- New Council direction: Initiative introduced after the initial budget approval.
- Cost or revenue driver: Adjustments due to economic conditions or changes in government funding.
- New funding opportunities: Opportunities that require additional spending to qualify.
- Carryovers: Approved carryovers from previous budgets via annual Carryover Bylaw.
Changes to future operating budgets are consolidated and approved once per year during the annual update period, ensuring a streamlined and thorough review process.
In addition to the budget, the Finance Department has a long-term financial planning framework that spans the 9 years after the initial budget year – for a total of 10 years. This mode looks at the current year and provides a 9-year future financial plan for the County, ensuring a long-term plan that enable the County to plan for large projects and map out program and service delivery over the longer term. The long-term model will be updated annually or in the first year of a multi-year budget.
Budget glossary |
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Explore key terms and concepts to better understand how Northumberland County plans and manages its finances to serve the community effectively.
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2024-2026 Budget
The 2025 County budget was approved at the December 18, 2024, meeting of Council.
View our 2025 Budget Infographic
For a more detailed breakdown of our 2024-2026 budget, view our 2024-2026 Consolidated Budget and Long-Term Plan, or business plans and budgets and long-term plans below:
2025 Budget
The 2025 budget was re-adopted at the December 18, 2024, meeting of County Council, as a part of the 2024-2026 multi-year budget. The adopted budget includes some updates to issue papers and budgets originally proposed for the 2024-2026 budget.
For an overview of the revised 2025 budget, view the 2025 Budget presentation slides and Council report, delivered to Council on December 18, 2024.
For a more detailed breakdown of our revised 2025 budget, view our 2025 Consolidated Budget and 2025 Budget Analysis.