Central Frontenac has not shown its residents the line-by-line budget they pay for, this year or any year its budget page covers. The page offers a summary a year back to 2016 and, for the last three years, a highlights sheet. The 2026 summary gives a single net figure for each department. North Frontenac posted its whole 2026 budget this year, more than 700 account lines of it. South Frontenac posted its full budget document, every capital project with its cost and how it is paid for. On its budget page, Central Frontenac gives residents nine department totals and a list of projects with no prices.
The Township may say this is how it has always done it, and its budget page back to 2016 bears that out. It is also beside the point. Central Frontenac has had strong-mayor powers since May 1, 2025, and the 2026 budget was the first one made under them. On November 3, Mayor Frances Smith signed a directive to the CAO/Clerk and the Treasurer. Item 3 reads: "The proposed draft Budget shall be made available to all Members of Council and Staff by November 20, 2025, and to the Public by November 28, 2025." That is the mayor's own order, signed under the authority the province gave her. The province's own strong-mayor rules, O. Reg. 530/22, put the same duty in general terms: the mayor's proposed budget goes to every member of council and to the clerk, and it is made available to the public.
Council had the mayor's proposed budget from November 20. On December 4, councillors went through 37 amendments, and most of them name the account they change: "10-060-0612-71873 gravel", "10-020-0250-70035 Postage", "10-020-0250-70056 Social Engagement". You can't cut $5,500 from a postage line unless the postage line is in front of you. What the public got with that day's agenda was a slide deck and three attachments: an operating summary, a capital summary, and a capital projects list. The operating account lines council amended were not in the package, and they are not on the Township's budget page today.
So the final budget can't be rebuilt, line by line, from anything on the Township's budget page or in that December 4 package. The mayor's draft was a 5.5% levy increase. Council's amendments brought it to 4.9%, with the Treasurer authorized to "finalize the 2026 Budget at a 4.9% levy increase by drawing the required amount from reserves". Where the money lands, on your road, your hall or your waste site, is in lines the public has not been shown. Even the amendment sheet attached to the minutes doesn't match the minutes: amendment 2026-25, $17,000 for economic development, is marked "Carried" on the sheet and is missing from the list of amendments council approved.
I asked. On October 12 I wrote to the CAO/Clerk, Cathy MacMunn, for the complete 2026 budget: the department lines, the capital projects with their funding, the reserves, and whatever council had in front of it when it voted. There has been no reply.
Voting opens Monday, October 19. Both candidates for mayor, Nicki Gowdy and Susan Irwin, sat on the council that amended this budget, and both voted yes on December 4 in a recorded vote. The amendments they voted on name the accounts, so the lines were in front of council. The people the two of them are asking to vote for them have not been shown those lines. So here is NFNM's demand, and it goes to the Township and to both of them.
To the Township: post the full 2026 budget, the account-level document council amended on December 4, on the Township website, before the polls open Monday. The amendments name its accounts, so it exists. Posting a file takes an afternoon.
To Nicki Gowdy and Susan Irwin: tell voters, in writing, before Monday, two things. Will you post this budget now, and will you post the full budget every year you hold the office? Their answers will run here, word for word. If there is no answer by Monday, that will run too.
This is not an extraordinary ask. The townships on either side do it. The province's rules make the mayor's proposed budget public. The mayor ordered hers out by November 28. The public's money is in it. People here have a right to know what the full budget is, and the only thing missing is the document.
Donald Morton is the publisher of North Frontenac News Media. He holds no office and is not a candidate in any municipality.