Your Information Source on the 2027
Town of Lincoln Budget

The Town’s annual budget is built around what matters most to you. We work year-round to plan a budget that reflects your priorities and delivers the services and programs you rely on.

Your input plays a vital role in shaping these decisions — helping us invest where it counts and build a stronger community, together. The Town’s budget must continually balance necessary costs and priorities while maintaining the service levels that our community expects.

This page is just one of the many ways we engage with the community and seek input on our annual budget.

Stay Connected

Join us at an upcoming budget meeting. The schedule below and at right will be updated when available. You can also follow budget meetings on the Town of Lincoln's YouTube Channel.

(Live feeds for meetings become active a few minutes before the scheduled start time of the meeting.)

2026-27 Council Budget Meetings and Resources

Please stay tuned for updates.

Mayor’s 2027 Budget

The Ontario Government granted Strong Mayor Powers to the Town of Lincoln on May 1, 2025.

Please stay tuned for timing of the budget deliberation period for the 2027 Mayor's Budget.

What does the budget include?

The Town’s annual budget includes a capital budget, a property tax-supported operating budget, and rate-supported operating budgets.

Capital Budget:

The capital budget is for large-scale investments in long-term assets, facilities and infrastructure. Capital projects can be funded by property taxes, water and wastewater rates, money saved up in reserve funds, long-term borrowing, development charges paid by developers, and other funding sources such as grants from federal and provincial governments.

Examples of capital budget items:

• Road resurfacing and replacement
• Watermain rehabilitation and replacement
• Major upgrades or renewal of facilities
• Construction of parks and amenities
• Purchase of fire trucks

Property Tax Supported Operating Budget:

The property tax supported operating budget covers the day-to-day operations of the Town, services and programs provided to residents, maintenance and repairs, and more. This budget is primarily funded by the Town’s portion of municipal property tax bills as well as revenues collected through Town services and programs.

Examples of property tax supported operating budget items:

• Roads, parks and facility maintenance
• Winter maintenance and snow plowing
• Fire and emergency services
• Planning and municipal law enforcement
• Economic development, communications, tourism & culture
• Library, recreational and community programs

Rate Supported Operating Budgets:

The primary objective of the water and wastewater rate supported budgets is to provide safe, reliable and sustainable water and wastewater services to the Town of Lincoln. The water and wastewater systems are fully funded by user rates with no reliance on property tax.

Water is provided in Lincoln on a two-tiered system. The Niagara Region is responsible for the treatment and supply of water while the Town of Lincoln is responsible for distribution, billing and collection. Wastewater collection is provided in a similar two-tiered system. The Town provides collection and transmission of wastewater while the Region provides treatment. Nearly half of the Town’s water and wastewater rate-supported costs are from the Region of Niagara.

Taxes: A Three-Way Split

The Town’s property tax bills are comprised of three individual pieces: the Town portion, the Region portion, and the School Board portion. The Town collects the property taxes for all three and then pays the Region and the School Board portions to them, which they use to deliver their services.

• 37% retained by the Town to pay for its programs and services
• 54% collected on behalf of Niagara Region and paid to the Region
• 9% collected on behalf of the School Boards and paid to the School Boards

Town:

The Town of Lincoln’s portion of the property tax bill is dependent on the budget adopted by Council, and is used to deliver a number of services that make Lincoln a place to grow, prosper and belong.

Region:

The Region portion pays for Niagara Region operations, services and assets such as public health, waste management, police, regional roads, and regional transit. The Region’s portion of the property tax bill is dependent on the budgetary deliberations of Regional Council.

Education:

The education portion is set and administered by the Province of Ontario and helps to pay for public education.

2026 Property Tax Breakdown

For more information on taxes, including information on where taxes go, and how they are calculated, see our 2026 Property Tax Brochure.

Where Should Your Tax Dollars Go?

We invite you to use our two engagement tools to provide input on the 2027 Town of Lincoln Budget:

• Budget Prioritization Tool
• Budget Survey