Budget and Finance

The Township of Mapleton budget and financial reporting processes are structured in an effort to achieve strategic alignment with our Long-Term Integrated Financial Strategy (LTIFS).

Mapleton develops and maintains a multi-year operating and capital budget and forecast, which is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. The budget and future year forecasts are prepared on an annual basis to determine operating and capital funding requirements. 

Procurement of goods and services by municipalities is governed under Section 271 of the Municipal Act. The Township has established a Purchasing and Procurement Policy that complies with provincial legislation and includes the following set of core principles.

a) To promote the most cost effective and efficient use of municipal funds and resources by acquiring the goods and services at the optimum quality, quantity, price, delivery and performance;

b) To encourage open competitive bidding on all acquisition and disposal of goods and services where practical;

c) Unless otherwise approved by Council, to purchase goods and services only as approved in the annual budgets;

d) To obtain the most competitive offers from the most responsible and responsive vendors.  To use vendors who comply with the provisions of the bid solicitation, including specifications and contractual terms and conditions.  To use vendors who can be expected to provide satisfactory performance based on reputation, references, experience, and sufficiency of financial and other resources;

e) To structure specifications that do not exclude certain vendors or manufacturers unless there is documented evidence to warrant exclusion;

f) To always consider the "total acquisition cost" rather than the lowest bid. This includes, but is not limited to such factors as repairs, staff training, suitability, compatibility, warranty, trade-in-values, recycling and disposal concerns;

g) To acquire goods and services about preservation of the natural environment. This gives reference to the method of manufacture and the method of disposal;

h) To delegate the appropriate level of authority to enable departments to meet service requirements. To ensure that employees who are responsible for requisitioning and purchasing goods and services are accountable for their actions and decisions;

i) To participate with other publicly funded bodies in cooperative purchasing activities where they are in the best interest of the municipality;

j) To abide by the Township of Mapleton "Employee Code of Conduct".
 

The corporate procurement processes, including public bids and tenders, is led by the Asset and Procurement Manager. To access open bid opportunities and for more information access our online Bids and Tenders portal.

Administration of the Township's property tax system is overseen by the Financial Analyst / Tax Collector, and encompasses several components including:

• Calculation of tax bills;
• Issuance of tax bills (interim and final); 
• Processing of payments on tax accounts; 
• Remittance of taxes collected on behalf of the County and School Boards; and,
• Tax roll administration, including supplementary assessments, appeals, write-offs. 

The annual tax levy per property is determined by a variety of inputs from multiple agencies:

• Property Classifications and School Board tax levy requirements - determined by the Province of Ontario
• Property Tax Ratios and County levy requirement - determined by the County of Wellington
• Property Assessments - determined by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC)
• Township levy requirement - determined by the Township of Mapleton

Property classes (defined by the Province) are assigned tax ratios (defined by the County). Weighted assessments are assigned to each property based upon the assessed value and applicable tax ratio. The final tax rate is calculated for each class to generate total funds for the the Township, County and School Board levy requirement.

For more information on the Property Tax system visit the property taxes webpage

As part of long-term infrastructure planning, the Finance team is responsible for debt management and municipal investment strategies. 

If you have incurred costs for an incident for which you believe the Township and or it’s agents / contractors is responsible, you can submit a claim. To have your claim considered you must follow the process and meet the requirements as detailed on our Insurance Claims webpage.

Once we receive the claim it will be forwarded to our insurance providers where all claims are investigated and adjudicated by insurance professionals.

You will be advised of the outcome of the investigation when all relevant facts are determined.

IT Systems are the backbone of what keeps our organization connected both internally and externally with the community. The Township's in-house IT manager is responsible for the on-going maintenance of network infrastructure, cyber security, hardware, software, physical security systems and digital communications.

The Township is currently developing a comprehensive IT Master Plan which is intended to generate a longer-term plan to service corporate and community needs from an IT perspective.