NVCA presents annual budget, levy of $196,096
Clearview Township will be asked to contribute $196,096 as its share of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority’s (NVCA) $7.8 million budget for 2026.
In a presentation to council this week, NVCA CAO Jennifer Vincent noted that the increase for next year is $101,000, down from the $400,000-plus increase last year.
“Revenue for 2025 is down more than $300,000 due to less building in the watershed,” said Vincent. “We have worked through the budget line-by-line to uncover efficiencies while maintaining service levels. We have delayed filling some vacancies to keep the overall budget increase to 2.8 per cent.”
This is a remarkable achievement, she said, given that employment envelope costs including salaries, cost of living adjustments, pension plan and CPP increases account for roughly 80 per cent of the overall budget, and those costs have increased by four per cent year over year.
Even with the intense focus on trimming costs, Vincent said the NVCA has improved average response time for applications to 17 days. Service standards require the authority to notify applicants within 21 days whether an application is complete and to make finaldecisions on all complete applications within 90 days. In 2024, they handled 1,892 planning and permitting inquiries, issued 638 approvals, and planted 78,000 trees with the help of 1,469 volunteers.
Vincent said the conservation authority is best known for its Hazard Management activities, which include the permitting program and planning to offset flood and erosion risks. Other key functions include the Watershed Science Program which provides research and data collection to support informed decisions on drinking water source protection and the Land Management and Stewardship Program which focuses on building natural resiliency to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Vincent said improvements to flood and erosion risks in the past couple of years have actually resulted in increased development opportunities within the watershed.
One of the NVCA’s flagship projects involves ongoing improvements at Carruthers Memorial Park in Avening.
Over the past two years, there has been major bank stabilization work, channeling to restore natural flow patterns to the Mad River and extensive tree planting.
“We are working on two potential new wetland projects in Clearview, which are in the early stages of planning, “ said Vincent, “and we will be undertaking a review of the New Lowell Conservation Lands to ensure the dam is functioning as it should and update the Land Management Plan.”
Council received the NVCA’s draft business plan and budget, and will consider the request as part of upcoming budget deliberations.
Clearview is one of 18 member municipalities that contributes funding to the NVCA.
Contributed photo: CAO Jennifer Vincent giving a presenting on NVCA’s 2026 draft Business Plan and Budget.
