Budget - Community Services Administration (incl. community grants)
Community Services coordinates 16 facilities and numerous programs through five divisions: Arts and Culture, Library Services, Fire Services, Recreation and Park Services, and Social Services. The Community Services Department also administers the Community Grants Portfolio. The Community Services Department also houses the Community Development Program and administers the Community Grants Portfolio as well as coordinating a number of special events and projects. The Parks function was transferred to the Recreation Division in 2024, and the 2025 budget has been updated accordingly. New in 2025 is the incorporation of Tourism activities in the Recreation and Parks Services division which were previously provided for the City by Peterborough Kawartha Economic Development.
Interactive Budget
Explore the City's budget using the interactive OpenBook feature, including expenses by department and division as well as a breakdown of what a typical residential property taxpayer pays per $100,000 of assessment.
The full budget information is available in the Draft 2025 Budget book.
Highlights
The Community Grants program, and the Community Service Agreements provide funding to non-profit, community-based organizations that deliver direct programs, services, or activities that improve the quality of life for residents.
The Community grants support activities in the areas of social services and health, arts, culture, heritage, recreation, and the environment. These activities can range from small special events to operations for larger organizations. All grant programs are proposed to be funded at 75% of their 2024 budgeted amount except for Sustainable Peterborough whose funding is being eliminated.
In 2024, through the various levels of community grants awarded, a total of 75 organizations were supported.
The Community Development Program (CDP) continues to improve the well-being of residents in the City and County through building capacity, developing policy, and delivering projects and programs for improved information, training, referrals, and supports to enhance social development and to fill service gaps.
The Peterborough County Hubs Program expanded in September 2024 for a one-year pilot to have drop-in services in select locations in partnership between Social Services and several local service providers. All costs are covered by the existing budget.
Age-friendly Peterborough (AFP) continues to expand programs through creative partnerships to local organizations to improve access to services and educational opportunities for older adults. In 2023 there were 2,148 participants in educational events lead by AFP. 2640 people are forecast in 2024 and growth to 3040 people in 2025 are projected to participate.
The Homemakers program expanded in 2024 with an increase of annual funding of $31,500. This will allow for more clients and expanded access to dwelling deep cleaning for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. This increase will allow approximately 20 more clients into the program. The 2023 client capacity had been 85 clients.
Responsibility for funding agreements with Activity Haven and Mapleridge senior activity centres has been transferred from Recreation to the CDP as they are better tied to Age-friendly Peterborough objectives. This transfer resulted in $225,899 being added to the CDP in 2025.
$38,208 in funding to Community Care and the New Canadians Centre is being transferred from CDP to the Community Grants Program. This shift will better align City funding with the new Community Service Agreement being established for 2025. $22,526 for Kawartha Food Share and $23,149 for 211Ontario will remain in the CDP as they are a 50/50 cost share with the County.
Recommendations
That any surplus funds at the end of 2025 for Market Hall be transferred to the Market Hall Capital Reserve for unanticipated maintenance expenses or small capital improvements.
That any unused Community Development Program net budget at the end of 2025 be transferred to the Social Services Community Social Plan Joint Reserve for future program development, subject to the overall year end position and that, if actual 2025 Community Development costs exceed the 2025 Budget, funds may be drawn from the Reserve.
OpenBook Budget tool instructions
Use our interactive OpenBook budget tool to view a breakdown of what a residential taxpayer pays for each municipal services.
The Where Your Tax Dollars Go feature shows how much a residential taxpayer pays per $100,000 of assessment. It starts at the City Department level then you can click on each department to view the cost for services within that department. For example:
- Click on Municipal Operations and it goes to the service/division level, where you can see the typical residential taxpayer pays $85.41 per $100,000 of assessment, or 5.22% of the municipal tax dollar for that service
- Click on Outside Organizations at the top level of the tool and it breaks it down to individual outside organizations that receive City funding, showing that the typical residential taxpayer pays $300.42 per $100,000 of assessment, or 18.36% of the municipal tax dollar for that service
See where your municipal tax dollar goes for municipal services. Explore the OpenBook budget tool.
Contact Us
City Hall
500 George St. N.
Peterborough, ON
K9H 3R9
Phone: 705-742-7777
Toll Free: 1-855-738-3755
Email Us