September 22, 2025

25 Years of amalgamation in Grey Highlands: The Promises of Amalgamation

BY SOUTHGREY.CA STAFF — Grey Highlands Council has recently revealed that plans are underway to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this municipality in 2026. We ask, “Are 25 years of amalgamation really worth celebrating?” This is the second instalment in a four-part series that investigates.

For earlier instalments, visit:

25 Years of amalgamation in Grey Highlands, a four-part investigation

The lofty promises of amalgamation were to bring efficiency, cost savings, improved service delivery to residents, and an expanded pride-of-place.

Efficiency and Cost Savings

The initial transition period after amalgamation, in actual fact, involved significant one-time costs to integrate systems, merge operations, and manage the new governance structure.

After the Brock University report previously mentioned, further studies made on amalgamations across the entire province of Ontario have indicated that cost savings even beyond the initial transition period, were elusive. In fact, residents have felt a decline in tax dollar value for services delivered.

In a recent online survey of Grey Highlands residents, many people weighed in on costs. “Small communities are being ignored while our taxes rise unbelievably to pay for other communities improvements,” said one respondent. “We see development in other towns and villages. Taxes keep going up a lot. I don't believe we are saving money from amalgamation,” said another.

Improved Service Delivery

According to the Brock University research, as well as cost-savings, “One of the major goals of the amalgamation process was improvement of the efficiency of municipal service delivery.” Evaluating changes in the quantity and quality of services delivered, most respondents in their study said that the value they were receiving for their taxes had declined.

Expanded Pride of Place

One additional hope of the amalgamation process, was that the creation of larger communities would bring neighbourhoods together under a larger, more inclusive banner. But with larger areas to govern, municipalities have had to broaden their focus, leaving individual communities with diminished control over decisions that affect their specific neighbourhoods, exacerbating tensions between different community priorities.

While Council and staff have tried to harmonize bylaws, rules and standards, and ensure that every community is treated equally, inequities within the municipality still exist and residents continue to cling to their own prior community allegiances.

The Brock University research exposed this failure to rally residents’ sense of allegiance behind larger, more expansive community banners. Respondents in their study felt no change in their sense of attachment to individual neighbourhoods. “Interviews with community leaders shed some light on these responses. The argument was made that “community” was a function of neighbours and local churches or informal groups that had little to do with the political-legal boundary lines of the municipality.”

While a significant minority did feel a sense of attachment to the new municipality, most residents had not yet shifted their allegiance to the new larger municipality that was created.

 

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