Interview with the Mayor - February 17th, 2026

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Tuesday, 17 February 2026 10:24

Mayor Acchione talked about bag tags and City Council's first look at the draft revenue budget for 2026.

WOODSTOCK - There's a push to lower the price of garbage bag tags in Oxford County.

Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione brought a motion forward with City-County Councillor Deb Tait during last Wednesday's meeting, asking the county to lower the price from $3 to $1.

Acchione says the county is saving money now that the province is handling recycling.

"We really want to see some of that savings from the recycling program returned back to our residents. I think we are all over taxed, there's no question."

He says the issue of illegal dumping is also a driving force behind this, adding the City of Woodstock is looking at an extra $100,000 this year to address the issue.

However, the $3 bag tag price was approved by council only a year ago, so an objection was made and the motion failed. Acchione says he's currently talking with county staff about it, so the motion could be reworded and the topic could be debated in the future.

Meanwhile, Woodstock City Council is about to have it's first look at the draft revenue budget for 2026.

Mayor Acchione gave us a quick breakdown during his interview on the Heart FM Morning Show today.

"There is a 2.9 percent effective rate as an increase if we look at the status quo of what's been going on with the base budget. A huge factor of that has been our first responders because there's quite of bit of increases there. Otherwise, if we look at everything with all of the asks of all of the different departments, we could be up to a 6.81 percent increase with all of the additions to base budget."

If council approves just the base budget, the average homeowner would see an increase of $93.76 on the city's portion of their property tax bill. If council approves all of the requests from staff, that number jumps to $220.40.

Acchione says the numbers are not as high as he expected.

"I don't like any increase, don't get me wrong, but it's a little less than I was expecting! Just with the rising costs and looking at all of our equipment this past winter. Looking at what needs to be replaced, fixed, etc."

City Council has budget meetings scheduled for Tuesday February 24th and Thursday February 26th. Both of the meetings have a 5:00 p.m. start time and they will be live streamed as well. Acchione says council is hoping to have the final revenue budget approved during the regular council meeting on Thursday, March 19th.

This Thursday's City Council meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and it will be livestreamed on the City of Woodstock YouTube page. You can also find the meeting agenda online here.

Mayor Acchione also discussed the following during his interview this morning:

- Discussions around turning the Hawkin's Chapel site on Park Row into a heritage site. An objection has been submitted by the landowner.

- Today is the first day for the new Turtle Island Public School in Woodstock.

- Council will considering lowering the threshold for the Fee Assistance and Recreation Program (FAIR) program in Woodstock.

You can listen to the full interview below: