The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) is the first of the City of Hamilton’s agencies, boards, commissions, and City departments to submit a 2026 budget that adheres to Mayor Andrea Horwath’s 4.25 per cent budget directive, and does so without drawing upon reserve funds.
In contrast to the City of Hamilton’s directly controlled bodies, the NPCA is limiting new spending for 2026.
The NPCA operating budget for 2026 will be $16,238,000, an increase of only $143,000 compared to 2025, or 0.8 per cent. The capital levy budget for 2026 will be $1,675,100, down from $1,929,700 in 2025.
The NPCA’s Chief Administrative Officer, Leilani Lee-Yates, described the approved fiscal plan as a “maintenance budget,” emphasizing that it is “not a growth budget” and relies heavily on “innovation and ingenuity to meet current and emerging environmental needs.”
As part of the “maintenance budget,” the NPCA is decreasing its Land Securement Program levy for 2026 because it has exceeded the 10-year target in just two years. Since 2019, the NPCA has acquired 226 hectares for public ownership, including 45 hectares within the City of Hamilton.
The overall NPCA consolidated levy is set to increase by 3.59 per cent, but the City of Hamilton’s portion is slated for a 4.25 per cent hike, due to changes in the Modified Current Value Assessment used for apportionment of conservation authority levies among the member municipalities. The City of Hamilton’s land values have increased compared to Niagara Region and Haldimand County.
NPCA managers noted that projected increases in the NPCA’s full-time equivalent staff, rising from 83 to 87, are “exclusively fully funded positions” and are offset entirely by corresponding external revenues.
The Board of Directors unanimously approved the 2026 budget on October 24.
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Published: November 23, 2025
Last updated: November 23, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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Photo of Ball's Falls courtesy of John Vetterli under a Creative Commons BY-SA license.