September 23, 2025

25 Years of amalgamation in Grey Highlands: Unexpected Failures

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 third instalment in a four-part series that investigates.

For earlier instalments, visit:

25 Years of amalgamation in Grey Highlands: A four-part investigation

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

Unexpected failures

In a 2009 research paper written by Dr. Barry Wellar, Policy and Research Advisor for the Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods in 2015, Weller noted a lack of evidence extolling the benefits realized from the amalgamation of Ontario municipalities.

In actual fact, as far as cost-savings are concerned, municipal costs and taxes have actually risen dramatically post-amalgamation. The promised economies-of-scale have not transpired because optimum service sizes vary by community, and increased distance between decision-makers and their citizens has reduced accountability too.

Government Bureaucracy

Arguably, bureaucratic processes and rules have become the primary focus of the municipal government, overshadowing the efficient delivery of community-level services. Bogged down by staff reports, workflow has slowed. Excessive staff reports waste time, deadlines are sometimes unclear and reports mandated by Council often lack priority guidance.

As a result, amalgamation has not seen an increase in productivity. While production efficiencies were possible, the speed at which amalgamation was thrust upon governments back in 2001, made proper planning for such efficiencies difficult. The implementation of cross-training, redesigning of shift schedules and leveraging of technology were just a few area examples for improvement. Instead, productivity in local governments has been on the decrease.

More beaurocracy and poorer productivity leads to more staff. The actual number of people employed by Grey Highlands has bloated to well over 120, while similarly-populated municipalities have gotten by with one-third that amount.

Rising Staff Costs

In Ontario, rising staff costs after amalgamations have often resulted from the harmonization of wages to the highest level. When rural areas were amalgamated with urban centres, residents in the former rural areas began to expect and demand the higher level of services afforded to urban centres. The cost of new, expanded service levels has strained municipal budgets.

Read the next instalment:

25 Years of amalgamation in Grey Highlands: Where do we go from here?

 

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