Treasurer/Clerk-Treasurer Letter

Ministry of Finance 
Provincial-Local Finance Division
Frost Building North
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7

Ministère des Finances 
Division des relations provinciales-municipales en matière de finances
Édifice Frost Nord
95 rue Grosvenor
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7

October 31, 2025

Dear Treasurer/Clerk-Treasurer:

As outlined by the Minister of Finance in the October 31 letter to Heads of Council, a further $50 million is being invested by the Province in the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) in 2026, bringing the two-year increase to $100 million and the total funding envelope to $600 million annually. This letter provides additional information regarding your municipality’s 2026 OMPF allocation.

2026 OMPF

Over the summer, the Ministry of Finance consulted with our municipal partners through the OMPF Municipal Reference Group (MRG) on priorities for the 2026 program. The input received from the MRG has informed the following program enhancements:

Core Grant Component Enhancements:

• The Assessment Equalization Grant component will increase to $161 million from $155 million to better support municipalities with limited property assessment.
• The Rural Communities Grant component will increase to $187 million from $171 million in recognition of the challenges of rural municipalities, including rural farming communities.
• The Northern Communities Grant component will increase to $121 million from $105 million in recognition of the challenges of northern municipalities.
• The Northern and Rural Fiscal Circumstances Grant component will increase to $125 million from $109 million to support northern and rural municipalities with challenging fiscal circumstances.

Details related to grant parameters are outlined in the 2026 OMPF Technical Guide and will be included in individual municipal workbooks that will be shared with treasurers and clerk-treasurers in the coming weeks.

Transitional Assistance:

Transitional Assistance (Core Grant Recipients) will ensure that municipalities in northern Ontario receive at least 90 per cent of their 2025 allocation, and municipalities in southern Ontario receive at least 85 per cent. Northern and rural municipalities in all regions of the province with the most challenging fiscal circumstances will continue to have their funding enhanced up to 100 per cent of the prior year’s allocation.

Transitional Assistance Only Recipients: Starting in 2026, municipalities who are ineligible for core grants will be gradually phased-out of Transitional Assistance over a five-year period. This adjustment will allow for further investment of funding to municipalities with measurable challenges, through the OMPF’s four core grant components.

In 2026, municipalities that do not qualify for core grants and only receive Transitional Assistance will receive 80 per cent of their 2025 OMPF allocation.

Survey of OMPF Recipients

In early 2026, the ministry will be engaging OMPF recipient municipalities through a short survey to better understand how the OMPF is supporting local communities.

2026 OMPF — Supporting Material

To assist municipalities in understanding the OMPF and their individual 2026 allocations, the Ministry of Finance provides detailed and customized supporting documentation:

1. 2026 OMPF Allocation Notice and Inserts
2. 2026 OMPF Technical Guide
3. Municipal Workbooks

A. 2026 OMPF Allocation Notice and Inserts

The OMPF Allocation Notice and Inserts outline individual municipal OMPF allocations by grant component, and also provide a summary of 2026 key data inputs. A municipality’s 2026 allocation is noted on line A.

B. 2026 OMPF Technical Guide

The 2026 OMPF Technical Guide provides information with respect to individual grant thresholds, parameters and data sources.

C. 2026 Municipal Workbooks

The 2026 OMPF Workbook and the 2026 Northern and Rural Municipal Fiscal Circumstances Index (MFCI) Workbook (if applicable) provide detailed calculations of the 2026 OMPF grant components, the determination of the Northern and Rural MFCI, and outline all underlying data elements.

These workbooks will be provided electronically to municipal treasurers and clerk-treasurers in the coming weeks.

The 2026 OMPF Technical Guide, as well as municipal allocations, are also available electronically on the Ministry’s website.

2026 Payment Schedule

The 2026 Cash Flow Notice identifies your municipality’s quarterly payment schedule. Payments will be processed at the end of January, April, July, and October 2026. As outlined in the following section, OMPF payments are subject to holdback for municipalities that do not comply with applicable reporting requirements.

2026 Reporting Obligations

As you know, OMPF payments are subject to compliance with the program’s reporting obligations.

Specifically, municipalities are required to submit Financial Information Returns (FIR) to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) and tax-rate bylaws through the Online Property Tax Analysis (OPTA) system or to MMAH as outlined in the following schedule:

Payments for municipalities that do not meet their 2026 reporting obligations will be subject to holdback, beginning with the 2026 fourth quarterly payment, until these documents have been filed.

If you require additional information regarding the OMPF, you may e-mail your inquiries and contact information to: info.ompf@ontario.ca.

In closing, we would like to thank you for your ongoing partnership. We look forward to continuing to work with you on the OMPF.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Ian Freeman
Assistant Deputy Minister
Provincial-Local Finance Division

c.

Caspar Hall
Assistant Deputy Minister
Local Government Policy Division
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

Sean Fraser
Assistant Deputy Minister
Municipal and Housing Operations Division
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing