By Celeste Percy-Beauregard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator Brantford’s mayor ordered an amalgamation study the County of Brant didn’t ask for — and the results suggest the county would cash in while the city pays up. On Friday afternoon, Mayor Kevin Davis of Brantford released a study he commissioned with strong-mayor powers — despite the county’s opposition to becoming one with the city it surrounds. The 29-page report by Hemson Consulting is a “fiscal analysis of current state assessments, and 10-year financial forecasts,” the city wrote in a Facebook post. It shows that county residents could stand to see combined tax and utility fees decrease by around seven per cent annually in an amalgamation scenario. City residents, meanwhile, would pay around four per cent more on average by…












