City committee directs staff to draft 2026 Ottawa budget with 3.75 per cent tax hike

The sign outside City Hall in Ottawa (CTV News Ottawa)

City of Ottawa staff are being directed to draft the 2026 budget with a 3.75 per cent property tax hike and a transit fare increase up to 7.5 per cent, despite concerns from some councillors and the public about the city’s financial priorities.

Councillors on the finance and corporate services committee voted 9-3 to approve the 2026 budget directions Tuesday afternoon. Councillors Rawlson King, Jeff Leiper and Shawn Menard voted against the budget directions.

Under the budget directions, the 3.75 per cent property tax hike would include a 2.9 per cent funding increase to support most city services. The transit budget will be drafted with an increase in the transit levy between 3 per cent and 15 per cent, and there will be a 6.5 per cent increase in the Ottawa Police Service’s levy.

Transit fares could increase between 2.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent.

A 3.75 per cent tax hike would cost the average urban property owner an extra $166 next year.

Several councillors raised concerns the property tax hike would not cover city services.

“I will ask my colleagues to consider whether we need a very different kind of budget direction. One that considers whether or not we’re going to be able to achieve the services that residents expect,” Coun. Leiper said. “Services in the minds of residents have been declining for the past decade and if we use the same approaches that we have been using to set the budget, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that trend is not going to continue.”

Coun. Riley Brockington said he has not seen a budget “that’s fully met my residents’ expectations for basic, core services.”

“My residents want basic city services provided, and they’re willing to pay for it.”

Brockington asked City Manager Wendy Stephanson what the tax increase requirement is to fund city services.

“Staff will take away the budget directions report and we will prepare a budget that will deliver city services and continue to deliver city services as we have over the past number of years. While we prepare the budget and table the budget, we will also look for efficiencies that will help supplement and save dollars,” Stephanson said.

“We can deliver a budget that continues to deliver services as we do today.”

Several residents expressed their concerns with the budget directions to the committee.

“This budget direction is continuing on a pattern of past budgets that do not meet the needs of the city or its future,” James McAvoy said.

“We as a city can no longer afford to kick the can down the road. Raising property taxes and other levies at a rate of lower than we need to make up for years of under investment necessarily means we’ve been causing structural issues to the budget forecast.”

Alex Cullen told councillors, “Welcome to the city’s budget directions – Groundhog Day. I say this because, once again, we’re facing a familiar litany of budget challenges, and the budget directions threaten to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

The 2026 draft budget will be presented to city council on Nov. 12, and the final adoption vote will take place on Dec. 10.