Ottawa·UpdatedCity of Ottawa staff have prepared a 2026 draft spending plan that invests in police, roads and transit.Draft spending plan invests in police, roads and transitListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Ottawa city council is getting into 2026 budget season, with the draft spending plan coming out today. (Jean Delisle/CBC)The City of Ottawa’s draft municipal budget for 2026 hikes taxes by 3.75 per cent and increases transit fares by 2.5 per cent.In a news conference Wednesday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the plan “fiscally responsible.” He said Ottawa residents are facing economic anxiety from tariffs and federal job cuts and simply can’t afford “Toronto-style” tax increases.”The budget we’re presenting today is about stability,” Sutcliffe said ahead of the plan’s official release.”It’s about bringing a balanced approach. It’s about protecting affordability while investing in what matters to you.”City budget coming on Wednesday: transit and police funding big unknownsStanding behind a placard with the words “safe, reliable, affordable,” he said he will “always fight to protect taxpayers during an affordability crisis.”The draft budget will now go to city committees, where the public can weigh in on the details, before it heads to city council next month for a final vote.$166 for average taxpayerSutcliffe called transit a critical area. The 2.5 per cent fare hike is just part of the attempts to fix a chronic revenue shortfall at OC Transpo, which is still grappling with slow ridership growth coming out of the pandemic.The budget will also increase a property tax levy that funds OC Transpo by eight per cent. That’s more than the two per cent property tax hike that will fund most other city services, though libraries and Ottawa Public Health will get slightly more. The 3.75 per cent overall increase is the average of all those rates. It would mean $166 more for the average urban homeowner, or just under $14 a month.Police are also getting an outsized boost, with a five per cent increase to their levy. That is slightly less than the 6.5 per cent ceiling set by council earlier in the fall. Overall, the police budget is rising by $26.1 million to reach $414.9 million.Sutcliffe said it will be enough to hire 25 more police officers.The 2026 draft budget includes money to hire 23 more paramedics. (Ashley Burke/CBC)Money for key prioritiesThe draft budget also commits money to a few key priorities. Along with policing and transit, it would fund 23 more paramedics, invest about $23 million to build 350 affordable homes and spend $400,000 to get a jump on the mayor’s pledge to end youth homelessness.Sutcliffe said that’s only a start on the youth homelessness strategy he announced earlier this fall.”There’s a very clear plan. If we need more money in future budgets we’ll look at that. But this is the money required to support the plan that we have that will achieve the goal,” he said.Roads, sidewalks and parksThe draft budget also puts $135 million into road resurfacing, $25.4 million into sidewalk rehabilitation and $75 million to maintain community centres, sports facilities and parks.Overall, the budget commits $5.2 billion to city operations and $1.9 billion to capital costs, more than the $1.7 billion in the 2025 budget.Garbage fees will increase by 10 per cent next year, or an extra $24 per year, while rates for water, sewer and stormwater will rise by 4.5 per cent, or $47.30 for the typical user. Both of those increases were set under multi-year plans and were expected long before Wednesday’s budget.The budget will be the last spending plan before the 2026 municipal election. Sutcliffe used it to cast himself as a wise fiscal steward who has saved taxpayers money by leading a push to find “efficiencies” in one budget after another. This year’s budget reported $44.9 million in efficiencies.”I think we have a real choice with this budget,” he said. “I think what we’ve demonstrated is we can have low tax increases and big investments in our priorities because we’ve found a quarter billion dollars in savings and efficiencies, and because we’ve attracted record levels of investment from other levels of government.”ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
City budget would raise taxes by 3.75%, hike transit fares 2.5%
