Introducing the 2024 Budget
City Council met over several days to discuss and debate the 2024 City Budget. The goal of this year’s budget is to make targeted investments in key areas like housing, roads and parks, while maintaining existing City services, and at the same time keeping the annual property tax increase as low as possible.
To that end, this year’s budget includes $7.5M for more affordable and supportive housing, as well as increased investment in emergency shelters and street outreach supports. The budget also includes $8M for road repairs, school safety enhancements like crossing guards near schools, and six new electric buses that will replace aging diesel buses in the City’s transit fleet. There is also additional investment to develop new industrial land to accommodate new businesses, nearly $7M for new parks, as well as money for the new Confederation Basin Promenade and swimming area in the downtown core.
While all of these investments are important, it’s also critical that as a City we live within our means, especially with so many people in our community struggling with the rising cost of living. To that end, this budget includes a 2.5% property tax increase plus 1% for capital. Together that increase is slightly below the inflation rate over the last year, and it is the 2nd lowest property tax rate increase among the 29 cities in Ontario with populations over 100,000.
Video: Introducing the 2024 Budget