Council to vote on final $5B City of Ottawa budget today

Council will vote on the final 2025 City of Ottawa budget on Wednesday and residents can expect to pay more in taxes next year.

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The $5 billion budget as it stands includes a 3.9 per cent property tax hike for most homeowners as well as increases to transit fares, recreation fees, parking and a variety of city services.

If passed, a 2.9 per cent property tax increase plus a hike to the transit levy would raise the average urban property tax bill by $168 in 2025. The draft budget earmarks an eight per cent increase to the transit levy, an approximately one per cent increase in taxes to most homeowners.

Property taxes are set to remain lower than many Canadian cities but is among one of the highest increases Ottawa has seen in years. Other cities have placed significantly higher tax burdens on their residents this year, including Toronto: 9.5 per cent, Vancouver: 7.5 per cent, Edmonton: 8.9 per cent and Calgary: 7.8 per cent.

Ottawa is facing significant budgetary strains, prompting Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to launch a "Fairness for Ottawa" campaign this year to appeal for more funding from higher levels of government while sticking to a campaign promise to keep property taxes low. In addition to increases to fares and the transit levy, the budget includes $36 million in "expected funding from senior levels of government," which has not been confirmed.

"While we wait for more sustainable funding solutions, we're going to have to do a lot of patchwork and use a lot of duct tape to get through each budget year," Sutcliffe told CTV News last month.

Sutcliffe has said the 2025 budget includes a "historic investment" in public transit, with OC Transpo's budget increasing $88 million to $856 million. The city plans to open the Trillium Line next month and the eastern extension of the Confederation Line later next year.

The budget proposes a five-per-cent hike in transit fares to help cover a $120 million deficit in the 2025 OC Transpo budget. The cost of a monthly adult pass will increase to $135 in 2025.

Councillors and city staff have grappled with how to balance the books in the transit budget. As it stands, the budget will see across the board fare increases of five per cent but monthly discount passes will be impacted the most.

City staff had proposed a 120 per cent increase to monthly senior passes last month, but heavy public pushback led the city's Transit Commission to pass a more modest increase.

A motion tabled during the Transit Commission meeting last week will see a $9 increase, from $49 to $58.25, for seniors passes. Council will discuss and vote on the issue as the motion also includes a 0.11 per cent hike to the transit levy.

The city is also eliminating free transit for 11 and 12-year-olds and eliminating the discounted youth transit fare for 13 to 18-year-olds, requiring riders to get an adult transit fare.

The transit budget includes $21.3 million in capital efficiencies and deferrals and $12.4 million in operating efficiencies. OC Transpo ridership is projected to be 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in 2025.

More money for police, emergency services

Ottawa police will be asking taxpayers for an extra $16 million next year to hire more officers and launch new services, including a new downtown mounted unit and the CORE project in the ByWard Market.

The Ottawa Police Services Board approved the police service's draft budget last week, with a $388.7 million net spending plan going $16.3 million over what police received in 2024. The budget includes $20 million to maintain existing services plus an extra $8.1 million to hire 22 more sworn officers and 28 new civilian positions.

The police service's budget also includes $5.4 million for new police cars, up to $1.9 million for conducted energy weapons, such as Tasers, and $10.3 million for upgrades to police headquarters on Elgin Street.

User fees involving police, including criminal records checks, are also set to increase.

The budget will include funding to hire 100 new emergency responders, including 23 new paramedics to increase service and reduce the impact of offload delays, 22 new firefighters and 10 new bylaw officers.

Sutcliffe had previously said that $54 million in savings have been found in the 2025 budget, and a hiring pause and a discretionary spending freeze remain in place. The mayor says $208 million in savings is the equivalent of a 10.5 per cent tax increase, and those savings have been invested into the city's priorities.

Wednesday’s city council meeting will begin at 10 a.m.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle and Ted Raymond