Property taxes in the capital are going up.

Ottawa residents will be charged an additional $138 on their property tax bill after council approved a 3.77 per cent tax hike on Thursday. That works out to $2.65 a week.

It’s a move that the city’s mayor says he’s not satisfied with.

"Am I happy with that? Never. But it's one that's been done that keeps the best balance of priorities so we'll work with this,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien.

Others argued the city was forced to raise taxes in order to keep running the services that residents rely on.

“We’re sort of at a tipping point here. We need the revenue to deliver even the most basic services, such as public transit, tree trimming and other necessities. So we’re going to have to dig deep and explain to our residents that we need this kind of tax increase,” said Coun. Peter Hume.

Bus routes saved

After much backlash from the public, a plan to eliminate dozens of OC Transpo bus routes was also scraped.

"We heard a lot during our public consultations: 'Don't do this.’ This affects our ability to get to work, to get to school, to do all the things that people need to do, so council has found a way to fund it and restore those 53 bus routes," said Coun. Alex Cullen.

Council finds savings

Savings were found in areas such as the green bin composting program and maintenance to Lansdowne Park.

An effort spearheaded by Coun. Steve Desroches found $950,000 in savings by moving to cheaper green bins for town home developments.

At Lansdowne Park, council found about $1 million in savings from regular maintenance fees.

With the park likely headed for redevelopment, councillors viewed spending money on repairs as unnecessary.

"It's kind of useless to spend a couple of million dollars doing some repairs today that then we have to redo in a way when we start building the stadium,” said Coun. Marianne Wilkinson.

A new universal bus pass for post-secondary students was also approved.

The u-pass will allow full-time undergraduate and graduate students to use public transit during the school term for a fee of $145.

A proposal to cut Crime Prevention Ottawa has also been reinstated.

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Norman Fetterley