2026 Tax Budget

Where Your Tax Dollars Went in 2025:

• 45% supported City Services

• 14% funded Infrastructure projects

• 11% went to education (as required by the Province)

• 30% supported service partners like Hamilton Police Services, Social Services, Housing and, Public Health

• The 2025 residential tax increase was 5.6%

Six key areas have been identified, by the Mayor, for investment:

• Infrastructure Enhancements

• Public Health & Safety

• Economic Stability

• Responding to the Housing Crisis

• Customer Experience and Transparency

• Building Better & Stronger

Preparation
August to October 2025

Staff gather information and community priorities to set direction for the 2026 Budget.

It was during this time that the initial Staff projection was set at 8.9% (September 11th).

Engagement and Analysis: What We Heard Report
October to November 2025

A summary of public feedback and how it was used to inform the budget directive will be shared in November.

Adoption: Budget Presentation, Deliberation and Adoption
November 2025 to February 2026

Opportunity to review, discuss, deliberate, and update the budget for adoption.

Council is presented with two budgets:

1) a combined water, wastewater and stormwater operating and capital proposed budget funded by rates

2) a combined tax operating and capital proposed budget funded by property taxes.

Each department presents their portion of the tax budget to Council.

During this process, Councillors can ask questions and seek clarification from staff. Public delegations appear before Council as well.

Presentations are also held to focus on budgets submitted from related boards, agencies and committees requiring Council approval. This includes Hamilton Police Service, Hamilton Public Library, various conservation authorities, and volunteer sub-committees.

The City uses two separate budgets to manage how services are funded:

• Rate-Supported Budget: Covers water, wastewater, and stormwater services. These are funded through user fees, not property taxes.

• Tax-Supported Budget: Covers the day-to-day operations of most City services (like transit, fire, parks, and waste collection), as well as major infrastructure projects. This is funded mainly through property taxes and other revenues like grants or user fees for programs.

Keeping these budgets separate helps the City clearly show how different services are funded and ensures accountability for each funding source.

The Tax-Supported (tax) budget has two main parts:

Operating Budget:

• Covers the day-to-day costs of running the City.

• Funds services like garbage collection, transit, fire, libraries, parks, and recreation.

• Includes normal annual expenses such as staff wages, supplies, fuel, and utilities.

• Planned annually and guided by each department’s business plan.

• Funding Source: Operating costs are mostly paid for through property taxes, user fees, and government funding.

Capital Budget:

• Covers big, long-term investments in City infrastructure.

• Funds projects like road repairs, building new community centres, replacing water mains, or buying transit vehicles.

• These are large, one-time costs that have a benefit lasting more than a year.

• Planned over multiple years with a long-term outlook.

• Funding Source: Capital projects may use funding from reserves, grants, and development charges.

Rate Supported Operating and Capital Budget

• The rate supported operating budget is the annual plan for the day-to-day operations of the City’s services and financing of capital projects supported from water, wastewater and stormwater user rates.

• The Rate Supported Capital Budget is a long-term plan for the purchase or construction and financing of water, waste water and stormwater capital assets.

• Forms of funding include grants, development charges, debt, reserves and contributions from the operating budget.

For every dollar the City spends:

• 50% comes from property taxes

• 22% comes from Grant & Subsidies

• 12% comes for Rate Revenue (water, wastewater and stormwater)

• 12% comes from User Fees

• 4% comes from Reserves

Rising Costs:

• The cost of the resources necessary to provide services (like waste collection) is going up. Everyone is paying more for utilities, employee-related costs, equipment and materials.

• Our City Vendors, as well, are experiencing rising costs - which means higher prices for the City.

The Infrastructure Funding Gap

Hamilton has more infrastructure to maintain than it can currently afford. This includes:

• Roads and bridges

• Water pipes and sewers

• Public buildings and parks

When maintenance is delayed, costs grow, and so do the risks. Without enough funding, the gap between what’s needed and what’s affordable keeps widening. Investing now helps avoid bigger costs later.

Canada’s annual inflation rate is approximately 2.4%. Municipalities will often project their own inflation rate, based on factors outside of consumer spending. These vary from municipality to municipality.

As part of the next 10-year strategy for transit in Hamilton, the area north of the QEW in Ward 10 will recieve a new on-demand transit program called ‘My Ride’. This program is planned to start up in 2027. There are plans for fixed route transit on the north side in the Frances Ave. & Winona Rd. Areas in coming years.

Changes to transit delivery are not completed at the community level, but rather address the City as a whole.

The Stormwater Rate was recently postponed to January 2027 via a motion brought to Council - which Jeff supported.

Jeff remains opposed to the Stormwater Rate.

For more information:
yourward10.ca/stormwater

The City of Hamilton has specific requirements for dog parks, including size, space, parking and proximity to existing residential areas.

Unfortunately, none of our current Ward 10 Parks would meet the criteria for a dog park, but Jeff is working on opportunities to incorporate a dog park into one of our new growth-related parks that are planned for our area.