The 2025 City of Ottawa budget was tabled at city council on Wednesday, and most homeowners are staring down a nearly four per cent tax hike.
Before the council meeting, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe told reporters the city was opting to balance needed investments in transit and housing with modest tax increases to keep costs low for residents. But he also said that due to ongoing financial stressors and economic pressures, the 2025 budget is “one of the most complicated we’ve had in a long time.”
“Amid rising costs and other financial pressures, the City of Ottawa is taking a balanced, responsible approach to investing in the core services that matter most to residents, while keeping tax increases low to protect affordability,” Sutcliffe told reporters.
The city’s 2025 capital budget comes in at $1.68 billion, while the net operating budget is $4.98 billion. This marks a slight increase from the 2024 budget, which had a capital budget of $1.24 billion and a $4.6 billion operating budget.
Presented by chief financial officer Cyril Rogers, this year’s budget includes a 2.9 per cent property tax increase and an eight per cent hike in the transit levy for most ratepayers. This means most ratepayers will be faced with a 3.9 per cent tax increase. Rogers said the city found $54.2 million in savings and efficiencies, which were in turn reallocated for programs and services for residents.
The capital budget is largely funded by the property taxes (44.5 per cent), financial support from federal and provincial governments (22.7 per cent) and city fees and service charges (22.5 per cent).
At this point in the budget process, the total numbers cannot be changed, but committees can choose to rearrange how their funding is being allocated. The committees will review the budget in meetings over the next month, and the budget will come to council for approval in December.
Here are the numbers and highlights for the proposed budget:
Transportation, roads and public transit
The upcoming year will see a $856-million budget for OC Transpo and Para Transpo, an increase of 11.4 per cent from 2024. Sutcliffe said decreased ridership and increased operational costs have resulted in a $120-million operating shortfall. To address this, the transit levy will see an 8 per cent increase, and fares will increase by 5 per cent, or roughly 20 cents.
The city said it had also identified $12.4 million in efficiencies to reduce expenses and is revising fare discounts to “align with those in other cities.”
Transit is receiving the most funding in the capital budget ($511.5 million) and the second most from the net operating budget, taking in $824.2 million.
The transit budget also includes a $36-million placeholder for financial support from the provincial and federal governments, and the mayor said funding surpassing that amount would likely go towards future budgets.
Funding from other levels of government “is critical to sustain transit services and address the systemic $140-million deficit in the annual transit operating budget,” he told reporters. He’s also calling on the other levels of government to assist with more sustainable sources of funding for the municipality.
Transit reliability is also top of mind. At his pre-council remarks, the mayor said he understands that residents may be frustrated with the transit system and avoid using it at all. With that in mind, $19.4 million additional base budget is going towards opening the O-Train Line 1 East extension. An increase of $12.9 million is funding an increase in fleet maintenance to support service reliability, as well as $75 million for bus replacements.
The roads themselves are also getting a facelift: over $89.6 million is going towards resurfacing, rural roads, and preservation, with $13.5 million allocated towards local roads.
The Minor Sidewalk Repair project is being maintained at an annual budget of $2 million. There’s also a $1.8 million base budget increase to rural ditching, bringing the total to$3.6M
The budget is putting money towards improving road safety and traffic calming measures, including an additional $10 million for traffic control devices and intersections, $250,000 for a new streetlighting program and $1.5 million city-wide for traffic calming.
There’s also an increase of $12,500 per ward for traffic calming, which brings the annual ward base budget to $87,500.
Projects receiving funding are the Greenbank Rd. widening and re-alignment ($10,900), the Carp Rd. widening ($10,400) and design work for the Mer Bleue widening and Renaud Rd. realignment ($6 million).
Housing
Over $30 million is being allocated to more than 100 non-profit agencies addressing poverty and social services, Sutcliffe told reporters. There is also continued funding for affordable housing initiatives to support the $176 million from the Housing Accelerator Fund, and increased support for food security programs.
This includes a $4.2 million increase for social housing, a $550,000 operating budget increase for OCH Safety Services, a $4.4 million increase for shelter operations and diversion, and $150,000 in funding for Anti-Hate Initiatives.
“We’re facing some really, really challenging times. We’re seeing an increase in homeless people. We’re seeing issues with food insecurity. We’re seeing the opioid crisis and mental health issues laying themselves out in our streets,” Sutcliffe said speaking to reporters after the meeting. “We want to do everything we can to support the most vulnerable and support the agencies that are responding to them and supporting them and attacking the root causes of property.
“So there are additional funds in there that are going to a number of different organizations around the city that will respond to the needs of those residents,” he continued. “We’re investing as much as we can to support the most vulnerable in a time when the pressures are probably greater than ever before.”
Climate and environment
The 2025 budget includes $375 million in climate contributions:, the majority of which is going towards reducing greenhouse gasses emissions ($347 million).
Planting and growing the tree canopy is receiving $887,000, including more supports for tree replacements, tree program review and Maintenance Standards
The Wet Weather Program, which will develop a coordinated approach to rainflow management in urban areas to reduce floors risks, is received $3.1 milloin.
Emerging natural asset management is getting $3.9 million.
The City is also continuing with reducing emissions in City operations, which was one of Sutcliffe’s campaign promises. The budget is allocating $306 million to help fund the replacement of City Zero Emission Buses and $2.8 million towards continued transition of City’s municipal fleet to electric, hybrid and lower-emission vehicles
Waste
The budget is putting $2.3 million towards the Solid Waste Master Plan, including waste diversion, a $50,000-investment in the Emergency Operation Centre and $1.7 million for generators in RCFS/fire stations for climate resiliency
Recreation
The 2025 budget aims to ensure parks and recreation services keep up with Ottawa’s population growth, allocating $279,000 base operating to parks maintenance, $350,000 capital to minor park repairs, and $400,000 to upgrade park amenities.
To make recreation programs more accessible to residents, $140,000 will fund an extension of operation hours for aquatic amenities. There will also be a continued Play Free Program for children and youth on Saturdays and $1.45 million to support facility maintenance in transitional housing.
Economy
There are investments allocated to Ottawa’s economy, including when it comes to the downtown and ByWard Market. $16 million is going towards public safety, which includes alternative mental health supports, downtown safety outreach and security, and $2.65 million towards downtown economic recovery.
$140,000 will be allocated to the Bytown and ByWard Market 200th anniversary. To stimulate growth, $100,000 will support the Ottawa film office and $200,000 will fund the Nightlife Economy Action Plan. Nightlife commissioner Mathieu Grondin announced the appointment of the nightlife council earlier this month.
Councillors will be reviewing the budget with staff over the coming weeks. Once approved by committees, the budget will be presented for approval by council on Dec. 11, and Sutcliffe said he hopes both councillors and the public will appreciate the City’s efforts to “strike a balance.”
“We always want to hear from everyone, and I’m sure there will be thoughts and ideas on how we can improve the budget. But I think we struck a very good balance here, investing in our priority areas,” he said in response to a question from Ottawa Compass. “We’re making record investments in areas like transit, public safety, roads and sidewalks, and at the same time keeping the tax increase as low as possible to respect the fact that our residents are struggling with costs.”
He also continued to advocate for a more sustainable source of funding for municipalities and said he hoped residents would understand the tight parameters in which the City is sourcing its funding.
“It’s a tough time for municipalities again right now. We do not have the same kinds of resources that other levels of government have to tackle the rising financial pressures that all of us are facing. So we’re at a disadvantage,” he said. “We have big holes in our budget because of that, and because, once again, Ottawa is uniquely challenged, and we don’t get the same funding as other municipalities in Ontario, throughout Canada.
“So going forward, we’re going to need that support from other levels of government. We’re going to need them to do their fair share of the heavy lifting and all of them, and to give us our fair share.”
