By Pepper Parr
November 24, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
It was the longest Standing Committee Council meeting put in by the seven members since they were first elected in 2028
Rather than adjourn at 4:30 pm – they pushed through to 5:39 so they could approve a recommendation that would go to Council on December 2nd and not have to return to Council the following day.
The disappointing part of the exercise is that they all skipped out the door without telling the public just what the CITY tax rate increase was going to be.
I got it below 4.5% – 4.46%
Mayor Meed Ward wanted to be able to tell the public that the blended tax rate was going to be less than 4.50% – they got it to 4.46%
The blended rate is the average of the school board rate, the Regional rate and the city rate. Of the three, the only one the Council determines is the amount of money the city will spend. That number was never uttered during the final minutes of the meeting.
I was reminded of what is called the Three Shell Game – A Con Artist Game Magic Trick.
City CFO Craig Millar; put a couple of very good ideas on the table.
In the next couple of weeks, you will hear every member of Council and the City CFO Craig Millar tell you that the tax increase is 4.49.
The fact is the City budget increase is 5.8% resulting in a proposed overall property tax increase of 4.46% (pending and changes at Halton Region). Information we got from a Staff member who was still at her desk at 6:20pm
Some interesting spending. Transit, Indigenous Affairs and Park Benches we all debated at length.
Councillor Bentivegna struggled to understand far too many of the Motions being debated – one of which he put on the table.
Give us a day or two to put together a news report.
The previous tax cost increase in my paper was 4.49%. This is $43.68 property taxes cost increase all people pay, rich or poor, per $100,000 residential current value assessment. The proposed rate is 4.46%, which is $43.38, or a 30 cents, (30 CENTS) decrease in cost per $100,000. For a $400K house this is
So the decreased rate is 0.9933% of the former. I would say this is miniscule and a meaningless almost zero effort at cost control.
Many people are finding the cost of living a problem, the Affordability the Mayor talked about. The previous tax cost increases above for a $400K assessment is $175, and for the 30 cent rate decrease it is $1.20 less. But this Council does not seem to be able to do without anything, so little, that the accountants could even measure exactly with confidence. But make sure you know that Property Owners and Renters will know exactly what the hit is.
Affordability is about building a City that we can afford. This budget appears to be a rationalization around that, and it makes no sense to me to raise City costs – budget items -that are not REALLY really needed, right now. The future can do without everything, right now.
Continuous tax cost increases are not the road to a City we can afford.
We can control it. The Budget details a very rich menu of on/off switches.
Just tell Managers to decide how to make a target showing Council is more serious.
But from this proposed Budget, there is no apparent willingness to want to to do this. This actual effort, based on decision results, is a vanishing 30 Cents to $1.50 over a range of assessment $100K to $500K, and is rounding error small and really pathetic for the Mayor and her Affordability talk.
What else is new? MMW and her Merry Band of Spendthrifts have never attempted to control spending; in fact, I’m sure that Big Sister knows better how to spend your money than you do. She has consistently over her reign as Mayor increased taxes by multiples of the rate of inflation. And she certainly doesn’t care about the impact of her egregious tax increases on people’s standard of living; 5.8% is far above the income increases received by residents of Burlington, especially those at the lower end of the income spectrum such as pensioners. Apartment residents will also see above average increases in rent; my brother’s apartment building has received a 5% increase in rents with the property owner citing City taxes as one of the primary reasons.
Wow, they “pushed through” for 69 more minutes, and on top of that, working until after 5 pm!