By Gazette Staff
July 2nd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Summer is usually an easy time for City Council.
At the meeting scheduled for July 7th, council will see what the financial people expect the tax increase to be for 2025-26.
Add the 2.83 and the 2.98 – you get a total of 5.81 which is what the city wants to set as the tax increase. Enhancing services is where cuts can be made. Has the city explained the new infrastructure well enough?
Hear is how they explain what they feel they will need:-
Based on the investments in current and expanded service delivery included within this report, the City would require a budget increase of 5.80%. Assuming a Region of Halton increase of 4.3% and no change for Education, the overall tax increase is forecasted to be 4.40% equivalent to $42.71 per $100,000 of residential current value assessment (CVA). Burlington’s portion of the overall increase would be 2.98% as outlined below.
Burlington has always shuffled the different financial needs of the Region and the school boards with its own needs. What the public needs to understand is what the city is spending – this year, that is projected to be close to 6%.
What the other levels of government need is separate – that their spending might reduce the average, is relevant but it is what the city is spending that City Council has to control. And a close to 6% for 2026 does not look like control
Why the city feels it needs, close to 6%, when inflation is less than 2% is something we find confusing.
Alignment to Corporate Strategy
Burlington’s Strategic Planning Approach, is undergoing an internal strategic realignment. This includes a revised 25-year Strategic Plan as well as a shift from the service-based Vision to Focus to a department-based 5-year Corporate Strategy.
This Corporate Strategy includes:
Strategic Directions for the organization.
These are the high-level, overarching priorities to achieve the vision and mission:
Deliver Positive Community Impact
Build Transparency and Public Trust
Unlock Innovation and Partnerships
Enable Sustainable Growth
Transparency and Public Trust will be a challenge for this council
Luke, Philip
I guess unintentionally you both make a very good argument for increasing property taxes.
Luke, you say “roads are falling apart”. Property taxes are needed to fix that!
Philip, you say “no improvement in the level of service for Burlingtonians—the quality of life has been seriously eroded over the past 7 years.”. Higher property taxes are needed to fix that!
Elizabeth, welcome to Canada. May I ask where you are coming to Canada from?
You suffer from a severe lack of understanding how life in Canada works.
Let’s say I did not drive a car but I am a homeowner. So I pay property taxes. Let’s say you drive a car. Property taxes are used to fix the roads? So why should my property taxes be used to maintain roads that I do not drive on. Property taxes are collected from all property owners for general use throughout the city to maintain infrastructure and provide services which residents require and expect.
If you don’t like that approach, I suggest you find somewhere else to live because that is how Canada works.
Cheryl,
Unbelieveable understanding of the problem. Higher taxes over the past 7 years (in each year, those increases have been multiples of the rate of inflation) HAVE NOT SOLVED THE PROBLEM. The quality of life has deteriorated. Perhaps you need to research WHAT city hall has been wasting our tax dollars on.
Absolutely disgusting! Burlington is becoming the new Hamilton! Homeless all over roads falling apart can’t even sit in a bus stop cause the homeles. This is what happens when they wanna follow a woke agenda!
Sadly, these property tax increases that are multiples of the inflation rate have been a feature of Burlington municipal finances ever since Meed Ward became Mayor. Todate, these increases have been legislated with impunity as evidenced by the lack of political consequences for the Mayor and Councillors. Concern for the taxpayers is zero. No regard for the cuts in real incomes and standard of living for Burlingtonians, no improvement in the level of service for Burlingtonians—the quality of life has been seriously eroded over the past 7 years.
The property tax increase in Burlington is off the wall. There is no need to increase it anymore. Another comment I would like to make on coming to live in Canada we were told schooling is free here. It is not everyone pays for schooling on their property tax bill regardless of the fact that some people do not have children. Other people have children who have finished school. So why does everyone have to pay for schooling on their property tax bill? In other countries everyone pays for schooling on a individual bill, it is not added on to your property taxes. This is also uncreased every year. I do not believe people who have never had children at school or no longer have children at school should continue to pay for schooling.
I am not sure how anyone else sees this. I just do not believe it is correct. Please give your comments.
Liz Swart
absolutely agree with all the previous comments, re the over spending at city hall. Unacceptable and unnecessary how the Mayor and city council thinks that the residents of Burlington have to accept the 5.8% property tax increase. Seniors on a fixed income do NOT have a bottomless pit of money to deal with all the frivolous spending, thanks but no thanks. Enough is enough….
A pet peeve. Please, please can everybody stop using the phrase “fixed income” particularly in relation to retirees.
Whether you as a property owner are working, retired or whatever you are on a fixed income. There’s no magical ability to say to your employer increase my pay because I need more.
Certainly a retiree’s income may be considerably less than that of a working individual. The working individual may have demands on income that reduce or will disappear as one grows older. Demands such as children, mortgage, education,
I agree with all of the comments before me!
We do not need anymore shiny new objects or new projects in Burlington. What we need right here and now is a Mayor and Council who can be frugal, and cut all of the excessive spending to a total of no more than 2% tax increase, which is less then the present rate of inflation.
We do not need anymore services, anymore Bateman’s or massive arenas, expensive festivals, Food for Feedback, Neighborhood parties, trips to Japan and Holland by our Mayor and CAO plus a selection of Councilors and committee members to be traveling abroad on the Burlington Taxpayers dime!!
We need a Mayor and Council who will listen to their residents and immediately cut back on all of the frills and overspending at City Hall, including excessive staff and inflated salaries.
Burlington Property Tax Payers can no longer afford all of the Fluff, overspending and the nice to have projects, which are costing all of us as a result of the goings on at Burlington City Hall!!! This needs to Stop now!!
Caren (LOL) your “we” is you and you alone. It does not include me for sure. Speak for yourself. Do not speak for other residents. You have not been elected to do so. Rather than just being a vague Karen please be specific.
What specific items or services would you cut that will have a significant impact on the tax rate?
Sidewalk snow clearing?
Leaf vacuuming?
Road repair?
Shut down arenas and community centres?
Sound of Music?
No pay transit programs?
Too late for Bateman or Skyway !
Exactly what in your mind are the “frills” and “overspending”?
Needs vs. Nice-to Haves. Without even thinking about it we could eliminate all of the following for an immediate and significant impact. We’re talking millions of dollars. Leaf vacuuming. Rainbow crosswalks and benches. Contributing to Art Gallery re-development. Contributing to Sound of Music. Overspending on public art. Civic square re-design. European vacations for Mayor and Council members. Wasting money fighting OLT battles that everyone knows can’t be won. Wasting money on unnecessary third party multi-year studies that produce end results that anyone with some common sense could have come up with on day 1. Tree giveaways. Contributing to Performing Arts Centre. Giving away free coyote whistles. Creating bike lanes on streets where they aren’t safe and then converting them back to driving lanes after nobody uses them. Contributing to Jo Brant Museum. Speed bump installations to further frustrate traffic flow. Pumping more money into a transit system that nobody uses. Firing high level staff because they don’t align with political agendas and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance pay in the process. It starts to add up quick, and I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. If we as a municipality were rolling in money, fine, let’s look at some bells and whistles. But we’re not at the moment. If you can’t see the frills and overspending that’s gotten us into this mess, you haven’t been paying attention.
What a dour place Burlington would be if all the cuts you are suggesting were made. In my opinion it would no longer be a desired place to live in.
Nevertheless I thank you for your response & clarity as to what you would cut. Obviously we do not agree, but we’re each entitled to our opinion.
There was really no need for your accusatory final sentence. Remember not everyone thinks doom and gloom, & mismanagement as you do. The 2026 election will be telling.
Editor’s note: The 2026 election will be telling – at this point there is a better than even chance that every one of them will be returned to office. There is no one prepared to step up and run for office. THAT is what is so telling.
Why is Burlington’s proposed property tax increase 5.8% while Oakville’s is only 3.5%?
As a resident, I have serious questions:
1. Who proposed and approved this number?
2. What exactly justifies such a steep increase—again—compared to neighbouring cities?
3. Is Burlington facing unique financial challenges that Oakville isn’t? Or is it a matter of poor budgeting and overspending?
4. How is this sustainable for working families, seniors, and residents already stretched thin by high inflation and rising mortgage rates?
We deserve full transparency:
• Where is this extra money going?
• Are we funding critical infrastructure, or growing a bloated city administration?
• Are we seeing real value, or are we just paying for more overseas “delegations” and nice titles at city hall?
It’s getting harder to accept year-after-year increases that far exceed inflation without clear accountability. Other cities manage to balance their budgets more responsibly—why can’t Burlington?
George
My neighbour just got a 10% pay increase.
I only got a 4% increase.
How unfair is that?
My neighbour’s pay was $40,000. My pay was $150,000.
My neighbour’s pay increase was $4,000. My pay increase was $6,000
So you get it? Comparing percentages is pointless! Compare the actual taxes paid
We have nothing more to give. Our pockets have been picked clean between perpetual tax increases, general cost of living increases, and stagnating incomes that don’t even come close to keeping up with inflation anymore. Our households are having to make difficult choices daily between needs versus wants, with even some needs having to be deferred. This isn’t a game, City Hall needs to understand that there is a breaking point, and we’re getting very close to it. Anything more than a 2% increase is indicative of gross mismanagement. 0% should be the target.
This non stop spending binge has to stop.We need to see an all out effort to find ways to cut spending.A review of all programs,staff decreases and a pay freeze would be a good start.