Hamilton city council looks to lower proposed property tax hike

The 2024 budget was front and centre at Hamilton city hall on Tuesday as councillors worked to determine what to cut in order to lessen the proposed property tax hike.

Councillors began the day with a nearly eight per cent property tax increase that they have now cut down to at least 6.9 per cent.

They passed a number of new motions, all considering different ways to immediately cut costs and lower the property tax increase planned for the year.

That includes sending the $20-million request from the police back to the board to review. That request is currently the largest cost in the city’s net budget.

“I think it’s important that we hold all of our major budget items to the same level of scrutiny,” said Ward 2 councillor Cameron Kroetsch.

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“The only thing the motion is going to do is send it back to have them look at it again, look at their budget again, see if they can find any efficiencies. I was happy with the Chief’s comments publicly that there may be some places to find efficiencies.”

The police services board says it is planning to meet in the next few weeks to review.

Going into Tuesday’s meeting, the increase was sitting just below eight per cent, which would have meant an extra $382 in taxes for the average household.

The city’s goal is to cap the portion of the tax increase it controls at four per cent.

The tax hike can be broken down into four categories, with 2.7 covering the increasing costs of city services, another 1.6 per cent will go towards housing and homelessness, while 2.6 per cent accounts for new provincial legislation that shifts costs onto cities.

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The final one per cent was set aside for local hospitals, but councillors unanimously voted to axe that on Tuesday, as they called on the provincial government to cover the cost.

Mayor Andrea Horwath says she has been discussing with all levels of government on funding issues.

“Well I guess the question is whether the province is going to see fit in this upcoming budget to take some of these responsibilities back, which is what they need to do.” she said.

The province had previously promised to fill in the gaps if municipalities can’t fund critical services, due to Bill 23, which transfers some development costs on to taxpayers.

“What they’re going to see at the end of the day is probably about a six percent tax increase if we can do a little more shaving on the municipal side. If the province fulfills its province to us, we’ll come in under four percent.” said Ward 15 councillor Ted McMeekin.

Several councillors also voiced concerns that cutting too much would simply force future taxes even higher.

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The city already says council will need to maintain higher taxes in the future, as the budget relies on reserve funds to fill in the funding gaps.

From 2019 to 2022, property taxes increased by less than three percent each year before jumping 5.8 per cent last year.

In the city’s proposal this year, staff said taxes could increase by nearly 8 per cent this year, if council agrees to raise the taxes by 7.7 per cent, 6.4 per cent and then 4.9 per cent the following years.

Councillors voted in favour of pulling funding from other areas, including extending the phase period to replenish lost provincial funding or limiting a new enhanced litter-collection program.

The city says they’ll come back with new proposals for how much property taxes will increase by Feb. 8 or 9, once the motions by council are taken into account.

Council is expected to approve the proposed budget on Feb. 15.