Hamilton property taxes are expected to increase this year after the Hamilton City Council narrowly approved the 2024 budget.
After months of debate the city council votes ended in a divided vote with a ten to six result in favour of the budget.
Councilors have been working to trim spending in order to lower the property tax increase for Hamilton households.
The agreement was a 5.8 per cent property tax increase, on average $286 more in taxes per household.
Many councilors didn’t support the budget, saying that’s still far too high for their constituents.
The 5.8 per cent increase is lower than the previously proposed 7.9 per cent increase.
However, many councillors still think the increase is too high.
Matt Francis, Ward 5 councillor for the City of Hamilton says, “the number one question they’re asking me, is what more are we getting from paying these tax increases? They’re not seeing the value of the tax increases, they’re not seeing an increase in services, they’re just seeing their taxes go up.”
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With this lower number, taxes are expected to jump in the coming years.
The 5.8 per cent increase this year makes the expected total for 2025 is just above an 8 per cent hike, with 6.5 per cent in 2026 and down to 5.2 per cent in 2027.
A total of around 30 per cent tax increase over five years.
Brad Clark, Ward 9 councillor, said, “I know my residents can not afford that. I know that 5.8 per cent is a stretch this year given everything that has happened in terms of inflation people are really struggling.”
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said, “we’re trying to balance the needs of everyday folks who are worried about the cost of everything, and I can certainly understand that… we also need to make sure the services that people need and the pieces that we have to pay attention to as a city are being funded.”
A sum of $215 million will go to the Hamilton Police Services, representing an 8.4 per cent increase of $16.6 million.
Last month, council sent the budget back to the Police Services Board, asking them to look for cuts. However, the board didn’t propose any.
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Today the police budget was approved, despite a motion to reject it.
A protest took place outside council in the morning against the police budget.
Cameron Kroetsch, Ward 2 councillor, said he is disappointed, “I think we should have held the board to better account through this process, we should have ensured the board had a mandate. And I think we failed to do that today, sadly.”
Ward 7 councillor Esther Pauls is also disappointed with the results, and says she believes “the councillors know, what the City of Hamilton, their residents are asking,” she says they want a safe city and need more policing.
Council has spent the past month trying to trim down spending and passed four motions on Thursday that would help them do so, accounting for around $12 million or one per cent of the initial budget.
Council had to cut some proposed services in order to do so, including delaying some inspections of rental units by at least six months. Something council has also brought up repeatedly throughout the budget process, is that they don’t feel Hamilton is well enough supported by the provincial and federal governments.
The 2.6 per cent of the city’s property tax increase comes from fees the province used to take care of and now have shifted into city responsibilities.
