Mayor recommending maximum 3.75% tax hike in 2026

CITY HALL – Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is asking his council colleagues to support a municipal budget that would hike property taxes by a maximum of 3.75 per cent and provide a the largest funding boost to the Ottawa Police Service seen in 15 years.

Last week, Sutcliffe released the city’s budget directions, which offer guidelines for next year’s fiscal plan. While the directions include specific increases and cuts to various city programs, the final budget must still be approved by council later this year.

“I made a commitment to residents to work as hard as possible to make our city safer, more reliable and more affordable,” Sutcliffe told reporters. “We’ve managed our city into a strong financial position. But we need to bring a careful, balanced approach to the next budget.”

During his remarks, Sutcliffe described community safety as one of his major priority areas, adding that it’s an issue he routinely hears about from Ottawa residents.

“They want to see more and better policing,” he said. “This is a time when we invest in public safety, invest in policing, that’s what our residents expect.”

Sutcliffe emphasized raising property taxes by 3.75 per cent or less would ensure the hike is less than last year’s increase. He also maintained his administration’s success in standardizing and automating municipal processes has saved the city approximately $207 million, which otherwise would have resulted in a 10 per cent spike to property taxes. 

Notably, the report also suggests a city-wide tax levy increase of up to 2.9 per cent, which would give a funding boost to municipally administered services, like public libraries and Ottawa Public Health, while the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) could see an increase between 2.9 and 6.5 per cent.

If passed, it would be the largest increase to the city’s policing in more than 15 years. 

Ottawa’s crime rates saw a marginal increase last year, largely due to an uptick in non-violent crimes, while more serious offences fell slightly from 2023 to 2024. 

OPS is currently preparing a transition to a district deployment model, which will split the capital into four distinct regions to allow for a more tailored approach to public safety. The transition, set to be launched in January 2027, involves hiring an additional 63 officers and carries a reported cost of $11.4 million. 

“Generally, the crime rate in Ottawa is relatively low, and seemingly on the decline,” Knoxdale-Meriale Coun. Sean Devine released in a statement following Sutcliffe’s budget statement. “Based on my inbox, ‘feeling safe in their community’ is not the highest concern. I don’t know if it’s outrageous for OPS to be asking for a decent increase to their budget but it only seems outrageous because every other budget is starved year after year.”

The budget directions also include a boost to public transit funding between three and 15 per cent, a 10 per cent garbage fee increase, as well as potential fare hike (between 2.5 and 7.5 per cent).

The city budget is traditionally approved towards the end of the calendar year.