City of Ottawa’s 2025 budget proposes a municipal tax increase cap

The City’s Finance and Corporate Service Committee approved Ottawa’s proposed 2025 budget directions, timeline and consultation process on Monday.

In a report providing recommendations to council, the budget directions report suggests a municipal tax increase of no more than 2.9 per cent, wrote the city in a press release.

The tax increase would be composed of various levies for the municipality, Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa Public Health and Ottawa Police Service.

This year’s municipal tax increase is notably higher than in Ottawa’s 2024 Capital and Operating Budget, where residents saw a 2.5 per cent tax increase or an added $105 on urban homeowners annual property tax bill.

Based on a 2024 report by Zoocasa, an online realty website, Ottawa homeowners pay the following property taxes, based on property value if residents see a 2.9 per cent property tax increase in 2025:

• $5,978 in property taxes on a home assessed at $500,000, or an estimated $173 increase
• $8,967 in taxes on a home assessed at $750,000, or an estimated $260 tax increase
• $11,956 in property taxes on a home assessed at $1 million, or an estimated $346 tax increase

According to the 2025 budget directions report, Ottawa’s Transit Services budget will be developed with possibility of funding up to $120 million from federal and provincial governments.

The city’s budget will also consider increasing the transit levy between 2.9 and 37 per cent, as well as a transit-fare increase between 2.5 and 75 per cent in 2025.

Additionally, the committee recommended fare discount adjustments, operating efficiencies and/or service reductions, and capital deferrals.

The report suggests that the garbage fee should increase — as a part of the Solid Waste Services Master Plan — moving the tax portion of the funding to a recoverable curbside collection fee while reducing the proposed 17 per cent increase to a seven per cent increase in 2025.

The 2025 budget deliberation process will include a working group focused on the transit long-range financial plan, giving analyses and recommendations for these areas, the press release reads.

While the draft budget will be tabled at city council on Nov. 13, each standing committee will meet between mid-November and early December to deliberate its parts of the 2025 Draft Budget.

Councillor-led public consultations will allow residents, businesses, and community groups to take part in the process. Click here for more details.

City council will deliberate and adopt the final 2025 budget on Dec. 11.