Regional councillors ask staff to cap any tax levy increase in 2026 to 5%

Regional councillors are starting to prepare for 2026 budget talks and as part of that they debated whether they should direct staff to cap any property tax increases to five per cent.

Ultimately, they opted to pass a motion brought forward by Coun. Michael Harris during the administration and finance committee on Wednesday.

Harris said he wanted to ask staff to keep to a five per cent cap because people across the region are facing significant financial pressures, including the rising cost of housing, food and other essentials. He said the region "has a responsibility" to be fiscally prudent while delivering services people need.

"I think that this sends clarity to staff to obviously get to work over the course of the summer leading into budget with that number in mind," Harris said during the meeting.

He said ultimately, it would be up to council during the budget process to go over that threshold if necessary. 

"I hope that we can deliver a budget to our community that's in and around that range at the very least. But ultimately, we know that come budget day, it's in all of our hands," Harris said.

Coun. Colleen James said she supported the move because it would offer staff "a starting point" for preparing budget documents.

"I'm also extremely conscious of the economy and the state that we are in with a significant amount of layoffs and potential job losses," James said.

"I think that there are a lot of people in this region that are just staying above water … and our actions ahead of time will show the residents and those taxpayers that we're mindful of the situation."

Council tried capping 2025 budget at 8%

Coun. Chantal Huinink noted regional council passed a similar motion in 2024 to put an eight per cent cap on the budget "and we didn't make that." In December, regional council passed the 2025 budget that saw a 9.48 per cent increase to the regional portion of property taxes.

"Economic times haven't gotten any easier for service providers than they've gotten for residents and so I'm just curious as to if you've had conversations with staff regarding how feasible this is," Huinink said.

Wayne Steffler, the region's commissioner of corporate services and chief financial officer, said a five per cent cap would be "challenging but achievable."

"Just to clarify a bit further, this is directing staff to prepare and present it, but that doesn't prohibit council from approving a higher rate for the budget or the levy increase if they wanted," he said.

Coun. Doug Craig said he wants to see the budget increase remain at five per cent or lower and "that's where I'm going to stay during the budget discussion."

"I think we've got to get tough on this," Craig said.

Councillors Pam Wolf and Huinink were opposed to the motion and Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic was absent for the vote.

Budget discussions are set to begin in October with community consultations in November. If all goes according to plan, the 2026 budget would be approved on Dec. 10.