City Budget
2018 Tax & Rate Budget
2018 DISTRIBUTION OF TAX DOLLARS
Our Budget
This year’s budget achieves a 1.9% property tax increase (municipal and education), which translates to $76 for the average residential property assessed at $337,100 and is one of the lowest among comparator municipalities. Hamilton’s tax competitiveness has improved since 2011; residential property taxes are currently 6 per cent above the average, versus 11 per cent.
As part of this year’s 2018 Tax Supported Operating Budget, City departments have developed four-year (2018-2021) business plans that outline key priorities and milestones that support the City’s Strategic Plan and contribute to the City’s vision to be the best place to raise a child and age successfully.
The City also takes in revenues annually from recreation user fees, government grants and subsidies, license and permit fees and property tax revenue, including revenue from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which provided $5.3 million in revenue in 2017, helping to offset annual costs of delivering programs and services.
2018 Tax Supported Capital Budget Highlights
$258 million in gross capital spending includes:
- $87.9 million towards Roads, bridges, traffic, sidewalks
- $14.2 million towards Roads growth
- $26.4 million towards Corporate and recreation facilities
- $25.8 million towards West Harbour Strategic initiatives
- $19.4 million towards Transit initiatives
- $11.5 million towards Affordable Housing Initiatives
- $8.5 million towards Fire and Paramedic Services
- $7.9 million towards Open Space Development
- $7.8 million towards Vehicle replacement
- $7.2 million towards Entertainment facility rehabilitation
- $4.6 million towards Waste Management initiatives
- $4.3 million towards Forestry and Horticulture
Community Engagement & Participation
- Continued focus on Open Data and our Smart City Strategy
- Customer Service Strategy
- Delivery of seamless customer service through the expansion of Customer Service Training
- Online Bid and Vendor Performance Review Program Enhancements
- Enable Open Data capabilities and processes to support the Citizen Dashboard
Economic Prosperity & Growth
- Action taken by Council to date has once again seen the City surpass $1B worth of building permits in 2017.
- This marks the sixth year in a row where building permits have reached $1B.
- $25.8 million towards West Harbour Strategic initiatives
- $7.9 million towards Open Space Development
- $290K towards 3 full time equivalents to keep up with demand of planning applications related to the City’s zoning by-laws
- Transit & Transportation
- $19.4 million towards Transit initiatives including upgrades and repairs to 350 transit shelters and 18 replacement HSR buses
- $3.4 million in capital financing to support $36 million in City funded transit capital projects, which leverages an additional $36 million in federal funding
- $2.1 million to support 10-year transit strategy plan equating to 34,000 additional service hours and 29 full time equivalents
- $1.7 million towards 41,000 additional DARTS trips to support increased ridership intake and AODA requirements
Healthy & Safe Communities
- $11.5 million towards Affordable Housing Initiatives
- Improved access to affordable housing through an enhanced affordable housing waiting list
- $9.4 million towards Fire and Paramedic equipment, vehicle replacements, one additional ambulance and 10 full time equivalent paramedics
- Neighbourhood Action Strategy linked with City Wide Hub initiatives
- $80K towards Parks Patrol and Waterfalls Enforcement Team
- Develop a city-wide Drug & Opioid Strategy focusing on the pillars of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and enforcement
Clean & Green
- $4.6 million towards Waste Management initiatives
- $4.3 million towards Forestry and Horticulture
- $750K in energy savings thanks to converting 10,000 high pressure sodium street lights to energy efficient LED lights
Built Environment & Infrastructure
- $87.9 million towards Roads, bridges, traffic, sidewalks rehabilitation including $19.4 million investment to address road deficiencies caused by the increased freeze-thaw cycle as a result of climate change ($19.4M is distributed as $5.9 million for major arterial roads and $13.5 million to be shared by all 15 wards for local neighbourhood roads, financed over 15 years)
- $14.2 million towards Roads growth
- $1.1 million to improve snow-clearing and other winter maintenance activities
- $7.2 million towards Entertainment facility rehabilitation
Culture & Diversity
- $26.4M towards Corporate and recreation facilities rehabilitation
- Developing the City’s first Urban Indigenous Strategy
- Launch Anti-Racism Resource Centre and provide ongoing support
- Develop Hamilton’s Youth Strategy
- $110K for four designated tobogganing hills (Garth Street Reservoir, Chedoke Golf Course, Kings Forest Golf Course, and Waterdown Memorial Park)
- $25K investment toward the Music and Creative Industries Operations and Programming
Our People & Performance
- Development and implementation of an IT Strategy
- Continuous improvement with the City’s Performance Excellence Dashboard with emphasis on the use of Results Based Accountability framework for performance measurement
- Enhancement of Multi-Year Business Planning and Budget Processes
- Execution of the Communication and Action Planning Phases of the “Our People Survey”
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