City of Hamilton releases proposed 2024 Budget

The City of Hamilton has released its proposed 2024 Operating and Capital Budget.

The proposed 2024 Budget includes a 4.3% residential property tax increase to protect existing City services and make $19.2 million in important new investments available for housing and homelessness initiatives.

The proposed 2024 Operating and Capital Budget also includes an additional 3.6% property tax increase to cover the impacts of provincial legislation including:

• A 2.6% residential property tax increase to cover the impacts of new provincial legislation that shifts the costs of new development from developers to local taxpayers (Development Charges Act including Bill 23).
• An additional 1.0% tax increase to pay for the City’s municipal investment in provincial hospital redevelopment.

Overall, the 2024 proposed Budget represents an average residential property tax increase of 7.9% (approximately $382 per household, including $175 per household to cover impacts of provincial legislation).

In September, City Council was presented with a Budget Outlook that predicted a 14.2% property tax increase, including the costs of covering provincially mandated impacts. The proposed 2024 Budget was created following Mayor Horwath’s direction to City staff to present a combined operating and capital budget that reduced the burden on taxpayers by responsibly utilizing strategic reserves, screening budgets for redundancies and efficiencies, and prioritizing new spending against its ability to advance council identified priorities.

A full overview of the proposed Budget is available at hamilton.ca/budget2024.

The public will have an opportunity to delegate to Council on the proposed Budget on January 16, 2024.

Following the public delegations, the next steps for the budget process are as follows:

• January 19, 2024 - General Issues Committee Budget Overview; presentations from external economist and staff on the City of Hamilton’s Economic Outlook and Budget Overview
• January 22 to January 26, 2024 - General Issues Committee presentations from City Departments and from Boards and Agencies
• January 30, 2024 - General Issues Committee Budget Deliberations
• February 15, 2024 - Special Council Meeting to consider final budget approval

Please note that the budget materials are currently being reviewed for compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and an AODA compliant version of the budget overview will be available by January 18, 2024.