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Toronto’s city council will debate Mayor Olivia Chow’s proposed 2026 budget on Tuesday.
The proposal includes a modest 2.2 per cent property tax increase. If approved, it will be the lowest during Chow’s time in office.
“My 2026 budget is focused on one thing, making your life more affordable,” the mayor said at a news conference announcing the proposed budget last week.
The total proposed 2026 operating budget amounts to $18.9 billion, with 31 per cent being covered by property taxes and 24 per cent made up of federal and provincial funding. The rest is made up of smaller measures, including rate programs (12 per cent), transit fares (six per cent), and reserves (nine per cent). Chow submitted her budget proposal on Feb. 1, based on a city staff proposal put forward on Jan. 8.
The low property tax increase is possible because of money brought in from raising taxes for home speculators and the top two per cent of luxury homebuyers, Chow told reporters last Monday.
Some, including Coun. Brad Bradford, have questioned the timing of the lower increase in a municipal election year, though Chow has not said whether she will seek re-election.
“This is a pre-election budget. Mayor Chow is trying to buy Torontonians votes,” Bradford told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s not sustainable and it’s effectively, you know, burning the furniture to heat the house. And that’s not something I would be supportive of.”
Bradford has previously announced his intention to run for mayor this year.
Funding increases for TTC and police
Along with the property tax increase, the proposed budget also includes funding increases for the TTC and Toronto police.
If approved, nearly $1.48 billion will go to the TTC, fully meeting the agency’s funding request.
That funding would support overall transit operations as well as previously announced affordability measures, including a fare freeze and fare capping.
Chow said in December that if her plan is approved, TTC riders will ride free for the remainder of the month after 47 trips. That program would begin this September.
Mayor Olivia Chow introduced the city’s proposed 2026 budget, highlighting affordability and a lower tax increase. CBC’s Lane Harrison breaks down what we know so far.
The Toronto Police Service is also set to receive a $93 million increase under the proposal, bringing its total funding to $1.43 billion.
The mayor was asked if this would remain the case in light of a police corruption scandal announced last Thursday, which involves the arrest of seven active Toronto police officers and one retired officer.
“This year funds the collective agreement and we do need to honor collective agreements for all workers of the city of Toronto where police officers are one of them. It was negotiated last year,” Chow said on Thursday.
The funding will also support TPS’s ongoing five-year hiring plan, she said. That plan includes hiring 143 officers this year, in addition to the 360 officers hired in 2025.
The mayor’s plan also includes support for small businesses with a 20 per cent reduction in property taxes, up from 15 per cent last year.
“[Small business] are core to our identity as a city. They’re the fabric of our neighbourhoods,” Chow said last week.
Feedback from the public at committee meetings also prompted the mayor to include half a million dollars for housing and social support services, she said.
Addressing shortfall with reserve funding
The budget proposal also outlines an increase of about $400 million in funding taken from the city’s reserve funds to help make up a $1-billion shortfall.
Chow has said the money taken from the reserves was allocated for specific purposes and will be used as intended.
But Bradford is concerned the use of reserve funds will cost the city down the line.
“It’s going to take a major tax increase to replace those reserve accounts,” he said after the mayor’s budget announcement last week.
