Mayor Mark Sutcliffe introduced the draft of what he described as a \u0022tight\u0022 municipal budget on Wednesday, that found room for many of the priorities he campaigned on, including a 2.5 per cent property tax increase, but which also came with warnings about the fiscal pressures in the road ahead.
Sutcliffe’s budget speech highlighted proposed 2023 investments in roads, climate change, policing and social services, including 29 new Ottawa Police employees and 14 more paramedics; a 31 per cent increase in road renewal spending over the four-year average; a $400,000 increase in funding for the city’s anti-racism and Indigenous strategies; $365 million in new annual funding for community agencies serving “priorities neighbourhoods” including Centretown and the ByWard Market; and the...
City Chief Financial Officer Cyril Rogers explained that OC Transpo is retiring 117 buses that are either beyond their useful life or come with significant maintenance costs. They’ve also reviewed all areas of the operating and capital budgets “to achieve savings and align services with the delivery of Stage 2 LRT west extension,” and will continue to work on a review of service delivery.
“Make no mistake: This is a tight budget,” said Sutcliffe. “And without the appropriate level of support from our provincial and federal governments, we will have significant pressures on our finances next year and beyond, particularly in transit and infrastructure.”
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