On Friday, Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath presented her revised budget for 2026, which would see a residential property tax increase of 4.25 per cent, down from the 5.5 per cent released in December.
However, Councillors expressed outrage that the cuts involve the closure of Stoney Creek Arena, the end of some grass cutting services, and the cancellation of city-funded recycling pick-up from non-residential properties (such as small businesses).
Under the province’s strong mayor powers, mayors present the municipal budget, and the rest of Council can then make amendments to it.
Before strong mayor powers were introduced, all Councillors would have the opportunity to accept or reject the budget as a whole.
The December “Draft Staff-Proposed 2026 Tax Budget” would have seen the average property owner pay an extra $293 in taxes this year, but that number has now been reduced to $228.
Taxes for the average home in Hamilton would be $5,589.
Additionally, December’s staff-proposed net tax levy was $1.33 billion, but Horwath’s adjustments reduced it to $1.314 billion ($15.7 million less than before).
The approved net tax levy in 2022, before this term of Council, was $993.5 million, meaning that, if the 2026 budget is approved as-is, the net tax levy will have increased by 32.3 per cent in just four years.
A staff report from September 2025 originally projected an 8.9 per cent property tax increase for Hamiltonians in 2026.
However, Horwath says that since then, there has been a $24.7 million reduction due to departmental savings, a $26.8 reduction due to financial offsets, a $13.8 reduction due to the city’s reserve strategy, and an $800,000 reduction due to deferrals of Council Referred Items and Business Cases.
But details on how Horwath and city staff got to the revised budget numbers sparked strong opposition from multiple Councillors, particularly since the documents were reportedly released to them only two hours before the meeting.
Councillor Matt Francis (Ward 5 – Hamilton East-Stoney Creek) took issue with the fact that budget cuts include the decommissioning of the ice at the Stoney Creek Arena ($161,000 saved), with documents claiming that Saltfleet Arena can accommodate existing needs.
Councillor Francis said, “$161,000 is being pulled from a community arena that was busier in 2024/25 than it has been in many years.”
“That demand is actually expected to grow in 2026 and beyond with the Stoney Creek girls hockey and Stoney Creek Tigers coming on as a new anchor tenant.”
He added that he will be bringing forward a motion as soon as budget amendments are allowed to keep the ice at Stoney Creek Arena and he also said he will “propose capital deferrals that represent significant cost savings for taxpayers far in excess of the savings of removing the ice at Stoney Creek Arena.”
Francis was also unhappy with how he found out about the cut: “I’m very disappointed that I received such a significant update in the form of a memo at 7:30 this morning saying essentially bye-bye Stoney Creek Arena and now it’s presented here for the first time.”
“And that’s how I found out. That’s not leadership or collaboration. And I don’t think the residents of Stoney Creek should be punished for the $5 million overrun failure of the mayor’s tiny home fiasco. And that’s what’s happening.”
Councillor Mike Spadafora also objected to Horwath’s budget and how she found savings.
“The truth is we’ve had an affordability issue from day one and we ignored it for three years and now all of a sudden, miraculously, it’s top of mind,” said Spadafora.
“And the way we found savings was taking down a community arena, we’re going to not cut grass as much as we used to cut grass, and we’re not going to pick up garbage for our businesses in a time where our businesses are taking an absolute beating,” he continued.
Councillor Rob Cooper (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain), who joined Council in October 2025 after John-Paul Danko left for federal politics, added, “We’ve just went on a spending spree and now we’re trying to clean up the mess because there’s an election this year.”
Residential property tax increases under Mayor Andrea Horwath have been 5.85 per cent in 2023, 5.79 per cent in 2024, and 5.6 per cent in 2025.
Tax increases under Hamilton’s previous mayor, Fred Eisenberger, were 2.5 per cent in 2019, 2.9 per cent in 2020, 1.9 per cent in 2021, and 2.8 per cent in 2022.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
