On Feb. 19, at the final Council meeting regarding the 2026 City of Hamilton budget, multiple Councillors spoke out against property tax increases under Mayor Andrea Horwath.
Over the past four years, property taxes have increased by an average of 5.3 per cent each year under Horwath.
Residential property tax increases under Horwath have been 5.85 per cent in 2023, 5.79 per cent in 2024, 5.6 per cent in 2025, and 3.87 per cent in 2026.
Tax increases under Hamilton’s previous mayor, Fred Eisenberger, were an average of 2.5 per cent over four years.
The approved tax levy for the City of Hamilton in 2022, before this term of Council, was $993.5 million.
The tax levy in the 2026 budget is $1.315 billion, meaning that the number has increased by 32.3 per cent in just four years.
The first to speak out against this year’s 3.87 per cent tax increase and the increases from other years was Councillor Tom Jackson (Ward 6 – East Mountain).
Jackson said, “If the last term of Council [2018-2022], during the worst healthcare crisis of our generation, could average 2.5 per cent a year and keep the city growing and moving forward, this term of Council could have as well, in my humble opinion, done similar.”
Jackson said that residents “want their municipal government to be customer-friendly and available with timely responses, not a bigger bloated bureaucracy with 800-plus employees previously approved that can lead to being stuck in a state of inertia.”
Councillor Brad Clark (Ward 9 – Upper Stoney Creek) was next, saying that residents are “angry” with the tax increases and water rate increases over the past four years.
He also objected to the budget process, which, under new strong mayor powers granted by the province, only allows Councillors to propose amendments to the budget, rather than vote on the budget as a whole.
The mayor also has powers to veto amendments, although she chose not to use them.
“I find this process to be extremely undemocratic,” he said.
Councillor Matt Francis (Ward 5 – Hamilton East-Stoney Creek) added to the criticism, saying that Council “has spent the entire term blaming Councils of the past instead of taking ownership for costly, expensive decisions this term, and now the audacity to call this a ‘hold-the-line’ budget when all it really is is a ‘punt the can to the future’ budget.”
“We’ve barely managed to shave down the budget by 0.38% after a process that began back in October, when the mayor held these public engagement sessions throughout the city and in my ward. And the results were published on a Council agenda in November for everyone to see. And yet the mayor’s budget does not reflect the realities heard by those residents that were surveyed, which aligns exactly with what I’m hearing too in my own community,” Francis continued.
Councillor Rob Cooper (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain) was next.
Cooper said, “The way it’s structured right now is one person decides on our tax rate for our city, and, under strong mayor powers, that’s the mayor.”
“We have an affordability crisis in our city, and we would never know that by what we see here,” he said.
“And what have people got for it? Well, in ‘25 we were officially designated worst roads in Canada, ‘24 we had the most shootings we’ve ever had in our city, ‘25 we also are starting to see innocent people shot in our city, shell casings downtown. They shoot like we’ve never seen before. Homelessness has doubled since the fall of ‘24. People in our city feel that taxes are too high and they can’t afford it and they feel their lives have gotten worse.”
“You’ve seen the performances over the last four years. You know, you have real options this election. Either continue down this path and you shouldn’t be surprised by what you’re going to get because everything you got was what you were promised last election. So, I’m surprised if anyone’s surprised by where we sit right now. We need real change in our city,” Cooper continued.
Councillor Esther Pauls (Ward 7 – Central Mountain) also spoke out against the increase, saying that it should be “less.”
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.
