On Tuesday, Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath announced that she would not be exercising her strong mayor powers to veto any of the motions that were passed at Council’s budget amendment committee meetings.
With that announcement, the City of Hamilton’s 2026 Tax Budget was adopted.
Hamilton residents will see a 3.87 per cent increase to property taxes, which translates to $209 more for the average residential home.
At a press conference, Horwath said, “This budget reflects a balancing act and that balance matters. It balances infrastructure renewal with affordability. It balances urgent needs with long-term planning. It balances compassion with fiscal discipline.”
During amendment committee meetings, Horwath voted against two different motions that passed: the motion to defer funding of historical development charge exemptions to 2027 ($3 million reduction to the levy or -0.24 percentage points) and the motion to increase funding to the Hamilton Public Library ($373,050 increase to the levy or +0.03 percentage points).
When asked why she chose not to exercise her powers to veto either of those motions, she explained that she decided “the best thing to do” was to “say everything will go forward as [Council] decided.”
In response to other members of Council criticizing the tax increase as too high, Horwath said that Hamilton is growing and that the city is old, so it has aging infrastructure.
“There’s no silver bullet to get us to a [zero per cent tax increase.] If you want a silver bullet to get us to a zero, that silver bullet is going to include deep cuts to services,” she said.
The budget includes a net tax levy of $1.315 billion, including $783.5 million for city departments ($40.0 million increase), a capital levy of $196.5 million ($13.4 million increase), $83.6 million for the Hamilton Public Library, Board of Health, Conservation Authorities, MPAC, Hamilton Beach Rescue, Royal Botanical Gardens, Farmers’ Market and City Enrichment Fund ($3.6 million increase), $240.9 million for Hamilton Police Services ($16.1 million increase), and $5.3 million for 911 answering services ($186.7K increase).
Some Councillors, notably Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton), have taken issue with the fact that the Hamilton Police Service 2026 tax-funded budget increased by 6.81 per cent compared to last year, above Horwath’s 4.25 per cent directive.
However, Hamilton Police Chief Frank Bergen explained at the Hamilton Police Service Board that 4.2 percentage points of the budget increase is attributed to sustaining existing services, such as paying officers according to their collective agreements and pressures related to new presumptive, retroactive posttraumatic stress disorder coverage policies.
The approved tax levy for the City of Hamilton in 2022, before this term of Council, was $993.5 million, meaning that, with the 2026 budget, the net tax levy has increased by 32.3 per cent in just four years.
Previous residential property tax increases under 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.
Some budget highlights include $209 million for affordable housing and homelessness supports, $116.3 million in transit investments, $106.1 million for roadway, sidewalk, and bridge maintenance, $4.1 million for Hamilton’s cultural sector and $3.2 million for the upkeep and renewal of Hamilton Public Library facilities and two new electric Bookmobiles.
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.
