Hamilton City Council approved increases of 3.6 per cent to most of the city’s fees for 2026 at a recent meeting.
City user fees include various costs associated with planning applications, grant program admin fees, parking fees, museum admission, recreation fees, transit fares, and rentals of city facilities.
The 2026 Tax-Supported User Fees were recommended by staff.
A staff report stated that the average increase required to deliver fee-supported city services was approximately 3.6 per cent in order to “support continued progress toward full cost recovery, while balancing market conditions, affordability, and equity.”
They say that without the increase in fees, the city would face a shortfall equivalent to 0.41 per cent of the average residential property tax rate.
Approval of the new fee structure means that the city will bring in an estimated $5.6 million more in revenues over the 2025 budget.
Total budgeted revenues for 2026 are projected at $139.7 million and go towards cost recovery.
The city says that there is variation in cost recovery across departments and also at the divisional level.
They say that the Licensing and By-Law Services division shows growth in user fee revenue, while others, such as the Transportation, Planning, and Parking Division, have seen expenditure increases that have outpaced fee growth.
Staff add that user fees are a “key revenue stream” for the city and that they reduce reliance on the general property tax levy.
The City of Hamilton is also working on the creation of a corporate User Fee Framework to guide future increases.
According to current timelines, the framework is expected to impact user fees that staff will recommend for 2027 and beyond.
At the moment, the User Fee Framework focuses on recreation and transit user fees since they make up the largest portion of user fee revenue for the city and impact all Hamilton residents.
However, the framework is meant to be scalable and replicated to all user fees.
The city sought feedback on current rates via an online survey, but that was only open from Nov. 21 to Dec. 12, 2025.
Next, the city will be surveying community organizations before holding public town halls in the spring.
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.
