City of Kitchener property taxes will increase 3.9 per cent in 2024

Kitchener city council is seen during a meeting on Dec. 14, 2023 where the newly adopted budget was formally received. (YouTube/City of Kitchener)

Kitchener residents will see a 3.9 per cent increase on the city’s portion of their property tax bill next year.

For the average homeowner, it works out to an additional $47 per year.

Kitchener’s 2024 budget was adopted Thursday.

It also includes increases to utility fees:

• Water utility: 4.9 per cent, or $21 annually for the average home
• Sanitary sewer utility: 7.1 per cent, or $39 annually for the average home
• Stormwater utility: 7.4 per cent, or $17 annually for the average home

Collectively, the tax hike and updated utility fees will cost the average homeowner an extra $124 compared to last year.

Councillors noted the 3.9 tax increase is below the two-year average rate of inflation. It’s also lower than the 6.9 per cent tax increase the Region of Waterloo passed on Wednesday.

“3.9 per cent [is] lower than last year, lower than most of the municipalities around us and around the province and so I’m proud to go out and tell my constituents that ‘yeah I voted for a 3.9 per cent… tax increase,’” Coun. Jason Deneault said. “We’re maintaining services, we’re maintaining infrastructure and we’re also enhancing it.”

NEW STRONG MAYOR POWERS CHANGE BUDGET PROCESS

In a departure from the previous budget process, new strong mayor powers meant this year, it was up to Mayor Berry Vrbanovic to propose the budget.

He deviated very little from the draft budget presented by city staff in November. Following public feedback, Vrbanovic’s budget allocated an additional $1.6 million to projects that staff said can be covered by other funding sources.

Those include:

• $400,000 for additional traffic calming and trail connections in neighbourhoods
• $200,000 to develop an arena energy strategy as part of the city’s climate action plan
• $300,000 to replace two additional playgrounds
• $200,000 to develop a Municipal Newcomers Strategy, including community engagement
• $300,000 to improve access and increase usage at Cameron Heights Pool
• $200,000 for the implementation of a city-wide data strategy to build organization-wide data practices to deliver better services for residents

Under the new process, once the budget is proposed by the mayor, it is automatically adopted around two weeks later if no councillors propose amendments, which is what happened this year in Kitchener.

“That says an awful lot about this council and our collaborative process and how we work through it – I actually find it amazing that there’s not a single amendment,” said Coun. Scott Davey, chair of the finance and corporate service committee.

Source: Council agenda package/City of Kitchener

Vrbanovic said he’s not necessarily a fan of his new strong mayor powers and he tried to use them as little as possible in the budget process.

“As we all know, this is a new process. It’s not one I’m necessarily a fan of to be quite frank, but it’s one that we’re obligated to work through and I think we found a way to do it as close to… past processes to make it as collaborative as possible,” he said.

WHAT’S IN THE BUDGET?

Other city budget highlights include:

• $1.2 million to the city’s Housing for All Strategy
• $240,000 to launch additional special events, including “one new major festival in Kitchener in 2024”
• $300,000 for improvements to the Walter Bean Trail
• $700,000 for continued work on the implementation of the downtown cycling grid
• $173,000 to expand weekend hours at some community centres
• $900,000 to increase wages for the lowest paid city employees
• $200,000 to create a permanent Indigenous space in Huron Natural Area
• $40 million for road reconstruction projects
• $19 million to build a new sewage pumping station in the Hidden Valley area
• $1.9 million for new neighbourhood parks
• $94 million, to be spent across two years, on a new aquatics centre and indoor turf field at Schlegel Park.

The full draft budget document is available here.

CITY BUDGET JUST PART OF PROPERTY TAX BILL

Only 31 cents of every dollar Kitchener residents pay in property tax goes to the City of Kitchener.

The Region of Waterloo, which makes up the majority of the property tax bill at 55 per cent, has passed a 6.9 per cent increase for the coming year.

Local school boards make up the remainding 14 per cent.