The 2026 budget process has officially kicked off in the City of St. Catharines.
With Mayor Mat Siscoe poised to present his budget later this month under the strong-mayor powers given to him by the province, city staff laid out a first draft of their proposed operating budget for next year.
The budget will largely be based on the multi-year budget that was adopted in February 2024, which runs for three years and covered 2024 and 2025 and will cover 2026 as well.
But Siscoe says he will be making changes to the proposed 2026 budget before presenting it to Council.
Under the budget readoption timeline, staff presents its budget on Oct. 15 and Siscoe publishes his on Oct. 27, with a presentation to Council on Nov. 5. Council then has a period of time to amend the budget, followed by a 10-day period in which Siscoe can veto proposed changes from Council. Council then has a 15-day period of time to try to override any potential veto Siscoe makes, with the entire budget process scheduled to wrap up by Dec. 20 at the latest.
City staff are proposing a property tax increase of 2.93 per cent for 2026, which is somewhat less than the 3.61 per cent increase that was originally included in the multi-year budget that was adopted back in 2024.
According to staff, the impact of this tax increase on the median household with an assessed value of $258,000 would be a $52.43 tax increase.
There is a public engagement period in which residents of St. Catharines can engage with the city to outline their priorities during the 2026 budget process.
This includes a telephone town hall, which happened on Oct. 21, and an open house, which happened on Oct. 22. Delegations to Council for general comments are welcome on Nov. 5 and delegations to Council to discuss budget amendments are scheduled for Nov. 19.
St. Catharines residents should expect Siscoe’s proposed budget to include a lower property tax increase than what was laid out by staff.
“For Council’s clarity, staff presented their 2.93 per cent increase on the median tax…the number that I will be presenting will start with a one,” said Siscoe. “I don’t believe we’ll be able to do much more than that.”
Siscoe also noted that the Region’s property tax increase for next year should become clear within a few weeks.
“The Regional budget increase should be apparent by the middle of November,” Siscoe added.
For residents of Niagara Region, property tax bills are impacted by rates set by Niagara Region, the lower-tier municipality (in this case St. Catharines), as well as the education levy set by the province of Ontario.
While a property tax increase of less than two per cent from the City of St. Catharines may sound promising, Niagara Region has traditionally increased taxes at a significantly higher rate than St. Catharines has during Siscoe’s mayoralty.
The Niagara Independent will update readers when Niagara Region puts forward its own property tax proposals next month.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
