TORONTO – Toronto’s budget opens with a $1 billion pressure on the operating budget and an $18 billion infrastructure need over the next decade, said a few days ago Councillor Shelley Carroll, chair of the City’s Budget Committee. Mayor Olivia Chow then doubled down, stating that “times are tough” implying that this year, as in the previous two of Chow’s administration, property taxes will increase. 

Chow herself had actually previously mooted the increase, unless the federal and provincial governments intervene with their own funds.

Meanwhile, resident consultations on next year’s municipal budget have begun: around 200 people, according to CBC, attended the first of six scheduled pre-budget consultations on Tuesday. The meeting with residents was held at St. Lawrence Market North.

Last year’s consultations helped officials shape the budget, Mayor Chow said, asserting that residents wanted the cost of living to decrease, for the city to build more rental housing, and for the TTC to provide better service. These wishes, evidently, went unfulfilled, but the City launched consultations this year anyway. “These are a little uncertain times. People are struggling… they’re a little worried about jobs, they’re feeling uneasy. And it’s time for us to stand firm and say, ‘Let’s protect our wallets a little’ ” Chow told reporters. It’s unclear what she means by protecting our wallets, given that a tax increase is likely, following the 6.9% tax increase in 2025 and the 9.5% tax increase in 2024, both of which were passed by her administration.

Carroll, for her part, stated that the City is listening to residents’ voices. “The budget hasn’t been drawn up yet, it hasn’t been developed yet. The Mayor promised, at the beginning of his term, to always ask the community, before drafting the budget, what is most important to the citizens. What are the most important things to invest in? And where is greater efficiency needed?”.

The in-person consultations, which began on Tuesday, will conclude on October 23. Two virtual online consultations will then take place on October 27 and 29 (the detailed calendar is available on the City’s website, here: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/how-to-get-involved-in-the-budget/fall-budget-consultations/ ). A summary of the consultations will be provided to the Budget Committee at a meeting on January 8, 2026, and will contribute to the drafting of Chow’s proposed budget, which will be published by February 1, 2026.

Citizens can also participate in an online survey (here) until October 31 in the following languages: English, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Persian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, and Urdu. Italian is not available, as we wrote in a previous article – this: Budget, the City consults citizens but ignores Italians: survey in 12 languages except theirs. But none of the Italian-Canadian politicians have complained to the City.

In the pic above, Toronto City Hall behind the fountain in Nathan Phillips Square (photo: www.toronto.ca)