Spending and saving priorities
Learn how we budget to deliver programs and services that are important to you while also investing for the future.
On this page:
- Support our strategic plan
- Maintain current services
- Invest in facilities and infrastructure
- Fund capital projects
- Find savings and efficiencies
- Contact us
Support our strategic plan
Waterloo creates a strategic plan every four years to guide the council term. It identifies our top priorities and how we work toward accomplishing our goals.
Funding highlights include:
- $1 million to improve winter sidewalk maintenance for better accessibility
- $303,000 to develop new and inclusive programs, increase support for youth, and expand our Fee Assistance program to better meet the needs of our diverse community
- $158,000 for climate and sustainability work with ClimateActionWR, Waterloo Region Community Energy, SustainableWR and REEP
Maintain current services
We want to maintain the services you rely on while making sure taxes stay fair. This involves supporting current service levels, with funding examples like:
- $148,500 to advance affordable housing goals, including progress on the Affordable Housing Strategy
- $206,000 for software maintenance, licences and subscriptions, covering rising costs
- $135,000 to design, install and maintain audio-visual systems at city facilities
Invest in facilities and infrastructure
Ongoing funding supports our facilities and infrastructure growth. For the 2024 to 2026 staff tabled budget, the city is focusing on:
- $400,000 for preventive building maintenance, addressing known issues and avoiding costly repairs
- $130,000 toward an outdoor water technician and maintenance of our growing pool of splash pads and water features
- $1.3 million for our infrastructure reserve fund, closing the annual tax funding gap for tax-based assets
Fund capital projects
Our capital budget provides money for programs, initiatives and infrastructure projects that help build a strong and sustainable community.
For the 2024 to 2026 budget, we will focus on a wide variety of projects with some highlights:
- Indigenous gathering space
- facility transformational projects
- Bridgeport Road and Margaret Avenue park project
- Albert McCormick Community Centre renovations, including the library
- uptown rink renewal
- installing a trail around the Laurel Creek Conservation Area
- digital strategy implementation
Find savings and efficiencies
The 2024 to 2026 approved budget includes $1.75 million in budget savings, equal to 1.81% in tax savings.
The city also makes ongoing improvements that may not directly save money but help deliver better service and prevent future costs. We are doing this by:
- streamlining our development approval process so that housing can be brought to market faster
- improving accessibility and customer service by offering an on-demand interpretation service in over 240 languages
- buying 6 zero-emissions vehicles to save on fuel and repair costs and decrease greenhouse gas emissions