City of Waterloo Council affirms 2026 city budget

City of Waterloo Council has confirmed a 6.4 per cent property tax increase for 2026, as previously approved in the City’s three-year budget. The budget funds all 100-plus services provided by the City of Waterloo, as well as asset development and rehabilitation.

The increase consists of two components – 3.5 per cent is base budget and operating impacts of capital and 2.9 per cent is for service level changes and infrastructure investment. The average household will see an increase of about $9 per month, or $107 annually, on their property tax.

“The City of Waterloo continues to face pressures, including some that were not part of our original three-year budget deliberations,” said Councillor Diane Freeman, Finance liaison. “We are funding updated labour and other committed operational obligations, as well as needing to cover provincial legislative changes and downloaded services, while continuing to provide the services that people use every day. We are pleased to confirm the previously approved 2026 budget. This budget keeps our community safe, maintained and moving. We continue to close our infrastructure funding gap while supporting our roads, parks, snow clearing, fire services, recreation programs, community facilities and more.”

Among the initiatives planned for 2026:

• Continued funding for the phased-in Fire Master Plan expansion, including the addition of eight more fire fighters bringing the 2024-2026 total to 20 to provide Fire Services in our growing and changing city.
• Continuation of the phased-in Winter Sidewalk Maintenance Service Enhancement, to improve winter sidewalk accessibility for everyone.
• Additional transportation engineer supervisor to support road safety, traffic operations and the crossing guard program.
• Increasing preventative building maintenance funding.
• Additional infrastructure funding to assist in closing the $43 million average annual funding gap for tax-based assets.

Adjustments to the capital budget are being made due to shifts in timing of some projects and updates from the Development Charges by-law update. The 2026 revised capital budget is made up of 201 projects with a value of $168 million and will see key investments in support of all our Strategic Priority areas:

• Reconciliation, Equity, Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion:
  • Accessible Facility Upgrades
  • Indigenous Gathering Space
• Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action:
  • Facility Transformational Projects
  • Green Building Policy Implementation
• Complete Community:
  • Future Northdale park
  • AMCC Sportsplex and WPL McCormick Branch Library Renovations
• Infrastructure and Transportation Systems:
  • Union Street, King Street to Moore Avenue
  • Structurally Deficient Watermain Rehabilitation
• Innovation and Future-Ready:
  • Generation Park Lands Servicing
  • Digital Strategy Implementation

As part of the 2026 budget confirmation, Council also approved two additional staff positions as part of the 2026 operating budget Net Zero amendments resulting in no additional tax-based impact:

• a full time Manager of Development Planning, to support the transition of Regional planning responsibilities and increased service demand; and
• a full time Assistant City Solicitor to support the transition of Regional planning responsibilities and handle the growing volume of development files and planning responsibilities. 

This budget confirmation is the final year of the three-year budget approval. 

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For more information, please contact:

Brad Witzel
Director, Financial Planning & Asset Management
brad.witzel@waterloo.ca      

Cari Van Niekerk
Director, Corporate Communications
cari.vanniekerk@waterloo.ca