The Simple Way Cities Can Save You Money By Raising Taxes

Over the first two parts of this series, we’ve looked at Ottawa’s transport problems. We saw how laws force us to prioritize road repairs over sidewalk repairs, and how widening just two suburban roads for cars costs double what we spend on new bike paths for the entire city.

But there is a final, political piece to this puzzle that keeps our transit broken: the promise to keep property taxes low.

Politicians love to promise that they will keep property taxes low—traditionally targeting caps of between 2.5% to 3%, though rising inflation pushed Ottawa’s 2026 Budget to a 3.75% tax increase. While low taxes sound great, they make it impossible to maintain and grow a city, especially one where people can easily get around without a car. And by the way, I’ll remind you that the cost of cars and associated driving costs tend to be one of the top 5 items in a typical household budget, after mortgage, taxes and maybe food/groceries if you’re in a family of 5 like mine.

The math here is simple. When inflation hits, the cost of salt, asphalt, fuel, and labour goes up. At the same time, as we saw in Part 1 of this ‘series’, the law says we must spend money to keep our existing roads fixed. That cost rises every year, especially as more and more roads in our sprawling suburbs hit the point of needing repairs.

If you cap the tax money you bring in, but you have a massive, mandatory bill to fix roads, something has to give. You legally have to find savings somewhere. Municipalities in Ontario are not allowed to run a deficit by law. Because the city also cannot legally stop fixing roads, they have to cut optional services.

That means cutting transit services and raising bus fares—like the 2.5% OC Transpo fare hike in the 2026 budget. This is why our buses are constantly late or cut, while road budgets stay full.

We cannot tax-cap our way to a better city. If we want to break this cycle, we have to change the rules of the game.

What You Can Do

To change how Ottawa builds, we have to change how Ottawa budgets. Here are three simple things you can do:

1. Speak Up in Budget Talks: When your ward has budget meetings, don’t just ask for “more bike lanes.” Tell your councillor to vote against giant road-widening projects (like Greenbank or Carp Road) and use that money to fund active transportation priorities instead.
2. Fight to Change the Rules: Write to your local provincial representative (MPP), especially if you live in a place where the governing party holds the local seat. Ask them to commit to a dedicated provincial fund for active transportation projects, so this vital work isn’t sidelined when city budgets get tight.
3. Check Your Own Neighbourhood: Look around your neighborhood for missing sidewalks or bike lanes. Email your councillor, show them the gap, and ask about getting it addressed with the money we already set aside for missing links.

Until we treat safe walking and biking as a necessity rather than an extra luxury, Ottawa’s budget will always default to asphalt. As poetic as it would be, these rules are not set it stone, and we can demand better.