Yesterday, Council met for about 10 hours, focusing on debating and passing the City of Ottawa 2025 Budget. Many of you will have heard the conversations about the various financial pressures the City is facing, including a $120 million deficit in the transit operating budget. Council gave staff direction to draft a budget based on a 2.9% property tax increase, but that deficit needed to be covered somehow.
As a result, this year we separated transit from the rest of the budget. In order to cover this deficit, both fares and the transit levy will increase. This has resulted in what is really a 3.9% tax increase once that increase is factored in. In Ward 5, we do not pay the transit levy. Our entire ward falls under what is referred to as Rural Transit Area B. For that reason, we pay only for Paratranspo services, which results in a property tax increase for residents in West Carleton-March of 3% rather than the 3.9% that most residents will be paying.
Despite the pressures we face, the City was also able to find $153 million in savings and efficiencies that could be invested in key areas, including initiatives that came out of the first Rural Summit in 16 years, an initiative I am proud to say I brought to the Council table. I am very pleased to see that the 2025 budget will double the amount the City spends on ditch maintenance from $1.8 million to $3.6 million. There is also money in this year’s budget for an additional employee in the Rural Affairs Office, which will help better serve rural residents. Another upgrade for rural Ottawa is funding for an additional 23 paramedics, which should have a positive effect on response times in the rural areas of the City, like Ward 5.
You can see below the 2025 budget highlights for Ward 5, including the road work and resurfacing projects that have been budgeted for in 2025. That does not mean there won’t be other projects happening next year, but this is the list of projects for which money was earmarked in this budget.
There are some key roads that I have been advocating for resurfacing, which unfortunately you will not see on this list. If you have questions about when your road or other roads will be resurfaced or addressed, please reach out to my office, and I will find out when it is scheduled to be done or make sure it gets flagged for City staff to add to their list. It’s not an easy task to try and prioritize the road work for a ward as large as West Carleton-March, and I will continue to advocate that the road maintenance budget be increased to at least 2% of the overall value of our city road infrastructure. This is where experts think we need to be to keep our road network in good condition, and spending that money will save us in the long term. Our city currently only spends about 1.1% of this total value on maintenance. The province has recently committed $50 million to the City of Ottawa for rural road renewal, and I am confident that will help make a noticeable difference in the years to come.
With the approved 2025 investments, the City, the Mayor, and Councillors will continue working together to seek funding from the federal and provincial governments in line with what is being provided to other Ontario cities to sustain reliable transit services. To that end, Council approved formally calling on the federal and provincial governments to establish a working group with the City on transit funding and other issues, with the goal of finding a fair and equitable solution.
No budget is perfect, and we cannot possibly address every issue at the same time. While I think there is lots of room to improve the budget process, certainly in terms of consultation opportunities, communication, and simplifying the process, I am pleased with where we landed yesterday at Council. I look forward to working with constituents, staff, and colleagues to improve the process to ensure we are spending money in the most responsible way possible, while addressing a wide range of issues across a very large city.
Of course, my focus will continue to be on how we better serve rural residents in the City of Ottawa.
Best regards,
Clarke Kelly
Councillior | City of Ottawa
West Carleton-March
