Council to stick to 2.5% tax increase

By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star

The City of Ottawa is midway through it’s budget consultations, and although city councillors are getting plenty of advice from their constituents on where they should be spending their tax dollars, it’s becoming clear that nothing will budge them off their commitment to stick to a 2.5 per cent tax increase.

A number of city councillors made a 2.5 per cent tax increase a cornerstone of their platform in the recent municipal election, including local city councillors Laura Dudas, Catherine Kitts and Matt Luloff. But more significantly, newly elected mayor Mark Sutcliffe made a 2.5 tax increase a line he wouldn’t cross.

That ceiling formed the basis of the City’s draft operating and capital budgets crafted by senior staff and tabled during a special council meeting on Feb. 1.

The draft budget also includes a freeze in transit fare fees, which the mayor promised during the campaign, but fails to deliver on another of his campaign promises – reducing youth recreational program fees by 10 per cent, although Sutcliffe insists the cut will be included in the final document. But just how or where the estimated $500,000 in lost revenue will be made up has to be determined.

Assuming council will stick to a 2.5 per cent tax increase, a home with an average market value of

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