Here's where Ottawa's draft budget will cost you more

City staff have drawn up a draft operating budget for 2025 under which most taxpayers will effectively end up paying 3.9 per cent more in property taxes. (Michel Aspirot/CBC - image credit)
City staff have drawn up a draft operating budget for 2025 under which most taxpayers will effectively end up paying 3.9 per cent more in property taxes. (Michel Aspirot/CBC - image credit)

Residents are set to pay more for a variety of city services next year if Ottawa's draft operating budget, tabled Wednesday, is adopted.

Under the 2025 spending plan, which will now undergo about a month of detailed debate before returning to council on Dec. 11, urban homeowners will see their property tax bill rise by 2.9 per cent, or about $100.

An additional eight per cent hike to the transit levy means most taxpayers will effectively end up paying 3.9 per cent more.

The transit increase adds another $68 for the average urban home, while the tax burden on rural homeowners would be lower as they receive less transit service.

WATCH | What the city is proposing to do with its money:

OC Transpo

The 2025 draft budget includes fare increases across the board:

  • Adult base fares up 5.3 per cent from $3.80 (2024) to $4.00 (2025), paid by card.

  • Cash fares up 5.2 per cent from $3.85 to $4.05.

  • Adult monthly passes up 4.9 per cent from $128.75 to $135.

  • Senior monthly passes up a whopping 120.4 per cent from $49 to $108.

  • Day passes up 2.1 per cent from $11.75 to $12.

  • Three-day passes up 5.3 per cent from $28.50 to $30.

  • U-passes (per semester) up five per cent from $229.07 to $240.52.

An OC Transpo LRT train is driven along an outdoor section of the track near Lees station Nov. 12, 2021. The O-Train's Line 1 reopened that day after a derailment and period of testing.
An OC Transpo LRT train is driven along an outdoor section of the track near Lees station Nov. 12, 2021. The O-Train's Line 1 reopened that day after a derailment and period of testing.

The 2025 draft budget increases the cost of single transit fares and passes across the board. (Francis Ferland/CBC)

Garbage and recycling

The City of Ottawa currently collects fees in two revenue streams, split between a waste diversion tax and a separate citywide fee.

Currently, the average homeowner pays $56 for waste diversion on top of a $148 fee, for a total annual charge of $201.

The city is shifting to what it considers a more equitable single-fee system that will charge every household the same fee of $243.

A City of Ottawa truck approaches the scales at the Trail Road landfill in April 2022.
A City of Ottawa truck approaches the scales at the Trail Road landfill in April 2022.

The City of Ottawa is streamlining its fee system for garbage and recycling collection, costing every household $243 per year. (Kate Porter/CBC)

Library, water and recreation

The Ottawa Public Library also reviewed its user fee system and is proposing charging an extra 2.5 per cent to rent out meeting rooms.

Variable and fixed rates for drinking water will go up two per cent, while a range of water connection services will switch from a flat rate in 2024 to an hourly cost, plus an administration fee.

User fees for city recreational facilities are also set to go up:

  • Adult arena rental fees up 2.9 per cent from $331.88 (2024) to $341.67 (2025).

  • Museum admissions up by between 2.9 and 3.0 per cent, from between $3.84 and $19.90 to between $3.95 and $20.49.

  • Public skating fees up 7.6 per cent from between $1.99 and $7.74 to between $1.99 and $7.96.

  • Public swim fees up by between 2.8 and 3.0 per cent from between $2.48 and $6.02 to between $2.55 and $6.20.

  • Most memberships, from aquafitness to seniors centres, up three per cent.

Parking, marriage and death

On-street parking rates and on-street residential parking permits are set to increase if the 2025 budget is passed.

The maximum on-street hourly rate will rise from $4.50 in 2024 to $5 in 2025, while the same rate for motorcycles will go from $2.25 to $2.50, and tour buses from $9 to $10.

Annual residential parking permits will rise $20 from $750 to $770.

Rates at city-owned parking facilities will not change in 2025, but the city will introduce a one-time off-street permit activation fee of $12.50.

Meanwhile, both getting hitched and dying in Ottawa are set to cost a little more in 2025. Marriage licences will go from $182 this year to $186.55 next year, while death registration fees will rise from $51 to $52.28.