NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS
*************************
City staff have released the 2025 Staff Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget Book as well as report CS-2025-01 Staff Proposed 2025 Tax Levy Supported Budget – Variance Analysis, a report summarizing key changes in the 2025 budget in comparison to the 2024 budget, copies of which can be found at the following link: https://niagarafalls.ca/city-hall/finance/budget/default.aspx
This Staff Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget precedes the Mayor’s Proposed Budget, which will be forthcoming in the week of Jan. 13. In 2023, several legislative changes under the Strong Mayor’s Act required the Mayor to propose a draft budget before Feb. 1. The Mayor’s Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget will include the Staff Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget plus the Mayor’s recommended adjustments.
Based on the Mayoral Directive to Staff (MD-2024-13) on Sept. 10, 2024, Finance staff will present, the 2025 Mayor’s Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget at the Council meeting on Jan. 21, at 4 p.m.
The Staff Proposed Budget Book includes a comparison to 2024 budget amounts by account number for all City Divisions/Departments funded by the Tax Levy. The current draft includes total revenues of $158,693,208 and total expenses of $165,570,651, which results in a required tax levy increase of $6,877,443. The tax levy increase would translate into an approximate increase of $10 per month for the average household or a 7.6 per cent increase on the City’s tax levy.
The three main factors driving the current proposed increase are:
- A $6.3 million increase in Labour-related costs. These costs include contractual and inflationary wage increases, additional Fire-related compensation costs and new staff targeted at dealing with the state of cleanliness of the City, which has been significantly impacted by homelessness, addiction and mental health crises.
- A $1.2 million increase in Software Costs for the City to invest in increased Cyber Security measures. As the trend for software moves to “Software as a Service” or SAS, initial investments will increase operating costs for software but eventually decrease capital charges.
- A $1.1 million increase in Fleet Replacement is proposed as the City continues to address replacing its aging fleet
The Mayor will propose adjustments to this budget, and staff have also prepared potential options to decrease its size.
These options will be included in CS-2025-02 Mayor’s Proposed 2025 Tax Levy Supported Budget report on the Jan. 21 agenda.
Written correspondence related to the 2025 Mayor’s Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget, or requests for delegations should follow the guidelines below:
- Requests for Delegations to Council shall be submitted in writing to the Clerk 24 hours before the commencement of the Meeting via the following link: https://surveys.niagarafalls.ca/s3/Delegations-or-Appointment-to-Council
- Written correspondence shall be submitted to the City Clerk via email to [email protected] or by mail to 4310 Queen Street, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6X5, Attn: City Clerk, no later than 12 p.m. (noon) the day preceding the Council meeting.
*************************
