Kitchener’s 2026 draft budget focuses on affordability, future
Posted Nov 14, 2025 04:07:14 PM.
Last Updated Nov 15, 2025 01:08:55 PM.
Kitchener property owners, anxiously awaiting to see how much their taxes are going up next year, need wait no longer.
The City has released its 2026 draft budget, “Affordable Today, Ready for Tomorrow”.
The focus of the proposed spending plan is keeping costs down for residents now while ensuring the city is ready for what’s to come in the years ahead, according to the city.
“During a period where there are many unknowns in Canada and around the world due to the impact of decisions south of the border as well as broader geopolitical realities, staff’s proposed budget recognizes what we know, mainly that affordability is top of mind with our residents,” Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said.
The spending plan proposes a property tax increase of 2.2 per cent, which equates to an additional $29 annually or $2.42 monthly, in line with the province’s two-year inflationary average.
Breaking down the other increases:
- Water utility rate increase of 4.9 per cent, or $24 a year.
- Sanitary sewer utility rate increase of 7 per cent, or $45 a year.
- Stormwater utility rate increase of 7.4 per cent, or $19 a year.
In the end, the average property owner in Kitchener can expect to be paying an additional $117 annually, or $9.75 per month. That is, if the budget passes as is.
“When you think about all the services that the city provides, we provide about 50 services over a large geographical area to 300,000 people in the City of Kitchener,” City CFO Jonathan Lautenbach, said. “Consistently, we’ve tried to prioritize that right balance when we look at maintaining our service levels, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve been able to do that once again this year, and that continues a long-standing tradition of being able to do that each year with the reasonable increase we propose.”
To help keep costs low, the city has frozen new staff hiring, with much of the spending being used strategically to shore up the city’s $15 billion in assets. Those assets include things like roads, bridges, water systems and parks as identified in the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan.
Kitchener City Council will be presented with the draft budget at its meeting on Nov. 24.
The public is invited to see the draft plan and comment through an online survey.
