Regional budget is set, homeowners to pay average of $142 more in 2026
Posted Dec 17, 2025 07:20:35 AM.
Last Updated Dec 17, 2025 09:29:05 AM.
It was months in the making and took councillors over 11 hours around the regional horseshoe, but the 2026 budget for the Region of Waterloo is set in stone.
Council settled on a 5.1 per cent increase, combining the regional portion at a 4.54 per cent increase, as well as the policing portion at 6.38 per cent.
“Every year, regional council needs to look closely at what projects we can afford, and which can wait for another year,” said Councillor Michael Harris, who serves as Chair of the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. “There were some difficult decisions this year, but we have arrived at a budget with a reasonable tax increase so that we can maintain the services people expect.”
It means homeowners across Waterloo Region can expect to be paying an average of $142 more on their property taxes in 2026. That pools together the regional side at an average of $88 and the policing side at $54.
“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made on our Growing with Care priorities in the last few years,” said Mathieu Goetzke, acting Chief Administrative Officer for the Region of Waterloo. “We continue to focus on supporting affordability of homes and creating good jobs, delivering reliable and equitable services that meet the needs of everyone, and building a resilient organization that is ready for the future.”
Alot was discussed during the meeting, including a fair amount of disagreement between regional councillors. It led to the final vote not being unanimous, with four councillors voting against the final budget.
Those include Natasha Salonen, Doug Craig, Jan Liggett, as well as Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, who said council just wasn’t able to get the number down as far as he’d had hoped.
Highlights of the finalized budget
- Offering a new one-day-a-week free ride pilot for seniors through GRT
- The purchase of an additional bus for Kiwanis Transit serving Woolwich, Wellsley and Wilmot Townships
- Moving forward with the Building Better Futures affordable housing plan
- Adjusting Waste Management Services by discontinuing “Double Days” when residents could put out extra garbage for collection after certain holidays
- Developing a ten-year strategy for Seniors Services and Sunnyside Campus
- The launch of a new 20-bed women’s overnight warming centre in Cambridge
- Continued investment in the Upstream Fund to support community safety and wellbeing
- Adjusting GRT transit routes to match current population and ridership
“I unfortunately am going to be in the position I was hoping I wouldn’t need to be in again this year,” Vrbanovic said. “For the third time in 42 budgets, and three of them have been regional ones during this term of council, I will have to vote against the budget today. I don’t do that lightly, but I think there’s more work that needs to be done on it.”
Craig echoed a similar sentiment to Vrbanovic, stating that councillors had missed multiple opportunities to dive deeper into the budget and work to bring the final number down for residents.
“I think it’s imperative that we look at the history here of what we’ve done,” Craig stated. “At the very first meeting, I made it clear that I didn’t feel we had reached far enough into the budget. Two and a half weeks ago, I asked for a motion at 3 per cent to ask staff what we could do in terms of bringing things down, and that was defeated by council.
Salonen, who recalled the pushback she received after voting against last year’s budget increase, said that she felt similarly to both Vrbanovic and Craig, but acknowledged that there were plenty of positives that residents could be taking away from the budget.
“There are a lot of residents that we all represent that will not be okay with this budget. I also appreciate that there are a lot of people who will be very happy with it,” Salonen mentioned. “I think it’s important that our votes do reflect that there is diversity of thinking in the community as well, but I cannot support this budget at this rate, and I personally think that there’s more work that could be done.”
With the regional budget set in stone, residents have all the information as Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo previously finalized the city budgets earlier.
Eyes now turn to the local townships, including Wellesley, Woolwich, and Wilmot, which are all set to continue various budget discussions throughout the rest of December or even into the new year.
