The City of Burlington raised property taxes by 7.52% in 2023. They have proposed another unprecedented increase of 7.82% for 2024. This is 15.34% over 2 years. From 2023-2027, this Mayor and Council are planning a total increase of 32% in property taxes.  

We, the undersigned, do not agree to this proposed increase in property taxes for 2024. We, the undersigned do not agree to any property tax increase over 3%.   

NOTE: If you do not provide your postal code, your signature will not be accepted. It is not visible to the public. However it is printed next to your signature. If it is not, the city cannot verify where you live or that you are a real person. 

The city implies they will need to cut services if they do not put thru this tax increase. That isn't true. The % to maintain the services we have is only a fraction of the proposed tax increase with the exact amount buried in the base budget which is only 1.79%. 

There are vast differences between the things we need and those we'd like to have. We all want the best things. That doesn't mean we can have them or more importantly, that we can have them all at once. Yet this is the prevailing attitude of this Mayor and Council. They're spending millions for salary increases and upgrades to city hall and at the same time want millions for new projects. There is lack of fiscal restraint and prudence, instead wanting everything right now despite the extravagant costs and without regard for the financial burden it will put on Burlington taxpayers or asking what they're willing to sacrifice. We are already so overtaxed at every level. 

They have recently committed future Burlington taxpayers to upwards of $170 million dollars for just 2 capital projects.  To put this into context, in 2023 there are 451 open city projects at a cost of only $570 m. Yet they want to straddle future taxpayers with this enormous debt for just 2. These 2 projects account for almost 1.53% of the 7.82% increase. This won't be just next year. It will be for many future years. If we already have such significant expenses and liabilities to be paid, why then is this Mayor and Council adding such massive future debt to already overburdened tax payers?

As well, the total revenue for the city for 2022 was only $327.7 m with 47% needed for salaries. After other expenses, there isn't alot of $ left. Projects of this magnitude ($170 m), that could put our services and smaller projects at risk, should have required a high % of residents voting yes to it. And $170 m is only a projection. Skyway Arena & Community Centre was budgeted at $13.9 m in 2016 when originally approved. It's a great project, badly needed for southeast Burlington and widely supported. But the project ballooned from 15 m to 21 m to 40 m under this current administration. Bateman could escalate to $200 m.

This is on top of millions for salary increases since last year. This is where a big chunk of the 7.52% increase went. City employees are well paid with strong pensions and good benefits. Yet the Mayor and Council claim salaries are not competitive with other municipalities. That's not true. In 2022, the average salary paid to city employees was 104K compared to 89K by the Town of Oakville. That's 14K more we were already paying, before all the salary increases. As per the Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure list, in 2022 there were 393 employees working for the City of Burlington who earned over 100K. That represents 44% of all employees. Of these employees, 199 earned over 125K. In comparison, the average salary in Ontario is only 56K.  

Despite all these facts, the Mayor and Council still insist city employees aren't paid enough and so the mandate for this budget includes even more money for salaries. Indeed, this Mayor and Council boast on the city's website that they only want those they perceive as top people at City Hall and will pay anything to get them. 

Recently, 6.5 m was spent for renovations to City Hall and they now want another 1.1 m for all new IT and millions more for Civic Square, the area outside City Hall. They rejected a $1.2m plan in 2019 as the Mayor felt it wasn't enough. They now have some $ from upper govt for the Square. But they also want new buses as part of this tax increase. If new and green buses are so important and such an integral part of our future, why aren't they putting the grant $ there instead of prettying up Civic Square?

These are only some of the bigger ticket items from the budget.

It'd be amazing if we all could have everything we want, when we want it and money was no object. But that's not reality for most of us.   

These massive tax hikes aren't for social services or to replace some insanely expensive infrastructure lost beyond our control. Its for big projects and a restructured city hall. In 2019 the council approved the new organizational design for city hall which is where a significant amount of these tax increases are going. But taxpayers weren't asked if they were on board with this plan and its costs. It was just forced upon us. In the private sector, where controlling costs is a primary objective, incurring millions in expense for this kind of new design likely wouldn't be approved. Never, ever in the history of Burlington, have taxpayers had such egregious tax increases forced upon them. 

More and more, it seems like this Mayor and Council are becoming disconnected from real taxpayers. The Mayor's office states they understand that taxpayers are facing hardships. But the reality is that they don't understand and they're not listening. If they were, they wouldn't be spending millions on salary increases and paying exorbitant amounts to new hires, overpaying for projects, setting unrealistic goals and overextending taxpayers with back to back increases of almost 8% each and trying to increase our property taxes by 32%  over 5 years.

Sadly, most of Burlington is unaware of what the proposed tax increase is for 2024. It's buried on pg 17 of 20 of the proposed budget and nowhere else on the city website. Not even in the Budget FAQ's. Not on the budget or service satisfaction feedback surveys. Instead respondents are mislead into answering questions the way the city wants without informing of the tax hike or other items the tax hike is for and then use the surveys to justify the tax increases.

Property taxes in Burlington are already higher than both Oakville and Toronto! Yes, higher. Please show your support and sign this petition. Please get all your friends and family to sign as well. This petition has the power to stop this tax increase if enough signatures are obtained. The more people who sign, the less power the Mayor and Council have to force this tax increase, or future ones of this magnitude, upon us. Our voices gain strength in numbers and can only be heard when we stand together. 

 

WHAT DO BURLINGTON RESIDENTS SAY?

On Sep 7, 2023 a poll of Burlington residents was conducted. They were advised of the tax increase for 2023 and the proposed tax increase for 2024. They were asked if they supported such a high tax increase for 2024. A total of 252 votes were collected and 90% of respondents said no. 7% of respondents said yes and 3% were unsure. 

On Sep 30, 2023 a second poll was conducted. It asked Burlington residents to chose from 6 categories to determine what they felt was a reasonable amount for the 2024 property tax increase. As of the date of this petition, 353 votes have been collected. The categories and results were as follows:

1-3%                       31%
3.1-4%                    16%
4.1-5%                      5%
5.1-6%                      3%
6.1-7.8%                   6%
0% or a tax cut       39%

 

Of the 353 respondents, 39% want a 0% tax increase or a tax cut while 31% of respondents voted for a 1-3% increase. This is 70% of all respondents. This is a very significant number. It says that the vast majority of taxpayers not only don't support a tax increase of 7.82%, but they don't support an increase anywhere near it. In fact, the majority of all respondents felt there should be a tax cut or minimally, no tax increase at all. 

 

WHY IS THIS PETITION IMPORTANT

The Bank of Canada has increased its key interest rate 10x since March 2022 and have indicated they may not be done. Mortgage rates have risen as high as 7.5% and people are increasing amortization up to 100 years to keep from losing their homes as mortgage payments increase hundreds to thousands of dollars a month. Borrowing costs for other items have increased substantially. Heating costs have doubled. The price of groceries have risen significantly. Cost of living has not only risen dramatically in Ontario but without a corresponding increase in wages or fixed incomes. 

How many of you will receive a 15% increase in wages over 2 years? A 32% increase over 5 years? 

If not, where will you be taking the additional money from if these increases go thru? Because you could be paying thousands more a year after all these increases are approved.  Is that acceptable to give that much of your take home pay to the city?  The province has suspended MPAC assessments but when they resume and your home's value is increased, how much more will it impact your property taxes?  

The city makes use of multiple reports in preparing budgets. However they are highly selective in the data they use. A 2023 report from BMA Management advised the city of a demographic shift showing a growing population of those 65+ resulting in fewer working taxpayers and a greater proportion of residents on fixed income. Despite being made aware of this  and therefore knowing some of these seniors will not able to withstand these massive property tax increases, this budget was proposed nonetheless.

Indeed, during my interactions with the public regarding this proposed tax increase, many seniors have told me they won't be able to afford these increases. Some are angry, some sad, some fearful, and all concerned that they won't be able to stay in this city where they've spent their entire lives. People whose taxes who have helped build this city into what it is today.  

Planning for cities by those in office is typically 25-30 years yet this Mayor and Council have said they are building Burlington for the next 7 generations. That is not their job! And it is not our responsibility to pay for things 200 years into the future.  We elected this Mayor and Council for us, right now. 

This proposed tax increase, and those planned for the next 3 years, are excessive, unreasonable and fiscally irresponsible. Burlington doesn't even offer significant social services compared to neighbouring cities like Hamilton. There isn't money in this budget to address the growing population of homeless here. The Mayor and Council want everything and want it now.  That is not the reality taxpayers live in. Much of this budget is about having things that are nice to have but not an immediate necessity, increasing savings for more purchases, revamping Civic Square and continuing to increase the amount spent on salaries and other modifications at city hall. All on the backs of taxpayers who are already struggling in a tough economic climate. 

After the 7.52% increase in 2023, the Mayor and Council should not be financially burdening taxpayers with another tax increase of 7.82%. We need to send a very clear and loud message to City Hall, which is that we not only do not agree to this proposed tax increase but we don't want any tax increase at all. At best, we will not accept a penny over 3%. 

 

Thank you so very much for supporting this petition !!!

 

A full breakdown of what the city wants to do with the 7.82% can be found here: