2026 City Budget Presented

The 2026 City Budget was delivered to Council on Friday, October 31 and is now available for public review on the Budget Documents webpage.

The 2026 Operating and Capital Budget and the Nine-year Capital Forecast reflect the City’s commitment to affordability, delivering exceptional services and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. The preparation of the budget included:

  • an extensive line by line review
  • a review of best practices and environmental scans
  • a full review of operations and maintenance plans
  • creation of new revenue sources and cost recovery
  • the impact of downloading from other levels of government
  • and review of Council approved strategies and plans.

The 2026 Budget considers the realities of unpredictable economic challenges and uncertainty, the impact of tariffs, supply chain disruptions and rising costs – all while remaining sensitive to affordability challenges facing residents. As part of this thorough and balanced approach, the budget also maintains existing staffing levels, all the while ensuring residents can continue to reply on consistent exceptional levels of services.

Budget Highlights

  • $44.4 million in infrastructure investments
  • $4.9 million total investment in Parks
  • continued investments in our external agencies and community partners. This investment accounts for more than $16.8 million, which includes $2.5 million of in-kind services.

Read the News Release here: oshawa.ca/Newsroom

Let's talk about the City Budget

The City of Oshawa’s 2026 Budget has sparked discussion, reflecting how much our community cares about the city’s future.

Municipal budgeting is a complex and thorough process that involves many factors. We are committed to building an understanding of the municipal budget process and how your tax dollars are invested back into your community.

To take a closer look at Oshawa’s 2026 Budget and what it means for you, we invite you to learn more with our Budget Fact Sheet below.

Budget Levy vs Tax Rate

Did you know?

Your property tax bill is made up of three main components:

  1. Municipal Taxes
    This tax rate covers the cost of supplying municipal services, which is driven by the City’s budget levy.
  2. Regional Taxes
    These taxes are based on the tax rate adopted by the Region of Durham for services including transit, housing, shelter, public health and emergency services.
  3. Provincial Taxes
    This portion is remitted to the Province of Ontario for education.
Illustration of loonie divided into pie chart displaying your property tax bills three main components.

What's a Budget Levy?

The total dollar amount the City needs to raise to fund services, after accounting for other revenue sources.

The 2026 Budget Levy increase as presented is $8.73 million.

Illustration of coins stacked to the left of text

What's a Tax Rate?

The percentage applied to property assessments to collect the remaining amount needed. This rate changes based on property values and is separate from the Regional and Provincial portions.

For 2026, this equates to a Tax Rate increase of 1.97% (or approximately $0.29 daily) for the local Oshawa share of the average household’s property tax bill.

1 Based on the proposed 2026 Region of Durham Property Tax Guideline increase of 6.50%.

2 Based on the City Portion of the Tax Rate increase, which is equivalent to approximately $0.29 daily for Oshawa’s portion of an average household property tax bill.

illustration of a house with a coin

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Jay Martin

Director, Finance Services

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Get a breakdown of your property tax bill

The City is inviting residents and property owners to learn more about how their taxes are used.

Property Tax Calculator

See how much City programs and services are costing you by entering your Oshawa address into the City’s Property Tax Calculator.

The Property Tax Calculator has been updated for 2025!

This handy tool gives you a personalized estimate of how your property tax dollars are split up. As a two-tier municipality, the City collects taxes not just for itself, but also for the Region of Durham and local school boards on behalf of the Province.

Did you know that for every dollar collected in 2025, the City keeps about 40 cents, while 46 cents goes to the Region and 14 cents to the Province.

Share your budget priorities

This budget engagement opportunity has now closed.

Community members could share what services and programs were important to them by adjusting funding and service levels in our Budget Simulator. Just like the City’s budget, the simulations had to be balanced in order to be submitted! Priorities could be shared online or on paper at Service Oshawa (located at City Hall, 50 Centre St. S.) and were accepted until 12 p.m. Monday, June 9.

All individual responses are anonymous and only used to summarize overall feedback received from the public. Feedback will be shared with members of Council and considered in the development of the 2026 Mayor’s Budget.