The City of St. John’s brought down its budget for 2026 this afternoon, with no increase in property taxes.
The balanced budget comes in at a cool $366 million, a nearly five per cent increase – the largest in several years.
But the growth is a double-edged sword for the city as it seeks other sources of revenue beyond just water and property tax, noting that’s “unsustainable.”
The city is pressing the province to share its take of HST, and bump up multi-year capital funding to keep up with inflation.
Nonetheless, St. John’s was able to freeze residential mil rates at 9.1 and commercial at 29.5 to mirror last year, largely due to spikes in property values — and thus tax assessments.
There are slight increases in the water tax and tipping fees at the dump, and the subsidy for St. John’s Sports and Entertainment is down by $200,000, but still stands at $5.2 million.
Another million dollars is coming for Metrobus and GoBus, as the service expands and trip times are reduced in the new year.
Other highlights include:
– An investment of nearly $22 million for new capital projects, which supports important initiatives like road rehabilitation, housing related programs, sidewalk repairs, traffic safety improvements, technology investments, facility repairs, and capital grants to community groups. A list of projects will be announced in the new year;
– An investment of $5.3 million to support the replacement of snow clearing equipment as part of the City’s asset management plan, ensuring the reliability of equipment to provide this essential service;
– An additional $728,000 has been allocated to the St. John’s Regional Fire Department to support occupational health and safety, fleet maintenance and protective clothing, bringing the total investment to nearly $29 million.
