Hamilton council votes Wednesday on 6.7 per cent tax increase. Here's what you need to know

Hamilton councillors will vote on the city's next budget and 6.7 per cent tax increase Wednesday — signalling their priorities for the next year. 

The budget addresses a range of issues that some councillors previously told CBC Hamilton have been neglected by previous councils, such as affordable housing and homelessness, climate change adaptation and cycling infrastructure.

"I plan on approving the budget because past budgets have mostly been maintenance that have been underfunding crucial infrastructure and social investments," Ward 4 Coun. Tammy Hwang said. 

However, some councillors say their constituents can't afford such a large property tax hike on top of inflation and high interest rates. 

"People have told me this is a 'tax and spend' council," said Ward 5 Coun. Matt Francis. "I will not be part of it." 

Over the last several months, department staff and members of the public have made their funding requests at general issues committee meetings. Councillors have had the opportunity to ask questions, debate and add things to the operating budget, which covers salaries, materials and supplies. 

If approved, this year's operating budget is over $1 billion and includes the following city programs:

• $4 million to help fund affordable housing projects built by non-profit organizations
• $1.36 million to support city's response to encampments by hiring a permanent team including street outreach workers, bylaw enforcement officers and police officers
• $600,000 for councillors to hire more office staff
• $353,600 to increase the living wage from $17.20 to $19.05 per hour for crossing guards and non-union, part-time casual employees 
• $311,500 for the Bay Area Climate Change Office, including hiring two new project managers
• $308,000 to speed up the building of cycling infrastructure, including 65 kilometres of new bike lanes in the next three years

Councillor unable to vote on police budget due to conflict of interest

Wednesday's council meeting will be the mayor and councillors's last chance to voice their opinion about the budget and cast their final vote.

When CBC Hamilton surveyed members of council earlier this month, eight including the mayor said they would be voting in support of the overall budget, three said they'd be voting against, three were undecided and two did not provide an answer.

Council members can also pull individual items to vote separately on, which tends to happen for more controversial requests like the $196 million budget the Hamilton Police Service (HPS) is requesting.

Coun. Alex Wilson (Ward 13), Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2) and Nrinder Nann (Ward 3) have said while they're in support of the overall budget, they're not in support of the police budget. 

One outspoken supporter of the $12 million police budget increase, Coun. Esther Pauls (Ward 7), has been instructed not to vote on the item Wednesday because of a conflict of interest determined by the city's integrity commissioner.

Pauls's son is an officer with HPS and she is a member of the police services board. An integrity commissioner's report released last week found Pauls debated "with vigour," "vociferously" endorsed and voted for the police budget at the board meeting in late 2022.

The commissioner has suspended her pay for 15 consecutive days, the report says. When contacted for comment on Tuesday, Pauls's office said she'd be releasing a statement Wednesday.