Infrastructure and Water Services have a number of projects within the budget that aim to address climate change and mitigate impacts from flooding, including:

• Working with the climate change resiliency team to identify priority projects to reduce flood risks as part of the Climate Resiliency Strategy; 
• Working closely with departments like Public Works and Office of Emergency Management on severe weather event mitigation and response strategy.
• Integration of flood protection measures in our road, sewer, and water projects, and other programs that reduce the impacts of flooding. 

In the 2024 budget, the City dedicated:

• $3 million to the Wet Weather Program to address flooding and erosion risks
• $2.5 million for a natural assets management program to support the assessment and rehabilitation of creeks, rivers and ravines which are at risk of flooding and erosion from increased volume and intensity of precipitation 
• $4.5 million for slope stabilization along Ottawa Road 174 to protect against erosion during significant spring runoff.
• $7.75 million for sanitary and stormwater linear system improvements, condition assessments and flow monitoring.
• $15.2 million in culvert renewal, to ensure the existing drainage system to perform without interruption.
• $9.5 million for road renewal in Ward 5.
• $335,000 to continue to update the City’s flood plain mapping with conservation authorities, including mapping of more severe flooding expected with climate change.
• $150,000 for the Residential Protective Plumbing Program to protect homeowners against the risk of basement flooding
• $1.6M for resurfacing of Bayview Dr – Spinnaker Way to Doris Currie Dr.  Pre-engineering work will commence in 2024 with construction planned for 2025. This project will involve a minor road grade raise to meet safe access criteria for emergency vehicle access. 
  
  

Through the Asset Management Plans, we strategically address climate-related impacts, with a focus on infrastructure planning and community resilience, while also preparing for future challenges and extreme weather events, ensuring our city remains resilient and adaptive to changing climates. Further road improvements to provide safe access will be implemented on other West Carleton Roads in the next 5 years. 

Please continue to work with your local Councillor for any area specific needs so they can bring them forward to staff. We also encourage Councillors to reach out to us at any time to share flooding locations, impacts and other concerns and we are committed to working with Council, residents and businesses to improve communication and supports to the community.

Flood resilience often requires private measures (in homes, on private property) along with public measures (maintenance and renewal of infrastructure) and we will be looking for opportunities to support residents, through providing easier access to information, education and assessing programs.

Adhering to Council’s direction of setting an overall municipal tax increase of no more than 2.5 per cent, the 2024 Draft Budget demonstrates a commitment to core investments in physical and social infrastructure, keeping residents safe and secure, supporting affordability and housing, protecting the environment, and promoting quality of life in communities across Ottawa. 

Maintaining service efficiency and competitiveness are main objectives for all City services. When considering the 2024 budget directions, Council emphasized the importance of maintaining continuous improvement throughout the organization during this Term of Council. The City continues to seek opportunities to provide financially efficient and responsive operations by driving unnecessary cost and complexity out of the organization’s business processes through a focus on automation, standardization, and simplification. The City continues to work with its partners to ensure investments are made in the most efficient and impactful manner in the community. 

Should you have any ideas on how to find efficiencies, a recent public engagement opportunity has opened up for residents to provide feedback on the service reviews.

We appreciate your interest in the City’s road network as well as cycling network. The draft 2024 Budget includes $76.5 million for road resurfacing. Recognizing the increasing popularity and importance of cycling, we have also allocated $1 million for the renewal and improvement of cycling facilities.

Maintaining service efficiency and competitiveness are main objectives for all City services. This is an ongoing exercise in addition to the Council-approved service review framework. When considering the 2024 budget directions, Council emphasized the importance of maintaining continuous improvement throughout the organization during this Term of Council. The service review framework, its working group, and Council will help ensure these principles are embedded in operations across the organization.

The City’s continuous improvement efforts seek to enable more financially efficient and responsive operations by driving unnecessary cost and complexity out of the organization’s business processes through a focus on automation, standardization, and simplification. These efforts seek to maximize value to the organization in three core areas: pure financial opportunities (cost savings and cost avoidance); streamlined business processes (creating organizational capacity to help advance Council’s priorities); and leveraging data to improve departmental decision making (enabling departments to make more strategic decisions that will ultimately deliver greater value). The City continues to work with its partners to ensure investments are made in the most efficient and impactful manner in the community. 

A recent public engagement opportunity has opened up for residents to provide feedback on the service review and we encourage all those with ideas to provide their input.

The City funds its capital program through a combination of tax funds from reserves, development charges on the growth portion of eligible projects, grants from senior levels of government and debt.

Council’s approved Fiscal Framework guidelines limit the use of debt as follows:

• Principal and interest for tax-supported debt is not to exceed 7.5 per cent of own source revenues; and
• Principal and interest for rate-supported debt is not to exceed 15 per cent of own source revenues

These limitations are well below the 25 per cent limit set by the Province per the Ontario Municipal Act.  In the 2024 Draft Budget, annual debt repayments will be 4.1 per cent of own source revenues for tax-supported services and 12 per cent of own source revenues for rate-supported services.

Charts 1 (page 25) and 3 (page 30) within the 2024 Draft Operating and Capital Budgets Report show annual debt servicing ratios since 2013.

As part of the 2022-2026 Council Governance Review, each Standing Committee will work with the budgets for the City departments under their mandate and any increases to those budgets will be funded by appropriate offsetting revenues or expenditure reductions from within the City budget as a whole.

Each year the draft budget will identify efficiencies and opportunities and any one-time issues and recommend any additional strategies that may be required to achieve Council’s direction. A consolidated draft budget that is balanced, as required by legislation, and reflects the directions is tabled at Council and referred to Standing Committees and the Transit Commission for further consultation and consideration. Members may move a motion at a Standing Committee to increase that Committee’s budget envelope by identifying an offsetting reduction from a different Standing Committee’s budget. Such motions would be referred to City Council, sitting as Committee of the Whole, for consideration as that other Standing Committee’s budget may have already been approved. Members would also continue to have the ability to increase budget envelopes/identify offsetting reductions by moving motions at Committee of the Whole. Identified offsetting reductions must be deemed appropriate by the Finance and Corporate Services Department, as not all funds can be used for all purposes. For example, members would not be able to increase a tax supported program budget by reducing a rate supported program, or one that is funded with provincial dollars.

The City’s Draft Budget 2024 proposes a $4.6 billion operating budget and a capital budget of $1.24 billion. The 2.5 per cent municipal tax increase, which includes the OC Transpo budget, is lower than the rate of inflation and represents historic levels of investment in Ottawa’s transit system. . Through the 2024 budget, the City is investing  in on-demand bus service,  conversion of the conventional bus fleet to  electric buses, and improvements to real-time data. For Para Transpo, the purchase of new mini buses, accessibility improvements and updates to the technology systems are part of the budget. OC Transpo has frozen the costs of the Community Pass and EquiPass. OC Transpo also provides discounted fares and passes for students and seniors. 

Ottawa’s transit network is a sustainable, multi-modal system that incorporates active transportation methods, such as walking and cycling. The O-train system is built to accommodate bicycles in stations and on trains and O-Train stations are connected to the surrounding community by means of multiuse pathways. Light rail incorporates sustainable technologies and plays an important role in the City’s Climate Change Action Plan. 

Through this budget, the City is also investing in the transition away from diesel-powered buses, towards an zero emissions fleet.

The service changes, recently presented  to Transit Commission as the result of the Route Review, are a necessary adjustment to align the bus network with the launch of O-Train Lines 2 and 4 and an adjustment to current ridership levels and travel patterns.,  These changes will result inmore frequent service along main corridors and better local connections within  communities. 

O Train Line 2  and  4  are scheduled to open in 2024 and will provide customers with a reliable north-south light rail service from Bayview Station to Limeback Station. Draft Budget 2024 is investing $366 million in Stage 2 of light rail in 2024. 

The 2024 Budget and the decisions around the bus route review adhere to the City’s strategic priorities:

• A city that is more connected with reliable, safe and accessible mobility options
• A city that is green and resilient
  
  

With regards to the financial penalty for driving, most of the costs are outside the City’s control (vehicle leasing/purchasing costs, fuel, maintenance, insurance, licensing, etc.) However, the City does set parking rates for City-owned parking and, therefore, has some influence over the cost of driving. 

Off-street rates at the City’s 16 garages and surface lots are reviewed three times per year and adjustments are made as required.  These adjustments account for market conditions and are intended to make parking less attractive at City facilities for long-term parkers (e.g. commuters).  In 2023, there were a total of 17 increases to daily maximum and monthly parking rates at different facilities.  

Consistent with the Municipal Parking Management Strategy, on-street parking rates are tied to demand and also account for inflationary increases.   There will be a report to Transportation Committee and Council in early 2024 which will consider changes to improve alignment with this approach.