Council hikes property tax, water, and sewer bills over $300 on average London home

'We cannot afford these increases' London budget deliberations continued today, but council was unable to clamp down on increases, CTV's Daryl Newcombe has more.

Seemingly defeated by the tough financial situation facing city hall and its municipally funded agencies, council used the final day of budget deliberations to explain their reasons behind a steep property tax increase in the 2025 Budget Update.

On Wednesday, city council recommended amendments to the mayor’s draft budget that slightly lowered the property tax increase from 7.4 per cent to 7.3 per cent.

It represents a $263 increase on the average London home with a value assessed for tax purposes at $252,000.

Council also approved increases of $8 (1.5 per cent) to the average annual water bill and $38 (5.4 per cent) to the average annual wastewater/sewer bill.

In total, the average London household could pay an additional $309 in 2025.

“My constituents are hard working. Many are hourly labourers. Many are retirees on pensions. This is hard on them,” acknowledged Coun. Peter Cuddy.

“We cannot afford these high property tax rate increases year after year,” Coun. Susan Stevenson told colleagues.

Stevenson’s last-ditch effort at a two per cent tax rate decrease by utilizing $16 million from a reserve fund did not draw any support from colleagues— but did spark a warning against using one-time dollars in a savings account to offset rising annual expenses.

“Yes, it would reduce the 2025 tax burden by two per cent, but it is not a sustainable cut,” explained Mayor Josh Morgan. “It would go back up by an additional two per cent in 2026.”

“If the councilor (Stevenson) had come to us and said here's $16 million in savings through this action, this action, this action, and this action – I would have been pleased to consider that,” added Coun. Steve Lehman.

Coun. Skylar Franke pointed to the biggest cost-driver in the multi-year budget—the increase requested by the London Police Services Board (LPSB).

“We're complaining about tax pressures, [but] the police budget was just under half of the entire increase for the last two years. Five per cent of the eight-point-seven per cent last year, two per cent of the seven-point-four per cent this year,” Franke explained. “So, if we want to find savings, we could have supported a reduction in our biggest cost driver – but we didn't.”

Stevenson sits on the police board and has repeatedly supported the full funding request.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis took aim at recent announcements by both the provincial and federal governments to send cheques to constituents to address affordability issues, rather than direct more dollars towards services like housing and homelessness that are increasingly becoming the responsibility of municipalities.

“If you really want your property taxes to come down, write your MPs and MPPs and tell them it's time for municipalities to get a new fiscal deal,” Lewis said. “We cannot continue to do everything on property taxes while they try to buy your votes by handing out rebate cheques!”

As council’s deliberations concluded, Mayor Josh Morgan confirmed that he would not be using his strong-mayor powers to veto any of council’s amendments to his draft budget—thereby ending the process for the 2025 fiscal year.

The average increase in each year of the 2024-2027 municipal budget remains at 7.3 per cent.

Morgan suggests service cuts might be necessary to prevent another hike next year.

“We are going to have to shift from managing services into considering actual cuts and reductions of service levels,” the mayor admitted after the budget meeting. “I think you will see council do that through the SORWG (Strategic Opportunities Review Working Group) and the other mechanisms that we set up in preparation for the 2026 budget.”

The mayor added he will also continue to work with other municipalities to strike a new funding arrangement for municipalities to address the rising demand for services and limited income sources, “We need a new fiscal deal with the provinces and the federal governments, because municipalities cannot continue to have tax increases of this level across the country.”