Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Older reportDetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you An older report. We have no 2024 report for Hamilton in the Province's latest release, so these pages use its 2022 report. It may simply be filed late. Read by hand. We read Hamilton's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.
A clear, checkable guide to Hamilton's budget, taxes and council decisions. A city with 15 wards, one council and one mayor, which since July 1, 2023 works under the Province's "strong mayor" powers. Every figure links back to the public record.
2022the newest year of audited statements on the city's financial results page; the 2023 and 2024 statements were not available when the 2026 budget was adopted
Every city has its yearly accounts checked by an outside auditor and then publishes them. These "audited financial statements" are how residents, lenders and the Province see whether the books are in order. Hamilton's own finance page still shows 2022 as its newest year. The city's 2026 budget book, adopted in February 2026, says the 2024 statements "have not been completed". It also reports that the credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings lowered Hamilton's rating from AAA to AA+ in October 2025 and named the delay in compiling the 2023 and 2024 statements as a reason. The delay follows the February 2024 ransomware attack, which the city says left its financial and business management systems unrecoverable.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 4 sources
$18.3 millionwhat the city says it spent on response and recovery from the February 2024 attack, up to June 30, 2025
On February 25, 2024, criminals used ransomware (software that locks up a computer system until money is paid) on Hamilton's systems. The city did not pay the ransom of about $18.5 million. It says it spent $18.3 million up to June 30, 2025 on response, recovery and outside experts, and that its insurer denied its claim "based on coverage terms". Since then the city has published three other totals for the rebuild: $47.7 million of approved funding for 21 projects, a $50 million investment in the 2026 budget, and a $65,290 (thousand) capital line in the 2025 budget. The pages do not say how these fit together.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 6 sources
April 2021date of the first Auditor General cyber security audit; the attack followed on February 25, 2024
In April 2021 the city's auditor reported "critical weaknesses" in the city's security and made recommendations. In October 2025 the Auditor General reported that, by the time of the February 2024 attack, those recommendations "remained largely unimplemented". Reasons given were not enough staff, leaders changing often, and no central cyber security program. The city's response said "progress on the 2021 recommendations was limited". The Auditor General also listed strengths, and the city has since created a Chief Information Officer role and hired its first Chief Information Security Officer.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
8 in progress, 12 completedtraffic-safety action items in the city's May 2026 progress table on the inquiry
In 2013 a consultant tested how grippy the Red Hill Valley Parkway road surface was and reported low results to city staff in 2014. Council did not learn of the report until 2019. Council then asked for a judicial inquiry (an independent judge's investigation). Its final report came out on November 29, 2023. The judge found the road's "relatively low" friction was a likely contributor to collisions in the wet, and that the non-disclosure had a cause in a culture inside Public Works that did not require staff to work together. The city turned the 36 recommendations into 37 action items. Its May 2026 update shows eight traffic-safety items still in progress.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 5 sources
$1.4 billionof approved capital works the 2026 budget says have debt funding approved but not yet issued
Cities borrow to pay for roads, buildings and water pipes, and council sets limits on how much of the budget can go to paying that debt back. The 2026 budget book says about $1.4 billion of building work already approved for borrowing has not yet been borrowed. It states the city "will exceed" council's limit on borrowing backed by development charges (fees paid by builders) in 2028 and its limit for tax and rate debt in 2029. It adds that council will "likely" have to revisit its debt policy in this term. The same book says the city stays well inside the Province's separate limit.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
$1.2 millionin arrears and rental losses the Auditor General said were unlikely to be fully collected (2024 audit)
The city owns buildings and land that it rents out under leases and licences. In September 2024 the Auditor General found the systems for tracking them were weak. The audit found "approximately $1.2 million of accumulated arrears and rental losses that are unlikely to be fully collected". Many leases had expired but stayed on a month-to-month basis, sometimes for years. The Auditor General made 35 recommendations and management agreed to all of them. A separate 2025 audit of one lease, at Pier 7, found the rent reasonable but said the plan to rent without a competition should have gone to council first.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
76%of allegations were found to be true in the Auditor General's sample of HR investigations, which the report called unusually high
When an employee complains about a co-worker or manager, the city's Human Resources staff investigate. In August 2026 the Auditor General reported that a sample of these files showed widespread concerns about fairness. The share of allegations found to be true, 76 per cent in the sample, was "unusually high" compared with what research suggests is typical. The Auditor General said this raised concern that complainants' evidence "may in some cases have been accepted with insufficient scrutiny". Management accepted all six recommendations and says it will report to council in January 2027.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
11 recommendationsmade by the Auditor General about the 80-bed temporary Barton-Tiffany shelter project
In 2025 the city set up a temporary outdoor shelter site at Barton and Tiffany streets for up to 80 people. The Auditor General later looked at how the project was run after reports to the Fraud and Waste Hotline. The February 2026 audit found "a lack of accountability, governance and control mechanisms" and "an absence of adequate oversight over project costs". It said the shelter structures "did not meet Ontario regulatory standards and required costly modifications". The Auditor General made 11 recommendations. We could not open the report, so we have no dollar figure.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
29staff conflict-of-interest cases investigated since the hotline launched in 2019, at least, according to the Auditor General
Hamilton's Auditor General runs a Fraud and Waste Hotline for staff, contractors and the public. In its November 2025 annual report the Auditor General said it had investigated "no fewer than 29 instances" of staff conflicts of interest since the hotline began, and that this "continues to be one of the most persistent, serious, and time-consuming types of complaints". It asked council to direct senior leaders to find better ways to teach staff what a conflict of interest is and how to report one. This is about employees, not members of council.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
$230,000 - $263,000estimated overpayments to DARTS over 12 years (2012 to 2023), per the Auditor General
The city pays DARTS, which runs door-to-door rides for people with disabilities, to cover "forgone fares": rides where the passenger was not charged, such as trips to Tiger Cats games. After a hotline report, the Auditor General found overpayments over 12 years (2012 to 2023) were estimated in the range of $230,000 to $263,000. The Auditor General found no evidence of intentional data manipulation. The city accepted all four recommendations.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
$65,873,000increase in the 2026 net tax levy (5.3%), against an average home's 3.87% rise (amounts in thousands in the table: 65,873)
The city's 2026 budget lowered the average home's tax increase to 3.87 per cent, or $209. But the total the city raises from property taxes (the "net levy") goes from $1,243,887,000 to $1,309,760,000, a rise of $65,873,000 or 5.3 per cent. The budget book explains the gap: new homes and businesses add to the tax base, which the table shows as "Assessment Growth" of minus 1.70 per cent. The net police budget alone goes up 6.8 per cent.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 4 sources
$2,990,6332026 budgeted cost of the city LRT project office, matched by $2,990,633 of grants and subsidies, for a net levy of nil
The Hamilton light rail line (LRT, a 14-kilometre line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square) is being delivered by Metrolinx, and the city keeps a small project office to support that work. The 2026 budget shows that office costing $2,990,633 and being paid for entirely by grants and subsidies, so it adds nothing to the property tax levy. The city's page also says the early underground work is "Funded by Metrolinx". We did not find, in the budgets we opened, any estimate of what the city will pay each year to help run the line.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
2022 tax year · Hamilton, Ontario
Your tax bill, worked out.
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Hamilton's share pays for.
Ontario still uses property values from January 1, 2016 for tax, so your assessed value is probably well below what your home would sell for today.
$
It is on your property assessment notice from MPAC, and on your tax bill. We filled in the typical value in Hamilton.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Hamilton's share by what each service cost in 2022 after its own fees and grants (for example, water bills pay for much of a water system). Real bills also depend on your property class, local charges and any rebates.
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