Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Read by hand. We read Kitchener'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 Kitchener's budget, taxes and council decisions. A city of approximately 300,000 people (as its own 2026 budget prints it) in the Region of Waterloo, with a mayor and ten ward councillors. It owns its natural gas utility and a share of the local electricity company. Every figure links back to the public record.
$153,372,698debt at December 31, 2025, up from $79,263,355 a year earlier
Kitchener's audited statements show its debt at $153,372,698 at the end of 2025, against $79,263,355 a year earlier. The cash flow statement shows $86,590,715 of new debt issued and $12,481,372 repaid. The city's own debt-to-reserve ratio (debt divided by reserves, where the city's maximum target is 1.0) went from 0.5 to 0.9. The city says the new debt is for growth-related projects and that its debt charges are well inside its limits. What the documents we read do not show is how the $153 million splits between debt that development charges will repay and debt that taxes or user rates will repay.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 6 sources
9.6%of taxes billed were unpaid at the end of 2025, up from 8.1% in 2024 (Ministry low-risk line: under 10%)
At the end of 2025 Kitchener was owed $56,437,736 in property taxes, up from $43,887,598 a year earlier. The city's own indicator says that 9.6% of the taxes it billed were unpaid, up from 8.1%. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing treats under 10% as low risk. The city says the rise "reflects the increase to taxes billed in 2025, as well as an increase to the overall ratio of taxes being in arrears", but does not say why more are late. The 2026 budget also counts on more penalty and interest income because of "larger accounts receivable balances".
Found by reading the city's own documents · 4 sources
98 vs 3,265planned end-2026 Storm Water reserve against its minimum target, in thousands of dollars
Each of the city's rate-funded businesses has a "stabilization reserve", savings to cover a bad year. The city sets a minimum and a maximum for each. The 2026 reserve table (in thousands of dollars) shows the Storm Water Utility reserve starting 2026 at 3,543, paying 3,576 into operations, and ending at 98 against a minimum of 3,265. The Golf reserve is below zero: (834) at the start of 2026 and (712) at the end, against a minimum of 407. The city explains the stormwater plan: costs on its flood-protection (DMAF) projects have risen, and the stormwater rate is going up 7.4% to fund the city's share. The documents we read do not say when the reserves return to their minimums.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 4 sources
15,847thousand dollars: the gas delivery dividend to the city, the same in each year of the 2025 to 2030 plan
Kitchener is one of only two Ontario municipalities that own a natural gas utility. Its 2026 budget shows the gas delivery business paying the same dividend to the city, 15,847 thousand dollars, every year from 2025 to 2030, while its own operations and transfers to capital exceed its revenue in 2026 by 4,826 (covered from its stabilization reserve). The city says dividends "help offset the need for property tax increases", and also reports that its Gas Asset Management Plan "identified a gap in funding requirements for the next 10 years". The documents we read do not say how the dividend amount is chosen.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 4 sources
$174 millionthe 2026 budget's figure for the facility; the 2025 budget printed $144M for a facility at the same park
The 2025 budget describes "a $144M for the Kitchener Indoor Recreation Facility" at Schlegel Park, with an indoor pool and a FIFA-sized soccer facility, funded through development charges. The 2026 budget calls the Cowan Recreation Centre at Schlegel Park "a $174 million facility", "fully funded through development charges", that also "received $30 million in grant funding", and says it is being delivered "on time and on budget". The difference, $30 million, is the same as the grant amount, but neither budget says the two figures are measured the same way, and the 2025 budget does not use the name Cowan.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
$167,721,382audited 2025 annual surplus, against a statement budget of $135,065,953 (the approved operating budget was balanced)
The audited statements show an annual surplus of $167,721,382 for 2025 against a budget of $135,065,953. Revenue was $683,348,322 against $653,235,408 budgeted; expenses were $515,626,940 against $518,169,455. The city explains that the approved operating budget itself was balanced ("$ -"), and that the statement's budget surplus is made up of accounting adjustments, mostly $102,340,086 of "net transfers to capital and reserve funds". It explains the revenue gap with colder weather (gas), warmer weather and population (water), and more development charge revenue.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
$316,108,080the city's investment in Enova Energy Corporation at the end of 2025 (it owns 53.39% of the common shares)
The city's 2025 pay statement shows the Mayor as a director of both Enova Power Corp. and Enova Energy Corp., and six councillors (Scott Davey, Dave Schnider, Paul Singh, Bil Ioannidis, Margaret Johnston and Debbie Chapman) as directors of Enova Energy Corp. Together they received 44,425 in 2025 for Enova Energy Corp. (35,875 in pay and 8,550 in meeting expenses), and the Mayor a further 6,675 for Enova Power Corp. The city owns 53.39% of the common shares of Enova Energy Corporation, which it carries at $316,108,080, and received dividends of $6,448,000 from it in 2025. The city discloses all of this; the documents we read do not say how the seats are assigned or who sets the fees.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
No contraventionOmbudsman of Ontario finding, June 2025, on the August 14, 2023 closed meeting
The Ontario Ombudsman, who is Kitchener's closed meeting investigator, looked into a complaint about the August 14, 2023 special council meeting, where council discussed "City Owned Performing Arts and Entertainment Facilities" in private. In June 2025 the Ombudsman found that council "did not contravene the Municipal Act, 2001". He also found that parts of the discussion did not fit an exception on their own but could not realistically be separated from the rest, and said his office "did not receive clear documentation setting out that the information was supplied in confidence". He suggested a best practice for the city. The city's clerk said the report would be shared with council and the public.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 3 sources
2016the posted policy on council pay was last reviewed in June 2016; its next review date was July 2021
The city's pay statements page links one policy on council pay, GOV-COU-020 "Council Compensation". The copy posted shows "Reviewed Date: June 2016" and "Next Review Date: July 2021", and says "No amendment history to date". It sets pay as a 2003 base salary adjusted each year by the lesser of two staff raises. In 2025 the Mayor's taxable pay was 116,364 and each ward councillor's was 59,865. We found no newer policy or review on the pages we read; one may exist in the city's document repository, which we could not search.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
$3,683,211Grand Total on the 2026 operating budget table, the amount by which net expenses exceed general revenues as printed
The operating budget's summary table totals "General Revenues" of (206,187,712) against "Total Net Expenses" of 209,870,923 for 2026, and prints a "Grand Total" of 3,683,211. For 2025 the table shows a restated budget of nothing but a "Year-End Projection" Grand Total of 1,199,000. The table does not label these amounts. The 2026 budget proposes a 2.2% property tax increase, and the table's "General Levy" line mentions only assessment growth, so the 3,683,211 may be the amount a rate increase is meant to raise; no document we read says so.
Found by reading the city's own documents · 2 sources
Places keep savings (called reserves) to pay for new trucks, roof repairs and surprises. Kitchener had $177M saved at the end of 2025, up from $84.7M in 2019. That is 40% of one year's spending. None of the 6 similar places had less, compared with what they spend.
Found automatically from the city's financial reports · 7 sources
Where your tax bill goes
A property tax bill in Kitchener pays for three governments. Only part of it goes to the city, and that part is what Kitchener council controls.
Tax bill split: Kitchener 29%, Region of Waterloo 56%, Schools 15%
$592Mraised in 2025
Kitchener29%
Region of Waterloo56%
Schools15%
How Kitchener's share of the bill compares with similar places
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