Mississauga residents opened the new year with a rare piece of municipal news: a proposed property tax increase that is smaller than the one they paid last year.

The city released its proposed 2026-2029 Business Plan and 2026 Budget on Jan. 6. It says it found $17.4 million in budgeted savings, which brings the city's portion of the residential tax increase down to 1.61 per cent. Combined with the Region of Peel's proposed 3.60 per cent, the overall increase on a Mississauga tax bill would be 5.21 per cent, which the city says is four per cent less than the 2025 increase.

After several years of steep bills, that relief matters. Households are still feeling high grocery, rent and mortgage costs, and a council that takes affordability seriously deserves credit for trying.

How the number got smaller

But residents should look closely at how the savings were found. Part of the reduction comes from cutting the city's Capital Infrastructure and Debt Repayment Levy from three per cent to one per cent for one year, and pausing the one per cent Public Safety Fire Program levy for the same period.

Those levies exist for a reason. One pays to repair and replace roads, bridges, buildings and other assets that wear out whether or not the money is set aside. The other supports fire services in a city that keeps growing. Pausing them for a year does not make those needs disappear. It moves them into future budgets, where they will have to be paid for, possibly with interest or at a higher construction cost.

That is not necessarily the wrong call. A one-year pause can be reasonable when the city's finances are strong and households are under pressure. But it should be an open choice, explained in plain numbers, rather than a quiet trade-off hidden inside a headline figure.

Questions worth asking

Residents and councillors should press for clear answers before the budget is adopted:

  • How much infrastructure and fire-related spending is being deferred, and to which years?

  • What will the levies need to be in 2027 to catch up, and what would that mean for a typical tax bill?

  • Which of the planned investments, such as 78 hybrid buses, the South Common Community Centre and Library renovation, Fire Stations 127 and 128 and the Glenforest Youth Hub, depend on those levies returning?

It is also worth remembering where the money goes. The city says it keeps 37 cents of every property tax dollar to run more than 200 services. Forty-eight cents goes to the Region of Peel, which is proposing the larger share of this year's increase, and 15 cents goes to the province for education. City council controls only part of the bill.

This is also a municipal election year, with voters heading to the polls on Oct. 26. That makes it all the more important that the budget debate focuses on long-term costs, not just the size of this year's number.

Show up and speak up

The city is inviting feedback. Budget Committee meets at City Hall on Jan. 12, Jan. 13 and Jan. 20, and residents can also email budget@mississauga.ca or call 311. Council is scheduled to adopt the budget on Feb. 4.

A lower tax increase is welcome. A lower tax increase that residents understand, including what it postpones, is better. Council should make that case clearly, and residents should use the next few weeks to hold it to that standard.