2026 City Budget

Providing services to our community is much like running a business. That business is governed by Council's direction in the form of strategic priorities and approved service levels. The budget provides the financial resources to fund those priorities and to provide municipal services to the community.

Each year the City develops a budget that accounts for anticipated expenses and revenues and allocates funds to municipal services and priorities.

• We must balance the budget, ensuring good value in the way we spend the revenues we collect
• We must continually review how we are operating, what is working and what can be improved
• We must consider future needs and plan for the financial resources that will be required to fund those needs

Under the Strong Mayor Powers legislation, municipal budgets are proposed by the Mayor and provided to Council for their consideration, in accordance with Section 284.16 of the Municipal Act, 2001, which assigns the powers and duties with respect to proposing and adopting a budget to the mayor. The budget is subject to potential Council amendments as well as a Mayoral veto and Council override process prior, to adoption.

As a community member your voice matters at every stage, from the creation of the strategic plan to the budget and how it's implemented. Each year the City engages residents on our budget and budget process. Please take some time to let us know what your priorities are for the next City of Kingston budget.

Learn more about the budget process by watching this short video.