Draft Budget 2026

Last week, Council tabled the 2026 Draft Budget. At over 900 pages long, we know that a lot of people might not have the time to read it all. That’s why we created the Budget Explorer – a simple, interactive tool designed to help you get the information you need about our budget.

The Budget Explorer presents key information from the 2026 Draft Budget in a clear and engaging way using easy to understand explanations and interactive features, like graphs and charts. It is designed to provide a simple overview of the budget and answer basic questions, such as how much money the city has and how the money will be spent with this budget.

There are endless ways to engage with the Budget Explorer to help you get information that matters to you. For example, you can view the operating budget of a specific department, and learn more about key priorities

For those who enjoy diving into data, the Budget Explorer also lets you access and download all of the data sets that power the visualizations as part of our commitment to making the budget process more transparent and accessible.

This tool is designed to help you become more familiar with the City’s budget and better understand how it impacts you. By doing so, it can empower you to provide feedback to the City on the issues that are important to you.

Want to have your say in the budget process? There are many ways you can provide your feedback:

• Write to your ward Councillor. If you’re not sure who your councillor is, you can visit the Mayor and City Councillor page on the City’s website.
• Share your ideas on Facebook or Bluesky using the hashtag #OttBudget
• Submit questions or feedback directly through the Budget 2026 Engage Ottawa page
• More ways to stay engaged in the budget process year-round can be found on Engage Ottawa.

Opportunities for participation in the budget process

It’s your city, your budget, and we want to hear from you! The City of Ottawa engages with residents each year to gather ideas and feedback as it drafts the budget for City Council’s consideration. You have many opportunities to provide your input on items reflected in the budget year-round through your Councillor’s office, committee meetings, social media, contacting 3-1-1 and scheduled engagement opportunities during the budget process.

Your feedback helps shape the City’s budget priorities and contributes to decisions about investing in a sustainable, secure, and prosperous city for all.

Year-round:

• Submit your ideas to your Ward Councillor(External link).
• Watch, attend or participate in committee and Council meetings(External link) to learn more about important decisions at City Hall.
• Provide input on public engagement opportunities that matter to you through Engage Ottawa.
• Follow and communicate with us on Facebook(External link) or Bluesky(External link), using the hashtag #OttBudget
• Call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401). Rural residents call 613-580-2400

Drafting the budget:

• Participate in the budget questionnaire from May 26 to June 30. Your responses on the city’s priorities will help shape the development of the draft budget.
• Participate in Councillor-led public consultations(External link). Check back regularly on this page or Ottawa.ca(External link) as dates will be added as soon as they are available. Consultations will focus on how the budget is developed, what is within and outside the City’s control when it comes to drafting the budget, and to hear your feedback.

Feedback on the Draft Budget:

• The draft budget will be tabled at Council on November 12.
• Following tabling residents can provide feedback on the draft budget in the following ways:
  1. Ask questions through the City’s Engage Ottawa webpage. Question submissions will be open for the public between November 12 and December 8.
  2. Join us at a standing committee meeting. All City Council and standing committee meetings are open to the public(External link) and your attendance is welcomed and encouraged. Members of the public may provide either written or oral submissions (or both) to committee meetings related to items on the Committee’s agenda. Check back regularly on this page or on Ottawa.ca(External link) to stay current with the standing committee dates for budget considerations.
  3. You can live stream meetings and access past recordings on the Ottawa City Council YouTube Channel(External link). Regular City Council meetings are broadcast live on RogersTV Cable 22 and live streamed on the RogersTV website(External link).

Budget adoption:

• Council will approve the 2026 budget on December 10. The adopted budget books will be updated and posted to the 2026 Budget webpage in Q2 2026.

For more budget information, visit Ottawa.ca(External link). Accessible formats and communication supports are available, upon request.

It’s your city, your budget, and we want to hear from you! 

The City of Ottawa engages with residents each year to gather ideas and feedback as it drafts the budget for City Council’s consideration. There are many opportunities to provide your input on items reflected in the budget year-round, through your Councillor’s office, committee meetings, social media, contacting 3-1-1 and scheduled engagement opportunities during the budget process.  

Your feedback helps shape the City’s budget priorities and contributes to decisions about investing in a sustainable, secure, and prosperous city for all. Please note that municipal services are funded from all levels of government and some funds may be restricted to specific services. 

The budget questionnaire, as part of the public budget consultation process, will gather resident input for the City of Ottawa as we work towards creating and adopting the 2026 draft budget. The focus of the questionnaire is on determining your priority for services reporting to the City of Ottawa Standing Committees. For an understanding of City services and past budget allotments, please refer to previous budget books(External link) and Table of City Services and Standing Committees(External link). 

Ottawa Police Services, Ottawa Public Health and Ottawa Public Library are not included as they will offer independent opportunities to provide feedback on their budget processes, and they will table their budgets separately at their respective boards. 

Disclaimer: The Draft Budget 2026 Questionnaire is one of many ways the City of Ottawa collects budget input from the public. Questionnaire results are reflective of those who participated and may not reflect the overall views shared across the many forms of input offered during the budget process. Residents are welcome to participate in Committee meetings, attend Councillor-led public consultations, get in touch with their Councillor or share their thoughts through the City of Ottawa social media channels. The results of all feedback platforms are carefully considered by Council and the budget planning team.