In anticipation of the 2024 City Budget, our office facilitated a survey of Ottawa residents in concert with the offices of Councillor's Troster and Leiper.
These never-before-published survey results remain informative and relevant to the 2025 budget that is being written now. Over 2000 Ottawa residents responded to the survey. A plurality were from Capital Ward (39.92%), followed by Somerset Ward (28.49%) and Kitchissippi Ward (7.37%). The remaining 24.22% of respondents were from wards across the city, with at least one respondent from every ward. From the survey, 67.87% of respondents owned their dwelling, 77.9% of whom owned properties worth $500,000 or more, which is above the city-wide average.
Key Findings:
- Respondents want the city to prioritize non-profit housing, transit service, active transportation and parks: The top three budget priorities of residents were: 1) Building new affordable, non-profit housing; 2) Increased transit service; and 3) Expanding active transportation infrastructure. These were followed closely by: 4) Parks, greenspace, and public realm enhancements; 5) Public health services (vaccine clinics, mental health and addiction services); and 6) Crisis supports and outreach to vulnerable populations.
- Respondents support the Vacant Unit Tax (VUT): The most unifying response in the survey was support for increasing Ottawa's VUT: 83.57% of all respondents supported this, with only about 10% opposed and the remainder unsure. When asked how much they would increase the VUT, respondents opted for significant hikes.
- Respondents support other new revenue generating tools for the city: A majority of respondents (57.58%) support Ottawa introducing a Graduated Municipal Land Transfer Tax, with 21% opposed and a remaining 21% unsure. A majority of respondents (56.08%) also supported graduated property taxation with 23.94% being opposed and 19.98% unsure.
- Respondents support raising property taxes for needed services: A majority of property owners surveyed indicated a willingness to pay higher property taxes if those funds were specifically earmarked for one or more of their top priorities (54.79%), while 25.39% said no, with the remaining 19.83% unsure. The 32.13% of respondents who were not property owners felt similarly, with 58.5% supporting a tax increase for needed services, and 15.44% being opposed (26.06% were unsure).
- Respondents support re-allocating funds away from property tax grants, new roads and police services: Respondents were asked which budget items they would re-allocate funds from to pay for their budget priorities. The top three responses were: 1) Property tax grants for developers; 2) Building new roads; and 3) Police services.
- Respondents prefer not to rely on Ottawa's transit system: Respondents were asked how often they used public transit and the top three responses were: 1) Almost never (36.96%); 2) Less than once per week (18.02%); and 3) Never (13.61%). In other words, a slim majority of respondents never—or almost never—use public transit (50.57%), with a plurality of remaining respondents using it less than once a week.
- Respondents want better transit service: Those who take transit only once a week or less were asked what would encourage them to take it more often: a significant majority (65.86%) said more reliable service, while many said higher frequency service (38.02%) and more transit routes (30.49%). Respondents who take transit more than once a week were asked how they would improve transit in Ottawa. More reliable services was the number one response (89.21%), followed by higher frequency service (69.29%), and lowering fares (49.38%).
View the full report here [PDF]