Patrick Brown pushes 23% police hike, rushes 8.4% Brampton tax increase including proposed Peel spike while city projects cut to the bone

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown can say goodbye to his days of campaigning as a belt-tightening fiscal conservative, after hastily completing an early January budget process that shut taxpayers and councillors out of his plan to dramatically increase the cost of municipal government. 

After demanding a 23.3 percent increase to the Peel Police budget for 2025 without justification, as a member of the force’s board, the mayor just forced through a rushed budget process for a property tax increase that will amount to a combined 8.4 percent hike for homeowners in the city under the Region’s proposed budget.

Critics are raising red flags due to the lack of transparency with next to no time for the usual public budget presentations by community groups, local business associations and residents that have for decades been a hallmark of the city’s budget approval process. They are questioning why the mayor is no longer respecting the taxpayers who pay for the budget by offering them a chance to weigh in. 

Brown released his budget on a Friday afternoon, January 10, and council meetings started the following Monday, with hardly any public response or input about the wide ranging cuts Brown has made to critical services and projects, despite the huge increases for police and incomes inside City Hall, where employees will enjoy an 8.2 percent hike for salaries and benefits which has forced cuts to services and a deep carve out from the capital budget where key projects have been sacrificed.  

"The concerns I have with the budget overall is that they're not being honest with the public on the increase for Brampton taxes," Glenn Williams, a chartered professional accountant, former local owner of his own firm and past chair of the Brampton Board of Trade, told The Pointer.

He criticized Brown’s lack of transparency in the budgeting process, pointing out the misleading nature of the 2.9 percent figure Brown is using, which he pointed out is part of an approximately 8 percent tax increase when calculated accurately.

"The quoted 2.9 percent increase is, in fact, the increase in Brampton taxes divided by the total of Brampton, Peel and school board taxes. And so that's not fair. The increase in Brampton should be, you know, the increase in Brampton taxes divided by the Brampton taxes from last year. I'm sorry, the 2025 budget is actually a 7.9 percent increase in taxes for Brampton residents. It's not 2.9 percent; it's much, much higher. The city is lying to the public."

Including the regional portion for all municipal services combined, which is the amount reflected in the property bill that arrives in the mail, the total increase will be at least 8.4 percent based on the proposed 2025 Peel budget. Homeowners will also have to pay a provisional 5.9 percent increase for the water utility this year, on top of the property bill.

Last term of council, a majority of members declared democracy was “under siege” due to Brown’s “authoritarian” leadership, following a string of troubling behaviour by the controversial mayor, who cancelled investigations into his own conduct, spent taxpayer money to benefit friends and made a long list of promises he failed to keep, without explanation.

The councillors who sounded the alarms warned of the disturbing lack of transparency and misleading claims under Brown.

On Monday, Brown’s 2025 budget, delivered under strong mayor powers, passed with hardly any representation on behalf of the taxpayers who will have to pay for stiff salary increases at City Hall, while key services and infrastructure spending get cut to the bone.

Highlights of some of the approved cuts forced by Mayor Patrick Brown in 2025

• $3.5 million in environmental assessment studies has been pushed off until 2026
• $460,000 has been cut from plans and studies to improve Active Transportation options in the city
• $300,000 worth of initiatives in the City’s Environmental Master Plan have been removed
• Bus purchases have been nearly cut in half from a planned $89.7 million to $55.3 million 
• $15.4 million in bus refurbishments have been removed, along with $300,000 worth of work on bus shelters, pads and stops, and $400,000 in minor capital investments  
• A $1.5 million contribution to bring high-order transit to the Bovaird corridor has been removed 
• $17.8 million for Zum service expansion to the Bramalea Corridor has been cut. It’s unclear in the budget whether this is a result of a lack of investment from the City, or the City’s failure to secure grants to support the project 
• $12.6 million in bridge repairs have been eliminated. According to the 2024 budget document, $9 million of this funding was meant to come from grants and subsidies, it’s unclear why it has been removed from the 2025 budget 
• $883,000 of preventative maintenance for various assets has been cut for 2025 and the spending for upkeep to traffic and roads related infrastructure has been reduced from a planned $3.7 million to just $364,000
• A planned $25.8 million in road resurfacing has been reduced by more than half to $11 million
• $20 million in planned improvements to Torbram Road have been eliminated 
• Road work to accommodate active transportation has been reduced from $800,000 to $293,000
• $4 million in traffic calming measures have been eliminated, with only $200,000 now planned for 2027
• $2.7 million in traffic signalization and modernization is gone
• $205,000 has been cut from spending on the City’s 185 Clark Facility (down to $1.2 million); $378,000 cut from the Cassie Campbell Community Centre; $23,000 from Eldorado Park and Outdoor Pool; $77,000 from Ellen Mitchell Recreation Centre; $30,000 from Paul Palleschi Recreation Centre; and $2 million for a Central Storage Facility

Traffic calming measures and investments into public transit have both been cut from Mayor Patrick Brown’s 2025 budget.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer files)

• The planned $23 million for an Environmental Education Centre and Animal Shelter and Post Traumatic Growth Association Space has been pushed to 2027; $1.1 million for Fire Station 216 has been pushed to 2026, same for $3 million for Fire Training Props at Fire Station 203
• The $25 million for a desperately needed Brampton Arts and Culture Hub has been delayed until 2027
• $5 million worth of construction on east-west arterial roads is gone; $11 million for the extension of Lagerfield Road Extension is gone; $20 million in land acquisitions are gone
• $3 million in Utility Relocation has been pushed to 2026
• $2.9 million worth of facility inspections and audits have been eliminated with $1.2M now proposed in 2026
• $2 million for a street lighting LED Retrofit has been removed 
• $1.2 million for a new co-working space downtown is now pushed to 2026
• Stormwater and environmental monitoring has been reduced to $75,000 from a planned $400,000
• $4.5 million for stormwater asset management has been cut to $0
• Stormwater pond restoration has been cut to $40,000 from a planned $3.5 million and $7 million in stormwater pond retrofits has been removed entirely 

Brown’s widely criticized 2025 financial proposal for the city passed unanimously (he didn’t wait for taxpayers to take advantage of a roughly one-month public review period they and councillors are supposed to use after mayors bring their budget forward under their new powers). The approval Monday, concluding a heavily truncated budget process, saw no councillors voice opposition to the crippling reductions forced by the mayor. Residents barely had one work week to grasp the entirety of the 800-page budget document and organize deliberations to question all the projects and services cut by Brown, who is making taxpayers cover an additional 8.2 percent for increased salaries and benefits for staff including more than 1,300 who made over $100,000 in 2023. 

The approved budget comes with a 2.9 percent hike on just the City’s share of the property bill, meaning Brampton homeowners will pay approximately $194, on average, before the Region of Peel portion, proposed at 5.5 percent, is added to Brampton’s share. They will also have to pay for the sharp increase to the water utility bill, proposed at 5.9 percent by the Region (the water bill is separate from the property tax bill).

Most of the proposed Regional increase is due to a heavily criticized 23.3 percent jump for Peel police, which Brown aggressively pushed as a member of the police board. 

While running for all three levels of government Brown has repeatedly labelled himself as a politician who prioritizes responsible spending (a claim contradicted by his past expense controversies) but now the record will show he is one of the highest spending Brampton mayors, ever. Most of his increases are not for services and infrastructure linked directly to city building, they are to pay for skyrocketing salaries and benefits to municipal employees, a trend under Brown.

Data from Ontariosunshinelist.com based on the province’s annual public salary disclosure, show the dramatic rise in spending on salaries and benefits since Brown became mayor, driven by generous compensation increases for non-union members and a range of managers paid for by Brampton’s taxpayers. 

In 2017, the year before Brown became mayor, the total salary expenditure for all those on Brampton’s Sunshine List was $90 million; in 2023, the most recent year recorded, it was $168 million.

In 2017 the total number of Brampton staff on the Sunshine List, which includes public employees who make $100,000 or more, was 764; in 2023, after almost six years under Brown’s leadership, the number had swelled to 1,365, almost doubling in just over half a decade. 

Three years before Brown became mayor a special external financial review was conducted under Linda Jeffrey’s leadership and the City was advised that non-union salaries need to be kept in check, otherwise Brampton would suffer from an inability to pay for critical needs. “Managing the growth in operating expenses and especially in the City payroll is something that Council and City management will need to pay increasing attention to if they are to make any significant headway in improving annual operating results and replenishing City reserve levels,” the 2015 external review concluded. 

Brown has gone in the opposite direction. 

Critical infrastructure needs and city-building projects like the downtown revitalization, the Riverwalk flood mitigation initiative, and Peel Memorial’s expansion, Brown’s long promised light rail transit system and the world class stadium he vowed would be built by the end of 2022 remain inadequately funded in the 2025 budget or have been removed entirely. 

Mayor Patrick Brown cancelled the Downtown Reimagined plan soon after taking office in 2018. The city centre has suffered from inadequate investment ever since.

(The Pointer files)

The financial plan approved Monday cuts spending in the areas residents need it most, including transit (which has seen millions cut from its capital budget, potentially impacting the service’s ability to improve service hours in 2025, despite record ridership); the City’s arts scene, roads and traffic calming initiatives, active transportation projects and environmental sustainability plans have all been cut completely or delayed to future years. In total, nearly $85 million in capital spending has been cut from what was initially proposed last year. 

Meanwhile, the city’s largest expense, salaries, wages, and benefits for staff, has swollen from a total of $533.9 million in 2024 to $576.9 million this year, an 8.2 percent increase, far outpacing what Brown is spending on the services and features residents need. The vast majority of the staff costs that have ballooned under Brown are for highly paid non-union staff, raising questions about what taxpayers are getting in return that enhances the city they live in.

Williams and others are growing increasingly concerned over the financial mismanagement under a mayor who has admitted he doesn’t even want to be in Brampton, having twice tried to jump back to federal politics, in 2020 and 2022, before failing to do so. Williams is worried that City officials under Brown don’t want the real picture of tax increases presented to residents: “[T]hey haven't disclosed that number in any of the budget documents."

He criticized the rushed budget process, pointing out the release of a lengthy document late two Fridays ago, then immediate deliberations that began the following Monday without any time for residents to go through all the figures or plan presentations to council, unlike the practice for decades before Brown arrived. He said it undermines democratic principles and prevents meaningful public engagement.

"This budget was released a week ago Friday, so midday, late on Friday, and they began budget deliberations last Monday, and there simply was not enough time for people like me or anybody else in Brampton to actually look at the details. You know, it's an 800-page document to release on a Friday and expect people to have reviewed it and provided comments,” Williams said. “It's not democracy, and it goes against the previously stated budgets, where they assure the public, they would give at least three weeks' notice before they begin budget deliberations, and they didn't do that this year."

He questioned Brown’s administration on its approach to capital projects and noted that a significant portion, approximately $1.5 billion, remains unspent despite being approved.

“This huge amount of unspent capital, which is now one and a half billion dollars or something like that…they're approving capital projects, and they're not actually building them."

It’s unclear what Brown has done with the money that was approved but has not been spent, after projects continue to be cancelled or postponed.

Williams questioned the logic of greenlighting projects without following through on their construction, calling it a disingenuous practice, one that denies taxpayers the features they have already paid for. While some delays might stem from awaiting federal and provincial funding, he argued that this pattern undermines accountability and raises doubts about the City’s commitment to delivering on its promises.

“It seems that we just approve projects, but we don't get them built,” he said. 

This pattern of approving projects without following through follows Brown’s habit of making big promises that are not followed through with action, including his failed Brampton university that he trumpeted for years and said would be built by now, or the world-class cricket stadium that was supposed to be completed before the end of 2022.

Brown’s promised downtown innovation district has become an embarrassment for the city, with the buildings boarded up for years with no signs of construction. He already cancelled the Downtown Reimagined plan which was supposed to redevelop the entire streetscape of the city centre, and the list goes on.

Preventative maintenance for Brampton’s aging infrastructure has seen drastic reductions in the 2025 budget. Planned bridge repairs worth $12.6 million and $883,000 for various asset maintenance have been subtracted entirely, while road resurfacing funds have dropped from $25.8 million to $11 million. Sidewalk upgrades worth $600,000 have been pushed to 2026, and $4 million in traffic calming measures have been eliminated. Critical stormwater initiatives such as asset retrofits and restoration have been severely underfunded or entirely slashed.

Brampton Transit, which is facing unprecedented growth with over 40 million riders in 2023, is grappling with significant budget reductions. Planned bus purchases for 2025 have been drastically reduced by nearly half, from $89.7 million to $55.3 million. Similarly, $15.4 million allocated for bus refurbishments has been removed, alongside $300,000 meant for bus shelters and stops. Funding for high-order transit on the Bovaird corridor has also been eliminated, while $17.8 million dedicated to Zum service expansion to the Bramalea corridor has also been omitted from the budget.

Williams questioned Brown’s administration for making ambitious promises, like bus electrification and new transit facilities, without allocating adequate funding, calling it “fiction”, as reserves continue to deplete.

“You really have to ask, well, how many buses are actually electrified? Not that there's a goal of 100 percent, but how many are electrified? And if we're building a third transit facility, well, is the money there? Or is it waiting for somebody else to come along, so we can put things in the budget that say we're going to do it, but if we're not actually doing it with money that's available, it's just fiction. There seems to be an awful lot of promises about projects that sound good, that they're not actually moving ahead and at the same time, the reserves are dropping."

Sylvia Roberts, a vocal community advocate in Brampton, emphasized that while the current budget shows allocations for infrastructure, years of underfunding have pushed Brampton further behind, creating a cumulative shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars that is severely hampering progress on key projects.

“The problem is that for years we drastically underfunded how much money was supposed to go to infrastructure," she told The Pointer.

"If you're underfunding by $20 million a year and don’t make significant efforts to catch up, over 10 years that’s $200 million—enough to do a lot of projects. It’s going to take years to address this gap because of the previous council’s focus on not increasing the budget."

Brown demanded the budgets be kept frozen during his first three years in office, a move that critics cautioned would cripple the city and lead to unsustainable increases in the future, when critical infrastructure could no longer be delayed. 

Sylvia Roberts, a Brampton community advocate who often posts City Hall updates on social media, stressed that years of budget neglect under Patrick Brown have caught up to the city.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

Roberts also pointed out the lack of transparency in Brampton's budgeting process, noting that the “infrastructure gap,” the difference between allocated funds and the actual costs of required repairs, has been steadily growing to nearly $700 million.

She sarcastically pointed out that taxpayers would have no way of knowing how bad things are getting, if you simply remove the key budget details…from the budget. 

"They just stopped including it in the budgets, because you don't need to know…anymore, because there's nothing to see here."

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