400% increase in Brampton property tax accounts sent to bailiff for collection; report exposes Patrick Brown’s failed fiscal scheme

Brampton council will soon be stepping into a tumultuous 2026 budget period. 

When setting the financial blueprint for next year—a task that mainly falls to Patrick Brown under Ontario’s controversial strong mayor powers—a new report from City staff might give him pause. 

It shows an increasing number of his constituents are struggling financially, and the fiscal strategy he has pushed through since 2018 is failing. 

During the September 3 council meeting, Brampton’s elected officials had a report cross their desk that outlined how one tenth of the city’s property owners are struggling to pay their taxes. According to the report, the total value of unpaid taxes in 2024 reached $151.2 million—a $40.5 million increase over 2023, meaning almost 40 percent more home and business owners fell into tax jeopardy, with the possibility of losing their property, in just one year under Brown’s leadership.

The number of property tax accounts that had to be assigned to a bailiff (meaning that a final notice of overdue payments was issued and an agent on behalf of the City will now use other methods to collect the outstanding taxes owed) skyrocketed from 2023 to 2024, more than quadrupling in one year from 234 to 1,170 properties whose overdue tax accounts were handed to a bailiff for collection last year, marking a 400 percent jump in one year.

The alarming increase comes despite a questionable campaign by Brown to freeze the Brampton municipal budget for the first three years of his tenure, and forcing budget cuts after that which led to delayed or cancelled projects, while other badly needed pieces of city-building infrastructure were ignored. 

His strategy to squeeze the budget left the City without critical revenue to pay for major infrastructure projects like the City’s requested share of Peel Memorial’s Phase 2 expansion, the downtown LRT extension, the Riverwalk flood mitigation project, Downtown revitalization—Brown cancelled the previous plan—or a standalone cricket stadium Brown promised to voters in 2018, vowing it would be completed before 2022. He has failed to budget any money for it in seven years.

Meanwhile, more than $1.2 billion paid by struggling property taxpayers for approved projects was never even spent under Brown.

Other failures under his leadership include: Brown’s promise to build BramptonU years ago, the city’s first standalone university (Brampton is the largest city in Canada without its own standalone university); his inability to properly fund the struggling transit system, with empty promises of electrifying the bus fleet (Brown has falsely claimed the city’s fleet leads the way across Canada in electrification, while he has failed to plan any funding for electric buses, forcing the transit system to continue using dirty diesel vehicles); and the controversial Brampton Innovation District, a marketing scheme by Brown to attract companies of the future to the city centre, while buildings remain vacant, many of them deteriorating with no plan in place to fund his promise of a future innovation corridor.   

The recent report shows that more and more homeowners have fallen into tax arrears, and are in desperate need of a  tax break now more than ever due to the rising cost of living, and the politically calculated decision by Brown to freeze budgets three years in a row to make good on his 2018 election promise. Now, those budgets which neglected badly needed revenues are placing even more strain on taxpayers because all the infrastructure and services Brown ignored previously have created a big hole that residents have to dig themselves out of. 

From cancelled road projects, the withering downtown core, necessary transit investments just to stay afloat, to typical growth-related costs in a rapidly expanding city,  2026 will see even more tax pressure at a time when more residents are already in arrears.  

Meanwhile, Brown continues to make questionable decisions. 

He has used the tax dollars of struggling residents to fund newsletter campaigns that are rife with misinformation; approved lavish “economic development” travel around the world for himself, staff and members of council; and handed $630,000 of taxpayer money to friends of his and Councillor Rowena Santos for the failed Brampton University plan, to name just a few of the mayor’s controversial spending scandals. 

Residents are starting to question the decisions of this council led by Brown. 

During the September 3 meeting, a letter was submitted by Pam Patel, a Brampton resident, criticizing the City’s spending on projects and programs that primarily benefit “niche groups” — such as retirees or smaller special interest blocs — while ignoring the needs of working families, young adults and renters.

“In a time when affordability is a major issue and basic services are under pressure, it feels irresponsible to allocate funds toward initiatives that don’t reflect the current economic and social priorities of the broader population,” Patel wrote. “Most people are busy working to afford living in a city that is already becoming increasingly unaffordable. Residents are asking: where is the investment in affordability, transit, infrastructure, or housing that helps everyday working people?”

These concerns were echoed by Sanjay Patel, another Brampton resident, who criticized the City for investing $77 million to build a new facility to manage the City’s expanded Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) program, while ignoring other needs. 

“Such spending strongly suggests the primary motivation behind the program is financial gain rather than community safety,” Patel expressed. “Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras function as an additional form of taxation on residents, many of whom are already burdened with high living costs and taxes.”

The disturbing report from staff highlighting the growing problem of tax arrears received no discussion among councillors. The Pointer contacted all members of council including Brown; none responded. 

Staff point to a number of factors for the increase in unpaid taxes across Brampton. 

“The rising cost of living - including housing, childcare, and food - puts additional pressure on households, making it harder to meet basic needs. It is likely that the high inflation and increased cost of living experienced throughout 2024 have placed pressure on Brampton homeowners’ budgets, contributing to an increase in the taxes receivable-to-billing percentage,” the report explains.

As the amount of unpaid taxes in Brampton has increased, so has the workload for staff responsible for trying to collect these late bills. Overdue notices, title searches and accounts sent to a bailiff for collection are all rapidly increasing as more taxes remain unpaid.

(City of Brampton)

The rising cost of living and unaffordability in Brampton reflect a nationwide crisis.

According to Statistics Canada, 45 percent of the country’s population is worried about the ability to afford housing due to increased prices and runaway rents. About one-third (35 percent) of Canadian households reported difficulty meeting their financial needs (food, transportation and housing) in the 12 months prior to publishing the report in 2024.

More and more Canadians are being impacted by the rising cost of living with nearly half of Canadians worried about meeting basic needs.

(Statistics Canada)

Other municipalities in southern Ontario are grappling with a similar problem to Brampton. 

As reported by The Pointer, St. Catharines has seen the number of properties in arrears rise to 4,139 in 2023—an increase of 596 properties over the year prior and a 17 percent jump compared to the previous four-year average. The situation further deteriorated in 2024, with arrears climbing to 4,654 properties—a 34 percent rise. In Niagara Falls, since the current council took office in November 2022, the number of properties in arrears has surged—rising by 546 in 2023, the first full year of the new council term, and by an additional 825 in 2024. This marks a total increase of 1,371 properties in arrears, a 43.6 percent jump compared to the previous council’s average.

“There’s a desperate need for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the operations of Ontario’s municipalities and townships. There is little accountability for the incessant cost overruns, which are simply dumped on the backs of homeowners through higher property taxes,” the Property Taxpayers Alliance website explains. “Budgets are ballooning with unrealistic salary, wage, and benefit increases, excessive hiring, and the addition of new discretionary spending programs that property taxpayers never asked for.”

The organization, with branches across Ontario, advocates for the effective use of taxpayer dollars, and encourages residents to vote out councillors who do not take their fiscal management role seriously. 

“Municipal councillors and city senior bureaucrats are well aware of the growing property tax affordability crisis in Ontario, but they fail to do anything about it because they have high incomes and benefits – they're not affected. They just kick the can down the road hoping the next administration will deal with it…What can you do? Vote for and promote mayors/councillors who advocate for smaller budgets, greater efficiency/effectiveness and non-spendthrift policies.”

Email: [email protected]m

At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories to ensure every resident of Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you