Here’s a breakdown of the draft 2023 budget

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Good morning!

Hope everyone is staying warm and out of the wind. It’s a bitter coldsnap Environment Canada has issued an Extreme Cold Warning that will be in place until Saturday morning. Temperatures could drop below -40 C with the windchill. The good news is the cold temperatures will only last a few days before it warms up again by Sunday.

Goofed a bit in the last issue and posted the link to the wrong house listing. This is the yellow house you’ve been looking for.

This week was budget week, and I hope I’ve hit the right balance between going into detail without overwhelming everyone. We’re going to save the reaction to the budget for later issues, because there’s so much to get through. Hope you like charts!

Let’s get to it, why don’t we.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Extreme cold warning

Friday: -25 🌡️ -27 | 🌤

Saturday: -14 🌡️ -13 | ☁️

Sunday: +1 🌡️ -2 | ❄️ (chance of snow)

Monday: 0 🌡️ -7 | 🌤

CITY HALL

Belt-tightening time at city hall for Mayor Sutcliffe’s first budget

What happened: The 2023 draft budget was unveiled Wednesday and it was as expected: pretty gloomy. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s introductory speech was one that warned of stormy seas ahead, so the city must batten down the fiscal hatches to ride out the storm.

Sutcliffe said while citizens were under increased pressures because of high housing prices and inflation, the city’s job was to add to that burden as little as possible. To that end, the budget will only see an increase in property taxes of 2.5 percent.

The mayor wasn’t exactly saying you should turn down the heat and wear an extra sweater, but it got pretty close at times.

• “Make no mistake: This is a tight budget. And without the appropriate level of support from our provincial and federal governments, we will have significant pressures on our finances next year and beyond, particularly in transit and infrastructure,” Sutcliffe said.

Infrastructure: The city will be boosting the amount it spends on roads by $30 million. This is a big boost to spending on infrastructure, with total spending rising 36 percent to $136 million. Roads were the focus of Sutcliffe’s promises on the campaign trail, but he said in his speech the road improvements would also have a positive effect for transit riders, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Police: The proposed police budget adds $15.2 million in spending, for a total operating budget of $401.2 million, CBC reported. The capital budget will triple to $60 million, two-thirds of that going to the new Barrhaven police station.

Transit: The good transit news is fares will freeze for the year. The city is also projecting a much less far-fetched estimate of ridership, predicting transit use will return to about 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Revenue is forecast to be $316 million, about $6 million less than last year’s projections.

Most of the city-wide budget savings have been found in the transit budget, with $47 million coming out of the transit budget, 87 percent of the $54-million total.

• The savings will come from the retirement of 117 older buses, the city told the Ottawa Citizen.

Climate: The budget sets $5 million to make good on the city’s climate change action plan. Previously, funding for climate change initiatives have come piecemeal and were dependent on yearly dividends from Hydro Ottawa. Advocates on and off council had long been calling for more stable funding, which this money provides.

Budget by the numbers:

• $4.5 billion — the amount of service spending;

• $1.06 billion — the amount of overall capital spending;

• $104 — the amount the average urban tax bill will increase;

• $85 — the amount the average rural tax bill will increase;

• $53.9 million — the operational efficiencies found city-wide;

  • $47 million — the efficiencies found from the transit program;

  • $500,000 — the efficiencies found at the police service;

• $30 million — the amount of additional funding for roads and road maintenance;

• 70% — the ridership estimate for 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels;

• $5 million — yearly funding for the city’s climate change plan.

Have your say: Over the coming weeks councillors from each ward will be hosting budget consultations in person and online. See the full schedule here.

What’s next: The pace of this year’s budget process is much faster than normal. The election gives very little time to process the budget. After this month’s consultations, the budget will go for a final vote at council March 1.

Key charts from the 2023 budget

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

🚨 1986: That’s when a 69-year-old man pulled over by police was last legally allowed to drive. [CTV]

🛒 $87: The amount a police officer shoplifted from a Gatineau store, by only scanning half their items at the self-checkout. Const. Sarah Bell could be temporarily demoted, but there were no criminal charges. [CBC]

🥶 -43: The windchill predicted for today. Frostbite can develop very quickly, Ottawa Public Health has info on the signs of it.

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DOWNTOWN

Downtown activity still half of what it was

What happened: Activity downtown is only about 51 percent of what it was before the pandemic according to a new study of North American cities. That’s up from 48 percent in the spring, CTV reported.

It’s an ongoing problem in the city. A task force including politicians of all levels of government is looking to hear from the public on what should be done with the core. You can find their survey here.

Elsewhere: London, Ont. has the highest recovery of downtown activity, which now sits at 79 percent of 2019 levels — tied with Las Vegas, Nev. Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver have had the three lowest recoveries in Canada, with 43 percent, 46 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

• The city with the lowest recovery is San Francisco, which has only 31 percent of its pre pandemic activity. Salt Lake City, Utah has had the biggest recovery, with 135 percent.

You can check out the study’s data here, to see how Ottawa stacks up against the other 62 cities measured by researchers.

THE AGENDA

🚇 Whoever resets the “Days Without An LRT Failure” back to zero still has a job. A stalled train Thursday at rush hour caused havoc on the system, with eastbound shutdowns on parts of the line. [Twitter]

💧 It’s official, the NCC said the Rideau Canal will not be open for the first weekend of Winterlude. [CTV]

📧 The federal convoy inquiry was not given emails from the city or police suggesting there might have been explosives at an Ottawa hotel during the convoy, despite their relevance. [PressProgress]

🚛 The city’s auditor general announced she would release three audits on the city’s response to the convoy next week. One audit each for the city, the police service, and the police services board.

🥛 Dairy prices will rise 2.2 percent, starting this week. It’s the third price hike since last February. [CTV]

☃️ Wiarton Willie did not see his shadow yesterday morning, predicting an early spring just as the bitterest cold of the year sets in. Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam saw her shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter… [CTV]

🥶 …Meanwhile, Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte died the night before Groundhog Day, which, uh, we’re not sure what it means, but it can’t be anything good. (They brought out a small child in a groundhog hat who saw their shadow.) [CTV]

EVENTS

What to do this weekend

Food

Canadian Culinary Championship, tonight and tomorrow: Nine chefs from across the country, including Ottawa’s Briana Kim, battle it out to see who is the best chef in the country at the Shaw Centre. Tickets to the finale start at $446.

General

Winterlude, starting today: The city’s winter festival is back. From today until the 20th, there are events all across the city, celebrating the joys of winter in the capital. Full program.

Winterlude National Ice-Carving Championship, Feb. 3-5: All along Sparks Street, teams representing each of this country’s provinces and territories have just 20 hours to carve a work of art along the theme “Creatures of the Sea.” Free!

WonderStruck Magic Night, tonight 8:30 pm: Ottawa’s magic show is back. A 75-minute experience of magic and mentalism. An intimate audience size where it’s fully interactive gets going at the OneUp Room, at 1 Beechwood Ave. Tickets $40.

Shiverfest, tonight and tomorrow: Looking for a more laid back winter festival? Head down to Manotick’s Centennial Park (and other nearby spots) for Timbits hockey, a family skate, toboggan contest, bingo, sleigh rides and plenty more. Most activities are free.

Film

Black History Month Movie Night ‘Joseph Zobel: D’amour et de silence,’ tonight 7 pm: A reading of the poems by the great poet and writer Joseph Zobel, followed by a documentary following the life of the Antilles intellectual, at the Alliance Française Ottawa, 342 MacLaren St. (The film is in French, with no subtitles.) Tickets $5.

Culture

Cabaret Noir, Feb 2-4: A multidisciplinary dance show by Mélanie Demers who created, directed, and coreographed the show. At the NAC. Tickets start at $36.

'Crépu: Our DNA', a Black Hair Art Show, Feb. 5-6: A night of art, networking, and music with works meditating on Black hair. Also includes a panel discussion and film screening at Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St. Tickets $17.

OTTAWA FOOD

What happened this week in food

Every week our team at Capital Eats scours Ottawa for the best places to eat, drinks to try and events to attend. Here’s a breakdown of all the biggest stories.

If you’re looking for a great Italian meal, without breaking the bank, this restaurant in Little Italy has everything you could want. Don’t miss their cacio e pepe pasta, or their house beer.

With the Canadian Culinary Championships coming to town this weekend, Ralf sat down with one of the competitors, Sebastian Perez to get his insights into what makes a great dish. (Insiders)

It’s always a good time for beer, which is why Ralf stopped in at a local brewery to catch up with brewmaster Philip Kochanke to learn about the secrets of the stein. Plus a sneak peek at a new IPA released just this week. (Insiders, scroll down)

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ottawa’s Riviera and Cantina Gia both made the list of Canada’s Most Romantic Restaurants for the year… [CTV]

• …Our food editor Ralf was just at Cantina Gia, and whether you’re there for romance or not, you’re going to get a great meal.

• Is anyone else finding teeny tiny rubber ducks around town? [Reddit]

• Air France will launch a new direct route this summer between Ottawa and Paris. [CityNews]

• One Reddit user had nothing but good things to say about Ottawa fire crews who put out a fire in their building. [Reddit]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Contact our partnership team for more info.

TOP PHOTO

Today’s photo comes courtesy of Chris Stapledon, who has been busting his hump keeping his catch basin clear through all this snow. Great work, pal!

Have you got a winter shot you’d like to share? Send it our way!

OTTAWA GAMES

There were a lot of good guesses out there for this week’s OttawaGuesser, but only two winners. Congrats to Chris and Adam, who guessed the correct lock along the Rideau Canal system, Lock 13 at Black Rapids.

Can you get this week’s Ottawa Wordle? Play now.

LATEST COVID STATS