A deep dive into Peterborough’s 2025 budget

Last year, when city councillors approved the 2024 city budget with a 7 percent tax hike, they called the budget a “course correction.” Mayor Jeff Leal explained that additional investments were needed in the short-term to ensure that Peterborough residents didn’t face double-digit tax increases down the road.

Now, a year later, city councillors are debating the 2025 budget and citizens are once again facing a big tax hike. After two days of council deliberations, the proposed tax increase is currently sitting at about 8 percent, and that number doesn’t include an expected boost for police spending that could drive the tax increase closer to 9 percent.

If last year’s budget was the course correction, why are we correcting course again?

That’s one of the many questions we dive into in our latest podcast: A Guide to Peterborough’s 2025 Budget.

In addition, we also discuss these topics on the podcast:

• How cities could raise revenues — without hiking property taxes
• Proposed cuts to discretionary benefits for social assistance recipients
• What transit might look like in 2025
• How our city’s infrastructure backlog could lead to higher taxes in future years
• The $2 million increase to Peterborough’s homelessness spending

You can listen to the podcast in the audio player above, or you can find it in most podcast apps.

Thanks to Will Ward for the wonderful piano improvisations. And thanks to Edward Sweeney from Trent Radio for providing audio from the Community Not Cuts rally.