If Toronto Can Hold the Line, Why Can’t Pickering or Durham Region?

If Toronto Can Hold the Line, Why Can’t Pickering or Durham Region? At a time when families are struggling to keep up with the cost of living, one question keeps coming up at the kitchen table: why are municipal taxes rising faster than inflation? Toronto — Canada’s largest city, (our next door neighbour) - with aging infrastructure, enormous service demands, and a far more complex budget than most municipalities — has proposed a 2.2% tax increase, roughly in line with inflation. Yet here in Pickering, residents are being asked to absorb a 3.5% increase at the City level, with the Region of Durham proposing increases that could reach as high as 6.04%. That disparity deserves scrutiny. Inflation is often used as the justification for tax increases. When costs rise, governments argue, revenue must rise too. But if inflation is the benchmark, then why are some municipalities managing to stay close to it — while others far exceed it? Pickering residents are not receiving income increases of 3.5% or 6%. Seniors on fixed incomes are not seeing their pensions adjusted to match these numbers. Young families are already stretched by mortgage payments, rent, groceries, fuel, and utilities. Every additional percentage point matters. The issue is not whether municipalities face financial pressure — they do. The issue is how those pressures are managed and who is expected to carry the burden. Toronto has made difficult choices. It has prioritized restraint, examined spending, and acknowledged that affordability is not an abstract concept — it is a daily reality for residents. If Toronto, with its scale and complexity, can hold a proposed increase to 2.2%, then smaller municipalities and regions must explain clearly why they cannot. Too often, higher tax increases are treated as inevitable rather than as a last resort. Instead of asking, “How do we control costs?” the question becomes, “How much more can residents absorb?” That is the wrong starting point. Municipal government is closest to the people. It is where residents feel financial decisions most directly. That proximity comes with a responsibility to be disciplined, transparent, and honest about trade-offs. It also means being willing to say no — to expansions, to discretionary spending, and to growth plans that outpace infrastructure and affordability. When City and Regional increases are combined, the total tax impact on Pickering residents becomes significant. Residents don’t experience these increases in isolation; they experience them all at once. City, Region, school boards — it all comes from the same household budget. If inflation is the standard, then governments should be expected to justify every dollar above it. Not with slogans, not with generalities, but with clear explanations of what is driving costs and what alternatives were considered. Affordability is not a talking point. It is the difference between staying in a home or selling it. Between managing and falling behind. Between trust in local government and growing frustration. If Toronto can aim for restraint, Pickering and Durham Region owe residents a clear answer to a simple question: why can’t we? Taxpayers deserve nothing less.