After months of discussions and staff presentations on Niagara Region’s 2026 budget, councillors find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea.

There are no easy answers as they seek to limit the Region’s tax increase, reduce a massive infrastructure deficit and maintain increasingly costly programs that residents rely upon.

Adding to the strain is a municipal revenue stream that heavily relies on a regressive system, which forces lower-income households to pay a significantly larger percentage of their income in property taxes compared to higher-income households.

“We have the continuing tension between the sustainability of the Region’s operations and affordability for the people who are paying the taxes that allow us to operate this Region,” said Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redek

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