Peterborough By The Numbers
AJ Shearer · Data & Accountability
← Peterborough By The Numbers
2026 tax drivers

What actually drove the tax levy?

Rather than treating the tax increase as one number, this view uses the City's own final-budget change-factor table to separate the major pressures from the offsets — and distinguishes recurring changes from one-time funding.

2025 net tax levy
$183.83M
2026 increase
+$14.55M
+7.91% net tax levy requirement
2026 net tax levy
$198.38M
City-published change factors

Pressures and offsets

Positive amounts increased the levy requirement. Negative amounts offset other pressures. Category totals reconcile exactly to the City's published 2026 levy change.

Personnel costs
+2.71% of the 2025 levy
+$4.98M
Capital financing and other capital requirements
+2.59% of the 2025 levy
+$4.76M
Inflationary factors and other increased costs
+1.25% of the 2025 levy
+$2.29M
Decreased revenues
+1.90% of the 2025 levy
+$3.50M
Increased revenues / decreased expenditures
-3.53% of the 2025 levy
-$6.48M
Outside agencies
+2.30% of the 2025 levy
+$4.23M
General inflation and other factors
+0.69% of the 2025 levy
+$1.26M
Largest individual factors
Employee groups step & inflation
Ref. 2.01
+$4.98M
Capital Financing - Increase in Capital Financing
Ref. 3.01
+$4.54M
Police
Ref. 7.01
+$3.48M
Transfer from Legacy Income Reserve
One-time
Ref. 6.01
-$3.00M
Shelter Services
Ref. 4.01
+$1.12M
Transit revenues
Ref. 6.02
-$1.01M
Transit Fleet materials
Ref. 6.03
-$0.80M
Outside agencies excluding Police
Ref. 7.02
+$0.75M
Interest Income
Ref. 5.03
+$0.50M
Rezoning Applications
Ref. 5.04
+$0.46M
Legacy Fund: two different uses

Normal investment income is not the same as the 2026 one-time levy offset.

The regular policy uses Legacy Fund investment income to support the capital program. In 2026, Council also used an additional $3 million from accumulated Legacy Fund Income Retention reserve to lower that year's tax requirement.

Recurring policy
$1.50M

Investment income → capital

The 2026 capital financing plan continues the regular $1.5 million use of Legacy Fund investment income for capital. This is separate from the extra levy offset below.

One-time 2026 offset
$3.00M

Accumulated income reserve → tax levy

The City says this additional draw reduced the 2026 tax requirement by 1.32 percentage points. It came from accumulated Legacy Fund income retained in reserve — not a stated draw of the original PDI-sale principal.

What the one-time offset did
Before extra Legacy offset
$201.38M
−
One-time reserve
$3.00M
=
Final 2026 levy
$198.38M
The pressure did not disappear.

The City's preliminary 2027 budget work identifies a $3.00M base-budget correction tied to the one-time 2026 Legacy reserve use. In other words, absent another offset or a structural saving/revenue source, that amount returns as a 2027 pressure.

Income Retention reserve history

Accumulated investment income grew before the draw.

2023-10
$3.79M
Uncommitted: $2.24M · Commitments: $1.55M
2024-10
$5.99M
Uncommitted: $3.86M · Commitments: $2.14M
2025-10
$9.42M
Uncommitted: $5.61M · Commitments: $3.81M
Why this classification matters

A reserve draw can lower the tax requirement in a particular year without lowering the recurring cost base. The dashboard therefore labels it as a one-time funding offset, while the normal annual Legacy investment-income contribution to capital remains a separate recurring-policy item.

2026 adoption release ↗ 2027 preliminary pressure ↗
Source and audit trail

The change-factor categories come from Chart 2, “2026 Budget: Tax Levy Requirement Change Factors,” in the City's final 2026 Budget Book. The Legacy classification also uses the City's 2026 adoption release and its preliminary 2027 budget discussion.

Open official budget book ↗