DC
Doug CornellFOR MAYOR
Property taxes · 2027 outlook

Can Pickering lower your property tax bill?

Start with the 2026 bill on the average Pickering home, then change the City, Region and school increases to see what next year's bill would be. Figures come from City and Region reports; projections are estimates.

Your 2026 bill, and who sets it

Enter the assessed value from your MPAC notice or tax bill, not what your home would sell for today. Assessments are still based on January 1, 2016 values. The City's 2026 average is $563,000.

2026 total bill: $7,528.93

The City of Pickering sets only about 30% of your bill. The Region of Durham sets about 58%, and the Province sets the school share.

Try a scenario for 2027

In 2026 the City's own share rose 3.49% ($76.70 on the average home, which the City reports as 1.06% of the total bill). Keeping today's services in 2027 would take about 9.9% (see the freeze section below).
A combined regional increase of 9 to 10.5% has been projected for 2027, driven partly by the police capital plan. Regional Council decides after the election.
Set by the Province. Education rates are often held flat.
Estimated 2027 bill
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City of Pickering
Region of Durham
School boards

Seaton Recreation Complex: what a cost check could save

The City estimates Seaton will add 11.71% to its levy once it's running: 6.21% for debt payments and 4.95% for operating costs. A lower construction price shrinks the debt part.

34% would bring it to about $784 per sq. ft., like Kitchener's Cowan Recreation Centre. 42% would match King City's Zancor Centre at about $694.
Seaton cost to this home per year, as approved
With the lower construction cost
Saving per year, for decades

Assumes the debt payments shrink in line with the construction price, in today's dollars. The saving on the average home is modest per year, but it lasts as long as the debt.

What would a City tax freeze take?

The City's 2026 budget book shows the pressures already coming in 2027. The 3.49% increase this year was held down with $5.55 million in one-time reserve money. Without it, the increase would have been 6.38%. The City Treasurer wrote that the increase "should have been at a minimum of 5.63%."

Pressures already in the budget book

Your assumptions for 2027

Applied to $90.3 million in salaries, wages and benefits. Covers negotiated raises, step increases and health benefit costs.
Applied to $40.1 million in contracts, repairs, utilities, insurance and other costs.
New properties added $3.47 million (3.55%) in 2026. Seaton's build-out keeps this high, but new residents also need services.
Applied to $23.1 million in user fees and service charges.
In millions. Reserves can soften one year, but they run down and the pressure returns.
To freeze the City's share in 2027
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Already in the budget book
Wages and benefits
Other costs
New homes and businesses
User fees
Left to cut, or to raise in taxes

If the freeze lasted the whole term, 2027 to 2030

YearWhat's new that yearCut needed that yearTotal cut by thenShare of the levy

In 2026 dollars. Each year's cuts have to stay in place while the next year's costs arrive on top. Debt payments are the Treasurer's forecast for property-tax-funded debt, driven mainly by the Seaton Recreation Complex. Seaton's operating cost (4.95% of the levy, Report CAO 14-25) is assumed to start with its spring 2029 opening, half in 2029 and in full from 2030.

What each lever is worth

For the home value entered above, in 2026 dollars.

LeverWho decidesPer year

Sources and assumptions

  1. 2026 bill, rate (0.01337288), split (30.30% City, 57.82% Region, 11.88% school), $76.70 and $563,000: Let's Talk Pickering, 2026 Budget.
  2. Seaton levy impact (11.71%: 6.21% debt, 4.95% operating) and $266.365M cost: City Report CAO 14-25. Comparables: Township of King (Zancor Centre), City of Kitchener (Cowan Recreation Centre).
  3. $32.8M annual infrastructure shortfall: Report FIN 10-25. 2.8% a year to reach the funding target: Report FIN 08-26.
  4. 2027 regional projection of 9 to 10.5%: Durham Region and Durham Regional Police budget materials. Not final.
  5. Freeze section: City of Pickering 2026 Approved Current Budget (levy of $101,130,740; salaries, wages and benefits of $90.3M; $5,552,374 in one-time reserve funding; 2026 assessment growth of $3,466,267; Dorsay Community & Heritage Centre operating cost; the Treasurer's debt payments forecast for 2027 to 2030; and the asset management plan of 1% a year for 2027 to 2030). Wage, cost, fee and tax-base growth rates are assumptions you can change.
  6. Assumes the home's assessed value stays the same in 2027 (Ontario has not reassessed since 2016 values). Each share is scaled by its own percentage change. Estimates only; actual bills depend on final budgets and tax rates.