Montreal's $7.7B Budget Explained: Where Money Goes in 2026

Montreal just unveiled a $7.7 billion operating budget for 2026, plus a $25.9 billion capital plan running through 2035. Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada's first budget promises to tackle homelessness, build housing, and reign in the city's debt, all while keeping tax increases "in line with inflation."

You could always look at the full budget, but we've put together a simplified guide on what's in it, and what it means for you.

Your tax bill

Property taxes are going up 3.8% for homeowners (including borough taxes) and 3.4% for non-residential properties like restaurants and shops. The city's framing this as "in line with inflation," but here's the catch: property values jumped 11.3% on average in the new assessment.

The city's using a technique called "étalement" to spread that hit over three years, which softens the blow—but if your property value spiked higher than average (hello, rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods), you're still looking at a bigger bill than the headline numbers suggest.

Where the money's going

Homelessness is the headline priority. The operating budget for community organizations working with people experiencing homelessness or on cohabitation initiatives just tripled from roughly $10 million to $29.9 million. Add another $100 million over the next decade to acquire and renovate buildings for emergency shelters. The city's also creating a "Tactical Homelessness Response Team" to coordinate interventions with Quebec and frontline organizations.

Housing gets $578.7 million over 10 years to acquire "strategic buildings" for affordable and social housing, including that $100 million earmarked for homelessness-related housing. The city scrapped the old "20-20-20" rule (requiring developers to include 20% social, 20% affordable, and 20% family housing in new projects) in favour of "financial incentives" and closer partnerships with developers. Six development zones—Lachine-Est, Namur-Hippodrome, Louvain-Est, Les Faubourgs, the Blue Line Corridor, and Bridge-Bonaventure—are slated to absorb nearly 75,000 housing units by 2050.

Small businesses get $10 million for "support and accompaniment," with $6 million specifically for businesses hit by construction disruptions. Another $7.4 million goes to SDCs (sociétés de développement commercial) and commercial arteries. The city's also backing the Commerce-Montréal program, which funds renovations for vacant storefronts and businesses focused on social, circular, or eco-responsible projects.

East Montreal gets a new $25 million "Fonds de revitalisation de l'Est" to decontaminate sites and accelerate development, prioritizing projects near transit infrastructure. This is pitched as the biggest industrial revitalization project in Canada, transforming a 30-square-kilometer zone into mixed-use neighborhoods and job hubs.

Culture and quality of life see a $2.5 million boost to the Conseil des arts de Montréal, plus $610 million over 10 years for libraries and maisons de la culture. There's also $8.6 million for festival support and $6.6 million for downtown and main artery cleanliness.

Infrastructure gets the bulk of the capital plan: $6.7 billion for road maintenance and safety (including Vision Zéro initiatives), $473 million for cycling infrastructure, and $74 million for BIXI development and optimization, including electric charging stations to support winter service.

What's getting cut or delayed

BIXI's operational funding is reportedly being slashed by about 50%, even as the city invests in infrastructure, and the Camillien-Houde redesign has been pushed to 2029. Meanwhile, the city's planning to cut 1,000 jobs in central services over the mandate, framed as "optimization" that will save $79 million annually.

The takeaway

This budget is Martinez Ferrada's opening statement: big on homelessness and housing, cautious on spending, and betting heavily on East Montreal's transformation. It's also a balancing act between massive infrastructure investment alongside hiring freezes and service cuts.

Whether the city can deliver on its housing promises while trimming staff and slashing operational budgets remains to be seen. For now, it's a budget that prioritizes visibility over subtlety, with the trade-offs tucked into the fine print.