These results have been shared with the Burlington City Council and any survey respondent who provided an email address.
October 31st, 2025
Thank you to the 222 people who participated in our survey. This is a summary of what we learned.
Question 1
Do you understand that the Burlington line on your tax bill will increase by 5.8%? The city is using this statement to describe the 2026 tax increase:
“… the City of Burlington’s share of taxes being less than 3 per cent.”
https://mariannemeedward.ca/2026-budget-process-begins/
What did we learn?
Our takeaway: The city’s practice of stating the change in Burlington taxes as a percentage of the change to the total bill manages to mislead 7% of taxpayers and confuse 48% of taxpayers.
Question 2
Should Burlington clearly communicate the tax increase?
The Burlington line on the tax bill is projected to increase by 5.8%. The overall tax bill may increase by 4.49%. Until the Region of Halton and Halton Police Services set their budgets, we simply don’t know what the overall increase will be. All we know now is that absolutely none of the city’s increases will be “less than 3 per cent”.
What did we learn?
Question 3
The July 2025 inflation rate was 1.7%. Burlington’s proposed budget increase is 5.8% or more than 3 times the rate of inflation. With this in mind, should Burlington:
Our takeaway: In the age of AI and Trump’s tariffs, the future for many workers in the private sector is uncertain. The unemployment rate in Ontario is 7.1%. Our survey showed that 67% of residents want the city to find efficiencies to maintain services. Only 6% want to maintain the current service level with an increase at or above the rate of inflation.
Question 4
Please check the programs in the list below that you want to see continued.
We received 179 responses to this question.
What did we learn?
No single program was selected by a majority of responders.
The most popular program is Fireworks on Canada Day, with the drone display only receiving support from 15.1% of respondents.
What did people write in the comment area?
None or a variation of none – 11 people.
Our roads need work, sewers – improve, bring up to standards, snow removal – improve, taxes are just too high for what they do, which is not very much!!
SOUND OF MUSIC FESTIVAL
Free Parking Downtown
Our take on this is that people are tired of the tax increases and are looking for any way to reduce spending and taxes.
Question 5
Do you support building a new art gallery for $116 million?
The cost to build a new, larger art gallery has been estimated to be $116 million. Donations and other levels of government may cover some of the costs.
https://burlingtongazette.ca/library-rebuild-will-cost-116-million/
What did we learn?
We received 218 responses to this question.
Our thoughts: When the Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Burlington, Emma Sankey, presented detailed drawings of what a new art gallery would look like, along with costing, to our council, I was surprised. When I heard that Emma had met with many people, from art gallery employees to the mayor and each councillor, and discussed a new art gallery, I was more surprised. When there was no mention of consulting with taxpayers, I was not surprised at all.
Question 6
What did we learn?
We had 220 responses to this group of questions, with Traffic management being the only area where the majority of respondents want to see an increase in spending. We believe that residents are asking the city to improve traffic flows, not prioritize transit at traffic lights at the expense of drivers.
Our takeaway: When the city surveys residents, bike lanes and road improvements are lumped together in one question. By separating the questions, we can clearly see that our respondents want improvements in traffic management and not bike lanes.
Question 7
Do you have any comments on mobility (roads, traffic, transit, etc.)?
What did we learn?
I did my best to group the comments into subject areas. The grouping is highly subjective and may not reflect the commenter’s intent.
| Accessibility | as a senior using a mobility scooter I find the sidewalk’ sloping curbs to the roads way to steep and sometimes difficult to manoeuvre, especially ascending! In addition, the buttons for pedestrian crosswalk lights are not very user friendly for the disabled. |
| Budget | THIS SHOULD NOT DRIVE THE BUDGET UP BEYOND INFLATION |
| Budget | Biggest concern is higher taxes. |
| Budget | We pay to much taxes , a nothing really getting roads , traffic, the list goes on !! |
| Budget | Cut spending. 6% is ridiculous and you wonder why people dont have kids |
| Development | Infrastructure is not keeping up with housing development. I am very concerned about development in the Burloak to Upper Middle Road to Appleby area |
| Development | Stop the high rises |
| Development | The city has to process zoning reform to ensure communities become accessible and walk-able and remove the need on relying on expensive personal transportation. |
| Development | Benefits should be created to encourage citizens to live and work in Burlington, the city cannot be a purely a bedroom community. Needs more manufacturing and businesses in general to become self sufficient |
| Development | New development approvals are stressing existing infrastructure significantly and degrade traffic with little or no reliable public transport. |
| Mobility | Stop the pilot project of electric scooters and continue with them being illegal on our roads and sidewalks |
| Mobility | Control or ban e-bikes and electric scooters |
| Mobility | They should prioritize bikes and transit more |
| Mobility | We could really use better north south bike paths. The lanes on walkers and applyby aren’t very safe. The QEW needs more paths across it. |
| Mobility | Increasing pedestrian safety and cyclist safety is a priority for me. Let’s reduce vehicles by improving transit and cycling options. |
| Mobility | Increased number of electric scooter riders using the roads that can’t always be seen and they’re using a combination of roadways and sidewalks to maneuver through busy intersections. Need to prevent/limit this somehow before it becomes the “norm”. |
| Mobility | Stop wasting money on bike lanes like prospect street |
| Mobility | Get rid if bike lanes |
| Mobility | Do something about the e-scooters and e-bikes, regulations and enforcement are needed |
| Mobility | whoever designed the bike lane system is dumb and we need more connectivity across the network |
| Mobility | Cycling eastbound on plains road between Waterdown road and Shadeland is abysmal. |
| Mobility | Why do you need a whole committee for cycle advisory? Feels like a job one person could tackle. |
| Mobility | too many bike lanes for hardly any usage. We are not Europe – imposing bike lanes not needed is unnecessary especially when cyclists don’t follow rules of the road and don’t pay a fee to use the road. |
| Mobility | Please change bike lanes to be a part of a sidewalk – it is so dangerous to have them on the streets where cars weight tons of times more, than the bike and no shield to protect . In Germany this system works amazingly |
| Mobility | Keep bike lanes next to sidewalks and not on the road. If they must be on the road, erect physical barriers to prevent cars from hitting cyclists. |
| Mobility | If I can comment on cycling.. No one in their right mind would cycle on the main arterial roads, even with a designated bike lane. Why all these special committees. “Cycling Advisory Committee”, “Traffic Advisory Committee”. My family have lived in Burlington since 1964. Didn’t used to have all this extra bureaucracy. |
| Mobility | Traffic lights are anti pedestrian requiring a button to turn on |
| Mobility | Traffic management due to QEW and Skyway congestions needs to be fixed ASAP. Better public transit and bike routes off of actual roads and more dedicated. Restrict neighbourhood roads to locals only during rush hour. Widen sidewalks around lakeshore and brant |
| Mobility | Less money spent on bike lanes as they are not usually useable during many winter months. More money needs to be spent on improving traffic flow as there are more residents in the city now- especially given the city’s love for hi-rise condos! |
| Mobility | We need to keep improving our cycling network to make it a viable mode of transportation. One simple and relatively cheap improvement to the existing bike trails, such as the Centennial Trail, is to utilize the “continuous sidewalk” design (i.e. make a level crossing at all intersections). This would naturally slow traffic as it creates an elongated speedbump, while making the path smoother for riders. See https://www.tac-atc.ca/wp-content/uploads/epb-csbp-e.pdf. |
| Mobility | Better lighting is needed |
| Mobility | remove the unused bike lanes in the winter |
| Mobility | Bike lanes share part of the road with cars (Northshore)which is a dangerous scenario frequently slowing cars. In some instances they end abruptly. So what happens to the rider .. does he just evaporate |
| Mobility | We need expanded cycling infrastructure and better transit – perhaps LRTs along major arterial routes? |
| Mobility | Motorized scooters in bike lanes and roads — yes, have seen a stupid scooter person on Guelph Line, no helmet, just zooming along! Have used my senior free Presto pass frequently. Beggars at busy intersections on the road. Not a good image for the City, hazardous safety situation for the person and driver. |
| Police | Burloak south of New is a drag race at night and weekends. |
| Police | there has clearly been a downturn in police presence on the roads |
| Police | Something has to happen to increase road safety. I’ve been in 2 near fatal accidents in 4 years that were not my fault (one T-Bone ran a red light, one rear end). I constantly see poor driving habits, fake license plates, speeding, and people running red lights. |
| Police | We must have more police presence on the streets, this way, traffic/pedestrians safety will immediately increase and home/vehicle robberies will dramatically decrease. |
| Police | Police enticement needed for safety |
| Roads | Fix potholes |
| Roads | Roads are terrible |
| Roads | Ukraine has nicer roads than we do. Google it. I’m not being cute. |
| Traffic | city needs a traffic light management system to better manage volumes and traffic flow; system needs to be flexible to adjust to highway closures |
| Traffic | Traffic congestion and gridlock is out of control. Appleby line is a disaster. Patio’s on Lakeshore should be removed. Transit needs to be thourouly investigated to reduce cost. |
| Traffic | Staff assessments I have seen of road usage, ie., that congestion isn’t congestion, are unacceptable. By and large, improved road infrastructure to accommodate radical increases in community population density is usually ignored. We are also seeing terrible increases in cut through traffic as people seek (vainly) local road alternatives to the chronically choked QEW and 403. Is this taken into account in any way when assessments are done? Several times this summer my residential street and adjoining streets were gridlocked with vehicles trying to escape the QEW. I literally could not drive away from my home for a ridiculous amount of time, let alone get out of my driveway! |
| Traffic | Traffic and transit are both neglected. Traffic has increased awfully over last few years and isn’t sustainable. |
| Traffic | Condo building without infrastructure is insane ..traffic snarls keep getting worse |
| Traffic | Panhandlers at most major intersections must be removed! They are a distraction!! |
| Traffic | Traffic management should be emphasized as congestion has increased with increase in population. |
| Traffic | Sinc traffic lights and manage congestion. Too many speed bumps. |
| Traffic | Too much building no change in infrastructure to accommodate ..increased traffic snarls impacting everyone |
| Traffic | increased traffic and people congestion |
| Traffic | Downtown Burlington is a Parking Lot. Transient Traffic must be addressed |
| Traffic | The lights are poorly timed especially when there is no one on the roads. Speeding in excess of 80km/hr is an issue on New Street |
| Traffic | The current roads and infrastructure will not keep up with the population growth in Burlington. |
| Traffic | Busy try for more lanes lakeshore |
| Traffic | Check and adjust traffic signal operation on a regular basis. remove as much as possible traffic congestion. Stop the over building of high rise condos. |
| Traffic | No speed cameras, less bike lanes, better speed bumps. |
| Traffic | Some traffic lights are sensed when they should be timed?E.g. Appleby N is useless when a GO train arrives. The volume is so great that one can’t move when the light turns green as there is no space for a car at the next light’s intersection so it backs up from Dundas to Fairview. |
| Traffic | Traffic in Burlington is Horrendous. The on street restaurant patios on Lakeshore must end. |
| Traffic | The Skyway shutdown was crazy. I hope that doesn’t become an annual issue. |
| Traffic | The roads are brutal. Things need to change. Mainways should have construction based on surrounding area and construction levels in those areas before starting. As in, fairview, and brant, and thw service road shouldn’t be closed at the same time ever except emergency. Something has to be done with the situation when the highways or skyway is blocked. Our city is used as a shortcut of sorts for people turning 10 minute drives into hour long drives for burlington residents multiple times a week. |
| Traffic | Stop building condos. Traffic is bad enough. |
| Traffic | Traffic lights are extremely inefficient |
| Traffic | Reduce non-resident commuter traffic downtown by closing Northshore access to QEW |
| Traffic | Traffic lights are always red. No sequence at all. Literally stop at every light and takes so long to get anywhere in Burlington. |
| Traffic | Traffic is becoming completely unmanageable in Aldershot/Downtown |
| Traffic | Stop building on streets that can’t handle more traffic |
| Traffic | Too many people, eqauls too much traffic, poor planning for increase population |
| Traffic | It’s shite because we are the armpit of the commuter path. |
| Traffic | have the lights sequenced so you down hit every red light! go take a drive in Hamilton to see how it’s done properly |
| Traffic | Invest in road “sound barriers” (grooves on the roads to slowdown trafic) Invest in roundabouts. |
| Traffic | stop the high rises that will decrease the traffic |
| Traffic | If anything, focus on traffic light timing to improve flow. |
| Traffic | Yes, traffic is terrible in key areas of the city during rush hour and Saturdays. The city needs to focus on studying what the impact of building too many condos in these areas will mean for congestion. I wonder though of such a study could be done efficiently to keep down costs. |
| Traffic | traffic congestion is the #1 issue |
| Traffic | Traffic is heavy. Traffic lights are not synced. Not enough speeding enforcement. |
| Traffic | MORE ROADS! Everyone on transit is a pipe dream, and if the roads are inferior (which they are) any buses aren’t going anywhere either! How hard is this to understand? |
| Traffic | I am aghast at the narrowing of Prospect St., especially when more condos are planned for the mall site. Cut through traffic from highway gridlock is now a huge problem. Bike lanes need to be rerouted/eliminated where they are redundant or badly chosen. |
| Traffic | Traffic grid lock in Burlington is becoming a 24/7 event. We need better street light management, longer left turns, and better speed control |
| Traffic | It’s becoming too busy in burlington no one does speed limit |
| Traffic | Timing of traffic lights and congestion need to be addressed. Make more decisions that inconvenience owners of homes with more than 5000 square feet. |
| Traffic | Congestion has gotten beyond horrible and only getting worse. They need to fix the traffic lights and find ways to make traffic more efficient |
| Transit | Double number of buses to double transit frequency using smaller buses similar to Oakville . |
| Transit | Public transit needs to be on time and reliable otherwise people will use vehicles. I only take the bus 6 times a month and at least 3 times the bus doesn’t arrive as scheduled. |
| Transit | Too much money spent on bus driver salaries. |
| Transit | Transit prices are identical to Toronto with services much worse. It’s cheaper to take an uber than the bus for 2+ people. |
| Transit | Public transit schedules need to be maintained and made consistent. It should also be made to notify of bus route cancellations in better time (i.e. NOT when the bus is due!) I am to understand Burlington has a program to sign up if they want driveway clearance during winter. Excellent idea! But you need to communicate things like this better! |
| Transit | Better Transit service |
| Transit | I don’t understand why Burlington can’t fix public transit. Stop vacuuming up autumn leaves and sponsoring $500 parties for neighbourhoods, and put that money into getting a RELIABLE, efficient public transit system to help people get around. Look at York Region transit for an example. |
| Transit | I would love to take public transit but it’s terrible |
| Transit | More buses, start considering light rail? Roads caused induced demand and are a budget sinkhole. If viable alternatives exist people will use then. Start by analyzing where people start and end journeys, which should be very easy with PRESTO tap card data. |
| Transit | Invest heavily in transit – this will improve traffic congestion!!! |
| Transit | Limited bus routes |
| Transit | Consolidate Oakville and Burlington transit into a non profit corp. like Burlington Hydro, and shift to smaller vehicles that are demand responsive in neighbourhoods, regulate motorized bicycles rather than facilitating them, facilitate neighbourhood traffic planning to protect neighbourhoods from pass through traffic than should be forced onto arterials, start doing proper cross walks Particularly along east west arterials, better regulate delivery vehicles and construction worker parking in residential area, . |
| Transit | We need to stop being so car centric and work on other options, including enhanced public transit and keeping vulnerable road users safe. |
| Transit | Transit continues to deliver constant red ink. We should not be giving rides for free as this just increases the amount of losses. Better traffic light syncing would help traffic congestion. |
| Transit | Why all the free transit to residents and mayor has said she would like it free for everyone. |
Question 8
Should Burlington have a Traffic Advisory Committee?
Burlington has a cycling advisory committee. According to the city’s website, “The Burlington Cycling Advisory Committee assists and advises Council in matters related to cycling in the city. The committee reports to Council through the Committee of the Whole.”
Traffic impacts all of us; should there be a volunteer Traffic Advisory Committee?
What did we learn?
After reading over 90 comments on traffic provided in response to question 8, the results are not surprising.
Question 9
What revenue-generating measures do you support?
- Higher fees for recreation, with subsidies for low-income families.
- A vacant home tax.
- Entrance fees for the Sound of Music festival.
- Higher fares for transit. (while continuing the subsidies for low-income families).
- Other _____
What did we learn?
Other suggestions:
| Charge parking fees for city Burlington staff |
| Entrance fees for the Sound of Music festival. |
| Bylaw and speeding tickets and cameras |
| Decrease in mayor’s salary and councillors ..don’t put in bike lanes then have to take them out , |
| Enforce by-laws such as dog licensing and leashing; fine all the landscapers and private contractors that park on our roadways impeding traffic; maybe add one cent – not one percent but one cent – to each local sale at local businesses for a special city tax |
| Better planned and tendered city projects. Reduce staff |
| Recreation fees are 2.5x what they were in 2020 |
| Higher fees for sitting on undeveloped land in prime areas. There are countless vacant lots especially downtown that sit and collect dust while developers try to either buy up neighbouring sites strategically over time or are waiting on appeals for ridiculous developments that no one in the community supports. |
| Increase taxes on secondary/investment properties Set a affordable minimum base ( $1-5 )for any existing freebee`s where it makes sense |
| Review of transit: buses that circulate empty |
| Tolls for out of town drivers, speed and stop sign cameras |
| charge rich boomers more money. anyone who makes more than 100k should face a city income tax – especially government employees |
| Increased property taxes on chain restaurants, but not for non-chain restaurants. |
| Increase condo permit building fees |
| Increase parking fees downtown |
| More efficiently, accountability no painting on posts. Waste of money with allocation of funds |
| Paid parking at all hours and days but only for non burlington registered vehicles. |
| Raise taxes on houses greater than or equal to 5000 square feet. If there is a way to tax blonde hair dye at a municipal level do that too. |
| Use taxes more efficientlywe already pay a lotstop the thousand cuts. |
| have a cyclist license fee |
| If a larger group is planning a bbq or any other party in the park they should be charged for that -as they are taking the larger space and interrupting the ambience of the park. |
| Reasonable entrance fee,s for the sound of music. |
| Stop spending so much on consultants |
| Homeless pay 50% of their collection |
Question 9
Are the taxation and debt levels sustainable?
Since 2022, and including the proposed 5.8% increase for 2026, the cumulative Burlington-only property tax revenue increase is 46.81%.
Between 2022 and 2024, long-term debt for the City of Burlington increased by 54% or $40,574,000.
Yes – Burlington residents and businesses can continue to pay higher taxes and take on more debt
Pause – tax levels and debt levels are high enough.
Stop – this is affecting my family’s ability to pay rent or stay in our home.
Other _________
What did we learn?
Question 10
What are your top concerns about Burlington?
What did we learn?
We had 163 responses. They are listed below in alphabetical order. An AI-generated summary follows the list of responses.
| “Nickle and dime-ing” residents with parking fees at Beachway and LaSalle Park lots. Motorized scooter users on bike lanes and sidewalks — see above Traffic lights that halt traffic (red light) at intersections when there is no reason — no pedestrian, no turning traffic. Have experienced it several times in various parts of the city on the road and as a pedestrian and wonder why, am annoyed. Posted Neighbourhood Watch signage in (my) neighbourhood(s?) that hasn’t had the program for years! Keep the new art gallery talk a pipe dream — in this tough financial time there are housing, climate, security and myriad other issues that merit discussion and solutions. Better yet put a muzzle on the art gallery talk!!! Budget setting info should include COB debt level and how it has accumulated. |
| 1. Continued sprawl will bankrupt the city. 2. We need to maintain independence from provincial and Halton regional bureaucracies. We should strive to maintain our sense of community, and peaceful “small town”, green urban vibe. Otherwise, we will just end up as part of some conurbation infested by corporate interests and bloated bureaucracies, all for the purpose of “growth”. |
| 1. Irresponsible, ballooning costs created by bloated salary increases and new programs, often unnecessary, with new staff to support them. 2. Over-intensification. 3. Over-regulation and abrogation of property rights (tree-cutting bylaw as an example) |
| 1. Over embracing developers as the only budgetary solution to maintaining existing infrastructure. 2. NIMBYISM 3. Overly car centric urban planning. |
| 1) Safety 2) High influx which affects and will further stress city`s affordability and resource sharing. |
| 1)City approves a budget then every couple of months approves, in council, additional funding requests. 2)$110,000 median income is used in reports (e.g., recreation) to justify increases in revenue generation that remove inclusiveness for families living on $50,000 as that is median Burlington single family income (not low enough to qualify for income subsidies.) $110,000 is medium family income in Burlington. $50,000 in medium income of 1 person families which are 20% of Burlington. Why take time & labour to ask for feedback when Burlington survey design directs all responses to be the answer they wish. |
| Accommodating for future growth while maintaining our small-medium town look and feel |
| Affordability |
| Affordability |
| Affordability and cost of living |
| Affordability, housing, traffic |
| Affordability, safety, homelessness, traffic |
| Affordability, traffic, |
| Affordable living |
| At a civic government level Climate change & DEI initiatives should be ditched, on a practical working level bring back weekly garbage pick up and return to the national lead Burlington had on Recycling back in the early 1970’s |
| Bad fiscal policy |
| Becoming overpopulated and infrastructure can’t keep up. Theft occurrences on personal property appears to be on the rise. |
| Building condos and increasing density without traffic solutions or amenities for the increased population. |
| Burlington mayor and planning department have become increasingly lacking in transparency. Ford took away planning authority at the region and burlington staff have quietly been continuing what the region was up to such as delaying permits in the rural area for large buildings, hydro challenges not being addressed in the rural area, natural heritage taking priority over development causing delay. Information coming out of mayors office slanted so that projects get passed but leaving out the entire facts. Ie speed cameras. |
| Car-centric; not attractive for business. Make downtown liveable and walkable. Invest in businesses that retain and attract young people. |
| Congestion, building condos without the infrastructure to handle them |
| Continued increases in taxes with little being used effectively. Why do we need a new art gallery at the projected cost of $116 million?! What percentage of the city’s population uses the current art gallery, compared the percentage of people using the city’s food banks?! |
| Costs and traffic |
| Council is not responding to the concerns of citizens. |
| Crackheads Panhandlers |
| Crime and traffic |
| Crime. Road safety. |
| Crowding and traffic congestion. I fail to see how increasing the population at this point increases quality of life. Parks don’t get bigger, public spaces don’t get bigger, healthcare can’t handle it. For my first 40 years in Burlington there were maybe 2 homeless people. |
| Current decisions on expenditures by current council include several vanity projects whilst taxpayers are struggling |
| Debt spending leading to tax increases without Council accountability |
| Developers are running the City. City Counsellor are Not listening to voters. Perfect example is Lisa Kerns approval on 2072 Lakeshore development |
| Downtown is not friendly |
| Duplicate services like loose leaf pick up vs. yardwaste, Regional Tourism & Small Business vs. city Tourism & Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce |
| Everything |
| excessive property taxation |
| Fiscal mismanagement and overdevelopment. Reckless additions of staff, programs, major initiatives and bloated salaries. City Hall is out of control. |
| forced dependency on single occupancy vehicles |
| From what I know, I think City staff salaries are more than the private sector. The councillor’s salaries are public knowledge, and they’re too high. It’s part time, second job, for some who are self-employed. Their assistant handles much of the work. |
| Getting too expensive. |
| government spending. it makes taxes go up. this is across federal provincial and municipal levels. something like 80% of job creation since 2020 has been by the government – this is funded by taxes that i am expected to pay |
| Greed. Adding a billion condos like Mississauga to generate tax revenue. |
| Health and safety |
| High property tax increases well beyond inflation. Traffic congestion throughout the city. Too many tall condo buildings getting approved destroying the look of our city. Developers getting away with reduced parking requirements when building condos. There should be a minimum of one parking space per unit built. Otherwise neighbourhoods near these condos will get uncontrollable street parking near their homes. |
| High rise intensification. Traffic. Bloating beauruocracy. The flood of propaganda. Budget increases greater than inflation |
| high taxes |
| High taxes and building in areas that can’t handle traffic volume |
| High taxes year after year |
| High taxes, especially in the presence of large amount of new buildings, supposedly paying taxes. |
| High taxes, inefficient traffic lights, spending on too many extras when economy is hurting |
| High traffic congestion and high property taxes. |
| Home safety |
| Housing affordability, over-dependence on cars which causes traffic, environment |
| Improve permit process for renovations and ADUs |
| increase in crime |
| Increase in theft and homelessness |
| Infrastructure |
| Integrity and transparency at City Hall |
| It seems that we are paying a lot of taxes and our mayor and council are bent on spending instead of being responsible with taxpayers money! |
| It’s becoming unaffordable to live here. People buying up all the houses in my neighborhood and turning them in to shit hole rental properties while charging a fortune. |
| Keep spending in line with revenue, keep an eye on the homeless population (seeing more and more people on the street) |
| Lack of affordable rentals, too many condos, to much traffic and noise |
| Lack of transparency from the City and irresponsible spending |
| lack of transparency; inability to determine wants versus needs; lack of establishing priorities based on greatest needs and benefits; larger council is required to provide greater representation of residents |
| Mayoral powers. Increased taxes and cost of living. |
| MMW and council seem to have an attitude of “We want it, it’s expensive but we’ll buy it anyway, and let the taxpayers foot the bill” ENOUGH!!!! |
| mobility not in a car |
| Multi generational living and homes beyond safe levels. Rise of break and enters in the city. Homelessness. |
| Municipal government spending |
| Municipal spending bloat is making living here unaffordable. |
| My concern is that I wonder at the councils ability to focus on non frivolous expenditures within the current financial climate. Now is not the time to raise taxes as it sill further hurt suffering families. Let’s put a pause on extra wants for the city, rather than needs. When the economy is better then we can look at projects, like the art gallery, when people’s budgets aren’t so tight. People will likely be more generous during fundraisers at that time. |
| New development congestion and increases in taxes with no discernible benefit. |
| Our Mayor- since in the office we have such incompetence |
| Out of control spending and adding more city employees..we should be cutting some of them..we are not getting value..and they should all be back in the office |
| Over building of Condominiums. Traffic congestion, High property taxes. |
| Over development, taxes, traffic |
| Over population, excessive condo building. over taxation, lack of council and other levels of government accountability. |
| Overdevelopment (way too many condos, especially downtown); property taxes must be lowered. |
| overdevelopment, traffic, crime |
| Parking downtown, traffic congestion (more enforcement for bad drivers) Population density. Too many apartments going in. Homelessness, dealing with individuals, somewhere for them to camp safely, with sanitation |
| Paying taxes and staying in my home during retirement |
| Payroll is the city s biggest expense??? Is there is any chance of cutting labor?? |
| Poor leadership and management |
| Poor planning and government waste |
| Poor quality and quantity of services for amount of taxes we pay. Poor amenities in parks etc |
| Property tax and building in areas where there isn’t enough traffic lanes to accommodate (downtown is a mess!). Art gallery should renovate inside and makes better use of existing building (not a priority – have wearily patrons contribute to renovate or sell more of the overpriced stuff in their store), money could be better spent renovating the senior centre that more people use. |
| Property tax is my main concern 2022 – $3996.00 2023 – $4247.55 2024 – $4645.86 2025 – $4916.25 That’s a $920.25 increase in 4 years. Where does this stop?? Almost $5000 property tax for a small semi-detached house is ridiculous. |
| Property taxes are forcing people out of their homes |
| Property taxes are too high and not sustainable. Stop all unnecessary programs and freebie give aways such as grants for ARU’s; Love your Neighbour; Food for Feedback; monies to SOM and Burlington Green; Grants for Neighbourhood projects of $10,000 each etc. etc. And stop all of the money being spend on numerous mayor and council membership fees as well as our of town travel for our mayor and council. Also Burlington Green should be paying rent for their facility, presently they pay nothing. |
| Property taxes are too high. |
| PROPERTY TAXES THAT ARE TOO HIGH AND OVERSPENDING ON VANITY PROJECTS LIKE CITY HALL RENOVATION, BATEMAN FACILITY $100 MILLION AND SKYWAY ARENA $37 MILLION |
| Property taxes, new development, traffic |
| Public transport is horrible. Make it better. |
| Putting in bike lanes that a sm fraction of the population uses approx 1/ 2 of the year, buses that run empty most of the time , the insane building of condos with no infrastructure to support it, that just increase traffic snarls Poor planning of roads that have become too small to support the population increase, what are all these membership fees for . |
| Rising costs. Waste of tax dollars |
| Rising crime rates from surrounding GTA cities |
| Road infrastructure, police traffic enforcement |
| Road safety |
| Road safety, crime, cost of living |
| Safety and policing / crime prevention |
| Speeding |
| Stop spending |
| Tax increase. Funds wasted. |
| Taxes |
| Taxes and city counsel over spending |
| TAXES and TRAFFIC and building too many high rises without thinking of any of the consequences |
| Taxes and traffic. |
| Taxes are too high and the Mayor is trying to do too much. |
| taxes are too high for the services we recieve |
| Taxes are way too high and the increases are not sustainable |
| Taxes better managed, value for money, declining quality of life, destruction of character of the downtown, protection of character neighbourhoods, council representation, the need to consolidate Oakville and Burlington as southern tier municipality, the loss of touch withCouncil and staff to communities, etc oh, I forgot amalgamate BPAC, Art Gallery and that silly structure underneath Joesph Brant hoise, such gross efficiency. |
| Taxes getting too high |
| Taxes, homeless |
| That surveys are clearly biased. Traffic is too congested on stroads. There is not enough small businesses. Too many large single family homes |
| The amount of bad drivers and crime coming here from Brampton. |
| The destruction of downtown with the intensification of condo construction. The loss of our manufacturing and commercial base which directly results in loss revenue for the city. My largest concern is our fiscally out of touch City Council! |
| The increase in traffic snarls; the lack of clinics that r open on Sundays ; the lack of attention to infrastructure when building more ; the no of employees at city hall |
| The incredible increase in in taxes over 4 years.Stop it now! |
| The lack of accountabily and trasparency is creating an atmosphere of distrusts in our elected officials. Our tax contribution apear to spend whithout restrain. |
| The Mill croft golf course development is an example of one man destroying part of the character of Burlington. This with many others means that Burlington is not what it used to be – budget must include purchasing strategic property |
| The province has downloaded so many costs to municipalities and restricted development charges for new builds, which brought in revenue for the city. That information is not regularly shared when discussing some of the reasons why municipal property taxes have increased so drastically |
| The roads and wasted money |
| The suburbs and single family home dwellers of the city are paying very little tax for the cost of providing these services to them and are getting welfare through the young tax payers living in downtown core and condos across Burlington. Burlington has to switch to a Land Value Tax before this becomes a big problem in the short term and completely destroys the city and the communities there in the long term, as clearly visible anywhere else on earth. |
| The tax increases… the traffic speed cameras… The waste of money on nonsense appearances by the mayor! |
| The timing of new buildings (condos and business) versus newer infrastructure such as roads has always been very uneven. There is going to be a huge increase in traffic delays/accidents (downtown and suburban) if the flow of main traffic at crucial times is not moving. |
| There is a lot of money being spent foolishly. Downtown is wrecked with all the high rise buildings. I don’t even want to go downtown any more. |
| There’s no culture, we don’t have as many locally owned restaurants, bars and shops like Hamilton does. There’s no nightlife, or many fun places to go on the weekend, for example, an independent gallery like centre3, vintage shops, specialty cafes or venues to listen to live music. Also public transit needs to be better and running later to enjoy the things we do have. |
| To many “nice to have projects” |
| To much is spent on small interest groups. Accountability to residents should be a priority |
| Too expensive |
| Too many high rise buildings and more to be built. Very unprofessional urban design, especially along the lake. |
| Too many panhandlers, immigrants and higher taxes |
| Too many people |
| Too much focus on Bike Infrastructure. More focus on getting traffic moving. |
| Too much tax and no services |
| Too nimby centric. Increase development to reduce taxes |
| traffic |
| Traffic |
| Traffic |
| Traffic – drivers are aggressive and there is no oversight from police |
| Traffic – major congestion around the entire city especially the downtown core. We rarely visit or spend time downtown in Burlington because of this. |
| Traffic and money waste at city hall |
| Traffic and taxes |
| Traffic congestion daily on city and highway roads |
| traffic congestion due to poor traffic light sequencing. Money wasted on arts. |
| Traffic congestion, overdevelopment, safety |
| Traffic is ridiculous. A push for better transit and a push to have more people utilise it will benefit the city immensely. |
| traffic, greenspace |
| traffic, housing |
| Traffic, increased property taxes! |
| Traffic, overpopulation with lack of infrastructure, not enough spending on necessities and too much spending on low priority things like art galleries and drones. Not enough being done to actually improve the city from the inside but asking for tax increases while people are struggling more than ever. Ignores the fact that there is virtually no middle class anymore when suggesting fee increases for necessities like transit for everyone except “low-income” – we are all living hand-to-mouth here. Want to limit our vital facilities like transit in favour of art galleries. This money is better spent on our hospital. |
| traffic, rate of growth, housing affordability, need to redevelop industrial commercial and residential lands already serviced to avoid any reduction in farmland |
| Traffic, roads , jobs, taxes , there’s no reason for more condos! Start spending where we need to , not where we don’t needed to, affordable houses list goes on, the city mis manages our tax money! |
| Traffic, traffic safety and maintenance of green spaces that keep people safe. (Old trees by our home are dropping large branches and are not maintained like they used to be 10 years ago when we moved here) |
| Traffic. It’s ridiculous and it’s been ridiculous for a long time. FIX OUR TRANSIT SYSTEM. Make it easy for residents to leave vehicles at home and ride transit to get where they need to go. Quit focusing on only the “favoured” downtown residents. |
| Transient traffic making our city streets unsafe. Developers destroying Burlington with all the proposed high rises on Lakeshore & Old Lakeshore Rd. Lisa Kerns turned her back against her Constituents and voted for 24 stories at 2072 Lakeshore. |
| Unaffordable taxes |
| Unsafe roads, but this requires police presence, drivers in this city are distracted, aggressive and do not follow the highway traffic act |
| Unsustainable reckless spending from mayor and council. Cannot get rid of these people fast enough. |
| untimed lights, wasted land that could be used for community centres |
| Wasteful spending on things we don’t need. Increase the number of housing in Burlington which in turn increases property taxes and revenue generated by the city of Burlington. We need efficient spending at municipal level and cut back on jobs in the government in this city as it seems to be getting out of hand. |
| Way too many non residents ruining a once great city. Our taxes are supporting too many people that don’t work but take advantage of everything. |
| We keep adding people but not community spaces, so we are diluting the quality of life. Stop cutting down trees for endless sprawl. Our roads are clearly at capacity. There should be more evening fun swims, for working families. The Mountainside reno took a bunch of swimming space and coverted to serve the needs of a few lap swimminers. Where a big open pool is much more flexible I would chain myself to the gates to prevent the same changes happening to Nelson. |
| Wrecking the downtown with so many condos. Creating traffic issues. No bi laws regarding sleeping in public spcaces |
This is an AI summary of the above concerns:
Summary of Burlington Concerns
The feedback highlights a clear focus on the challenges associated with city growth and development, and the subsequent strains on infrastructure and services.
Top-Tier Concerns (Highest Volume of Responses)
These three issues represent the most common and pressing concerns for the residents:
- Over-development/High-rise Buildings:
- This is the single most frequently mentioned concern.
- Specific worries relate to the increase of high-rise buildings and the fear of the city losing its character.
- Traffic Congestion/Traffic Flow/Road Safety:
- A significant portion of feedback centers on the poor state of traffic flow and traffic lights.
- The issue of road safety is also a primary concern, likely exacerbated by increased density.
- Cost of Housing/Affordable Housing:
- A major economic and social issue, with residents expressing concern over the high cost of living and the lack of affordable housing options.
Secondary Concerns (High Volume of Responses)
These issues also represent substantial areas of resident dissatisfaction or concern:
- Roadway/Sidewalk Maintenance: Concerns about the quality of basic infrastructure, indicating a need for better road and sidewalk repairs.
- Council/City Services/Tax Dollars: A noticeable number of responses question the value for property tax dollars and express dissatisfaction with the overall services provided by the City Council.
- Public Transportation: Respondents frequently cited the need for improved and more convenient public transit services.
Other Notable Concerns
- Infrastructure Improvements: General feedback on the need for upgrades to infrastructure (beyond just roads/sidewalks).
- Bylaw Enforcement: Concerns over the effectiveness and responsiveness of municipal bylaw enforcement.
- Parks/Nature/Greenspace: Some residents expressed the need to protect or improve parks and green spaces.
The overall theme is that the rapid growth and development of Burlington are perceived as directly leading to problems with traffic, housing affordability, and the maintenance of core city infrastructure.
Question 11
We asked for the first three digits of the respondents’ postal code to make sure we had representation from across the city.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in this survey.
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