Mississauga’s 2020 budget, which would increase the city’s portion of resident property taxes by 1.7 per cent, is moving forward.

The proposed fiscal plan passed the city’s budget committee Nov. 20 and would boost property tax supported spending to $538.7 million, an increase of around $27.8 million (4.9 per cent) over last year.

For the Mississauga portion of property taxes, the increase means $96 more on a house assessed at $688,000, according city staff. With the proposed 2020 Peel Region rate, residents could face a total property tax increase of 3.84 per cent, or $211.84 on a house assessed at $688,000.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said there’s “work to do at the region,” but noted the city portion of the tax increase is below measures like the consumer price index and in line with other cities in the GTHA.

“I'm always concerned about our pensioners on a fixed income and young families, and we all pay taxes, of course,” she said. “At the same time, we want to invest in our city.”

The proposed budget plans on revenue of around $27.1 million more in property taxes this year over 2019 and $8.4 million more in user fees for city programs. The fiscal plan also counts on $11.4 million more in provincial gas tax and revenue transfers over 2019’s budget.

Around $10.3 million of the increase, per budget documents, is to preserve current service levels through cost factors like inflation, scheduled staff wage hikes and growing gas prices. Another $10.2 million in the proposed 4.9 per cent increase would go to capital infrastructure and debt repayment.

The remainder of the increase includes costs for a proposed boost of 32,600 MiWay service hours, which would bring the 2020 total to 1,663,934. In 2018, MiWay's actual service hours were 1,600,308.

Around 122.5 new full-time equivalent staff positions are proposed in the budget, including 26.1 in the recreation department, 25 for MiWay and 16 for fire and emergency services.

The budget is scheduled back at council for a decision on Dec. 4, and councillors can still amend the city’s fiscal plan.