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They called it “the housing budget,” with tens of millions to repair public housing, build more affordable units and tackle homelessness.

But it comes with the property tax hike hitting 4.4 per cent this year, tacking an extra $124 on the property tax bill of an average home assessed at $241,000.

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“What choice do we have? We can’t abandon the most vulnerable in the city,” budget chair Josh Morgan said after helming the last of six all-day budget meetings.

“We were dealt a very difficult situation and council was unwilling to forgo important investments . . . Really, the bulk of our new investment is in housing and homelessness-related activities. Those are really the significant investments that drove the budget up.”

So, too, did provincial downloading — millions of dollars shifted by Doug Ford’s provincial Progressive Conservative government to city hall’s bottom line in an attempt to help balance Ontario’s books — in areas like childcare, transit and conservation authorities.

Add in ballooning ambulance costs — the bill city hall receives from Middlesex County is expected to rise an average of 12.2 per cent a year until 2023 — and you’ve got city spending that tops $4.2 billion over the next four years.

A trio of city politicians opposed the multi-year budget during a final vote Friday afternoon.

Councillors Michael van Holst, Phil Squire and Paul Van Meerbergen slammed the budget as out of touch with the realities facing Londoners.

“We don’t want to be out of sync with the people getting the bills, and that includes the commercial sectors and industrial sectors. They’re all wealth generators,” Van Meerbergen said.

All others were in favour, with Mayor Ed Holder striking a diplomatic tone: “We’ve all had our favourite issues as it relates to this budget . . . and some things we didn’t want.”

“Council was hoping the number would come in at something, I would say certainly, under three per cent,” Holder added after the meeting.