To the Residents of Our Community,
On January 27, 2026, community advocacy forced the City to drop a planned 1.5% property tax hike to 0%. While a victory, this is only temporary relief; despite record tax revenue, residents are still asking where the money went.
The video below captures my recent address to City Hall demanding the financial transparency our community deserves.
True transparency is the only way to ensure our tax dollars are protected from further mismanagement and waste. We must hold the administration accountable for every dollar collected and move beyond short-term fixes.
After a deep dive into the municipal budget, I have calculated a shocking $370M in funds lost so far:
- $122M Failed/abandoned projects
- $186M Poor real estate decisions
- $4.7M Severance payouts
- $45M Massive salary increases
- $12M Noncompetitive contracts
- 1.2M Luxury travel and council expenses
If you’ve had enough sign the petition below and scroll down to see a detailed breakdown of the numbers.
We would like at least 1500 signatures but the more signatures we gather, the stronger our message will be! Please sign below and share with your neighbors🙏🏽
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Below are clear examples of financial mismanagement, scandals, and poor decisions and how they have hurt both the city’s finances and public trust. Figures are pulled from creditable news outlets and public city documents and then verified against the city budget.
1. Failed / Abandoned Projects
- Brampton University (BU) Consultants: $629,000 paid to consultants (including firms with political ties) for a project provincial authorities never approved. Audit found many “deliverables” were missing or incomplete.
- LRT Tunnel Study & Sunk Costs: Over $4.4 million spent on environmental assessments and consultant fees for a downtown tunnel option that was ultimately shelved in favor of a surface route after years of delays.
- Riverwalk Downtown Revitalization: $15.3 million in costs now listed with “unknown” funding sources after previous grant applications failed, leaving the project in a state of expensive limbo.
- Cancelled Innovation District Projects: 100+ Million in “sunk costs” lost to planning and land preparation for downtown tech hubs that were later scaled back or cancelled.
- Heritage Heights Fire Station: $1.8 million in planning wasted on a critical station that was removed from the budget despite high growth.
Category Sum: ~$122,000,000
2. Poor Real Estate Decisions
- Hydro One Building Purchase: Purchased by the city for $77.9 million shortly after it sold privately for $32.5 million. This represents an immediate taxpayer value gap of $45.4 million.
- The Bramalea Civic Centre “Giveaway”: In a highly controversial move, the City “gifted” the $48 million Bramalea Civic Centre building and its surrounding land to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) for a new medical school. On top of giving away the asset, the city committed an additional $20 million in taxpayer funds to help TMU renovate the building and 2 million to move the existing library and cancel leases on community business. This resulted in a total immediate loss of municipal control and capital value exceeding $70 million.
- Downtown Flood Plain Liability: The city has sunk $30.3 million into the Riverwalk project and still risks losing a $38.8 million federal grant due to a failure allocate funds already collected to complete the project. In addition to the 69.1 million in lost tax dollars the city is exposed to billions in lost development and future flood liability.
- Innovation District Lease Subsidies: Approximately $1.5 million spent on leasing and subsidizing underutilized private office spaces for “innovation” partners that have failed to generate the promised economic return.
Category Sum: ~$186,000,000
3. Severance Payouts
- CAO David Barrick & Associate Exits: Following the 2022 and 2024 administrative upheavals, payouts for the CAO and his hand-picked senior staff reached an estimated $1.2 million. Barrick specifically sought a 36-month payout and $250k in damages.
- CAO Harry Schlange Settlement: Payout and continued salary following his dismissal, totaling nearly $1 million.
- Senior Staff “Hush Money”: Cumulative settlements for various Commissioners and Directors who left during “factional” council power struggles, estimated at $2 million over the last 4 years.
- Sexual Misconduct Settlement: Use of $500,000 in city funds to settle a lawsuit involving a senior official, conducted without transparent council oversight.
Category Sum: ~$4,700,000
4. Massive Salary Increases
- Peel Police Leadership: 2.1 Million for top 5 executives at the police board. Chief Nishan Duraiappah’s salary rose 102% in six years to $611,678 (2025). His deputy earns $500,000. These are the highest policing salaries in Canada.
- Patrick Brown’s Office Expenses: $430,000 spent on social media monitoring/PR, $9,000 for flowers, $212 for car washes, and $3,600 for framed hockey jerseys—all charged to the city.Structural Salary Inflation (Sunshine List): The rapid expansion of city staff earning over $100k, with the new CAO’s salary set at $346,000, significantly outpacing inflation and peer cities.
- The 2026 budget implemented a blanket 8% salary increase across City Hall, driving a $43 million rise in annual payroll. Executive pay surged: the CAO’s salary increased to $381,736 (8.4%), while the Commissioner of Corporate Support Services received a $71,000 raise to $334,579. These increases expanded Brampton’s six-figure Sunshine List, with top salaries now over eight times the average resident’s income.
Category Sum: ~$45,530,000
5. Noncompetitive Contracts
- Zenobē Private Transit Deal: An $11 million contract (part of a larger $4 billion electrification plan) where 90% of the documents were redacted. Awarded without a standard open-market competitive tender.
- Solarit Solutions (Politically Linked): $235,000 of the Mayor’s PR budget went to a firm used by his federal campaign, raising questions about “double-dipping” with taxpayer funds.
- “Emergency” Procurement Overuse: Estimated $500,000 in discrepancies where “emergency” status was used to bypass bidding for non-urgent supplies, often benefiting pre-selected vendors.
Category Sum: ~$11,735,000
6. Luxury travel and Council expenses
- Brampton’s 2026 records reveal a surge in discretionary spending that significantly outpaces previous terms. Regional Councillor Paul Vicente’s 2025 actuals reached $406,217, highlighted by an $8,900 mission to Taiwan that included a $5,600 flight with an undocumented stop in his ancestral homeland of Portugal. Collectively, the current council’s non-salary expenses have skyrocketed; the Mayor’s office annual spending reached $461,923—nearly 17 times the $26,199 billed by the previous administration in 2017. These multi-million dollar increases for international hotels (up to $900 per night) and luxury airfare persist while critical city infrastructure remains underfunded
Category Sum: ~$1,200,000
7. The Billion dollar “Shell Game”:
- The city accumulated $1.26 Billion in reserves while claiming “tax freezes.” Audits reveal that while the money sits in accounts, the city’s infrastructure deficit has ballooned. This represents a failure to provide the services taxpayers already paid for, essentially holding $1.2 billion of public wealth hostage while we loose millions and roads, infrastructure and facilities decay.
Category Sum: ~The deterioration of our great city!
If you’ve had enough, sign the petition and let’s fight for our tax dollars!
We would like at least 1500 signatures but the more signatures we gather, the stronger our message will be! Please sign below and share with your neighbors🙏🏽