Niagara residents will see a 7.59 per cent jump on the regional portion of their property taxes this year.
Regional Council passed the regional budget which funds services such as policing, emergency services, garbage collection, water and transit.
New in this year's regional budget, is the cost of amalgamating transit, which has a price tag of $55M.
Welland's Mayor Frank Campion worked to try to bring the price tag down with a motion to use $4M in provincial gas tax dollars.
The motion was defeated with St. Catharines Mayor, and acting Chair of the Niagara Transit Commission Board, Mat Siscoe saying it's not a good idea to use those tax dollars for operating costs.
Other large ticket items include water and wastewater services, waste management, and infrastructure.
Niagara residents pay a regional levy and their own municipal taxes, which are decided on by local councils.
Some local municipalities, such as Welland, have passed a negative per cent budget increase for residents, passing on the savings of the community not paying for transit to residents.