The 2011 draft budget had several highlights. Here are the ones identified by the city:
• Freezing recreation fees for activities for the first time since amalgamation;
• Expand free transit for seniors adding Mondays and Fridays after 12 p.m.;
• $2.8 million per year for new cycling initiatives across the city;
• 22 frontline paramedics with two new, fully-equipped ambulances and two new technicians to keep the ambulances on the streets;
• 45 new firefighters to staff two new fire stations;
• $161 million towards projects and programs to improve and streamline the bus system;
• A $10 million investment in Housing and Poverty Reduction initiatives that is in addition to a $4 million capital investment for housing initiatives;
• $2 million allocated for economic development initiatives;
• 74 new bus drivers to improve service and reduce overtime;
• $500,000 funding envelope for priority environmental initiatives;
• $28 million to address the flooding and sewage back-up problems in the west-end;
• Capital spending plan that focuses on transit investments, the renewal of roads and sewers and new parks and recreation facilities;
• Advances key initiatives including: the Ottawa River Action Plan, light rail and the redevelopment of Lansdowne park;
• $4.8 million in 2011 towards the first phase of funding for a new $48 million recreation complex in Barrhaven South;
• Capital works over the next few years to improve Ottawa's road network, including: $30 million expansion of Trim Road in Orleans; $17 million on the east-end extension from Navan Road to 10th Line Road; $9.5 million on St. Joseph Boulevard; the city's share of the Highway 417 interchange; and $55 million for the Alta Vista connection to Smyth Road.