Please bear with me. I'm not exactly the crispiest french fry in the McDonald's bag. I'm hoping someone with knowledge about municipal affairs can answer the question.

I've been living in a midsize European city for the past few months. They have an average lower salary than Ottawa. They have a lower population than Ottawa (under 600k). However they do have higher taxes than Ottawa.

This city has two extensive subway lines and they're building a third one. For the places they don't serve, there's an extremely clean and reliable bus service that has a frequency of 8 minutes.

Their grocery prices are about the same as Ottawa prices and the rent is significantly lower. About 20-30% lower.

They have beautifully maintained parks and streets. Homelessness is almost a non issue and getting around the city is a joy. They also have a cheap and robust bike share program. The center city is very walkable and you have access to a lot of services.

So my question essentially is, how is that possible?

At first I thought it was because of the subsidizing of the suburbs coupled with lower taxes but there's no way that's the whole reason.

Could someone tell me what Ottawa spends its money on and if there are areas of expenditure that make spending on good public services difficult.

Edit - Toulouse, France.