 Why property taxes in your municipality are likely to go up more than normal this year | | |  | | | Every year there are stories about local governments facing the potential of large tax increases as they plan their yearly budget — but this time in B.C., it seems more prevalent than usual.
In the Okanagan, Lake Country is looking at an increase between 10 and 19 per cent. Victoria is staring at a 9 per cent increase, Prince George approved an 8 per cent increase, and there are many municipalities across the province looking at yearly hikes significantly higher than the 2 to 4 per cent seen in the last decade.
“We also feel inflation, just like you would in your house,” said Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal, whose community is looking at a 10 to 12 per cent increase.
Inflation is a factor for higher expenses. But so are political priorities, especially after an election year: Pachal mentioned public safety and preparing for the new SkyTrain extension as places where they heard a need for new investments.
Another place with higher demand for spending is upgrades in basic infrastructure, particularly in communities where utilities were laid down more than 50 years ago, and aren’t up to present-day needs.
“We have wood pipes underneath the Fraser Highway,” said Pachal.
“We need to replace those … with modern infrastructure, so that’s really what this council was looking at: we need to invest, and the longer we wait the more expensive it will be.”
But every municipality’s political culture is a bit different. Take the District of North Vancouver, where council originally asked staff to pare down a proposed 5.5 per cent increase to 4.5 per cent — and then saw backlash after staff recommended stopping planned investments on a number of planned bike lanes and walking paths.
“To me it shouldn’t be an either-or situation,” said councillor Catherine Pope.
“Those important projects will help reduce congestion, will help reduce carbon emissions from cars, and will build a more active transportation future for our kids, those are really important projects and we can't be chopping those for what amounts to peanuts.”Time will tell if enough councillors in North Vancouver agree with Pope. Municipalities are legally obligated to run surpluses and have few levers available to meet revenue targets outside of property taxes.
More than any other time of the year, budget season is when the tradeoffs of local governance really hit.
And the only guarantee is the final decisions won’t be a hit with every voter. | | |  | | | 1. Surrey | | | What happens when a city creates an ethics commissioner, only for it to be used as a political football by everyone involved? Reece Harding spoke about his time leading Surrey’s new ethics office, and his conclusions that the province needs to have a greater role in oversight — something we’ve heard time and time again when a local political culture goes sour.
Read more | | |  | | | 2. Kamloops | Coincidentally, it’s time for our regular Kamloops update: Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson introduced a motion about a storage facility for homeless people near his business, and subsequently had to leave the meeting twice due to a potential conflict of interest. There’s also questions about him showing up at a high school to ask questions about a public health presentation. Never a dull moment!
Read more in Kamloops This Week | | | |  | | | 3. Vancouver | | | | | | |  | | | 4. Speed limits | For the past few years, there’s been a concerted attempt in many municipalities to lower speed limits in their jurisdictions, and this week brought two more examples: Richmond got rid of four road sections where the speed limit was 60 km/hr instead of 50, while Peachland continued a campaign to get speed limits reduced on the highway that runs through it.
Read more in Kelowna Capital News | | | |  | | | 5. Pitt Meadows | Sometimes longstanding practices are seen as antiquated or unsafe with modern technology, and longstanding bylaws are examined by council. All of which to say that in Pitt Meadows, slingshots are now considered “firearms,” and will be regulated as such after complaints about them being used for hunting near dikes. We wonder if council would tell detractors: "Don't have a cow, man."
Read more in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
