Why Vancouver tax increases are set to go higher than ever despite Ken Sim's campaign rhetoric | | | | During last year’s Vancouver election, Ken Sim regularly pointed out that property taxes had increased by 25 per cent under Kennedy Stewart’s tenure as mayor — anywhere between five to eight per cent each year.
He told multiple media outlets that he was confident Vancouver could pay for 100 more police officers and mental health nurses “without cutting services and increasing taxes” and said his history as an accountant would help in finding places to make up the estimated $20 million difference.
His ABC Vancouver party said, “Property tax increases over the past four years have had significant impacts on rental affordability, business viability and home security without producing a commensurate increase in services.”
Given all that, you might have expected this year’s budget would see a lower tax increase than the average under Stewart.
But it looks like you’d be wrong.
“The fact is, we have inherited a deficit in terms of our infrastructure. We have a lot of high demand for making sure that services are brought back to life,” said Coun. Mike Klassen this week, explaining why the draft budget brought forward to council will see a proposed 9.7 per cent increase, the biggest in recent memory. It’s possible amendments to the budget will significantly reduce that tax increase, but that seems unlikely based on public and private comments made by ABC members.
Why the seeming acceptance of higher taxes after Sim’s comments throughout the campaign — and after four years where three ABC councillors repeatedly criticized high increases?
First, Vancouver does have an infrastructure deficit, particularly when it comes to maintenance. ABC did get a mandate to spend more money on police and other core services. Accordingly, those expenses will be higher.
But what about the efficiencies Sim promised?
The fact is Sim didn’t make a concrete promise during the campaign to lower the rate of property tax increases. Instead, he would talk about an individual salary in the mayor’s office or office furniture that comes out of the capital budget or small items that are the equivalent of nickels and dimes in a $2 billion budget.
Some of them could be immediately addressed if ABC Vancouver wanted to, but it hasn’t seemed like their biggest priority in their first four months in office.
And the major cost drivers of collective agreements, aging infrastructure and affordable housing programs require a lot more work — and political capital — to successfully overhaul.
Those may be battles Sim and his team wish to pick in the years ahead as they get a greater handle on city hall and contemplate how much they want to prioritize fiscal conservatism.
But at least in year one, consider it another example of how opposition parties can change their tune once they're in government. | | | | | 1. Surrey | | Of course, Vancouver’s discussions can’t hold a candle to what’s happening in Surrey at the moment, where a 17.5 per cent increase is on the table due to the uncertainty of operating two separate police departments at the same time and what getting rid of one of them could look like. The mayor and police chief are also feuding with one another; council is split 5-4 … so in some ways, it’s like an election never happened at all.
Read more | | | | | 3. Harrison Hot Springs | Since we checked in on Harrison Hot Springs last week, things have escalated: all four councillors voted in favour of a non-confidence motion against the new mayor — but there are allegations they’ve held illegal meetings. Neither the mayor nor four councillors would comment to Metro Matters, and the ministry says it’s up to the public to take legal action if they think there’s an issue. Read more in the Aldergrove Star | | | | | | | 4. Climate funding | Municipalities regularly lament that they need more money to both upgrade their climate mitigation strategies but also to respond when those disasters hit, and this week higher levels of government responded: the province added $180 million to its emergency preparedness fund, while the federal government announced $557 for the 2021 floods.
Read more | | | | | 5. Disc golf! | We love a good “niche sport riles up the community” story, and in North Vancouver, there are complaints that disc golfers are littering, lighting up and urinating in a popular park — and are demanding the city gets rid of the course. For their part, golfers admit there’s been a surge in popularity but hope some sort of compromise can be made.
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