Vancouver city council approves 3.9% property tax increase

Mayor Ken Sim said it was "a great day for the City of Vancouver," as his council voted to approve a 2025 budget worth $2.4 billion in spending with a property tax increase of 3.9 per cent.

The increase is broken down by 2.9 per cent for city services and a one per cent increase for infrastructure renewal. It was passed unanimously by council.

It means an extra $149 for the median single-family home and an extra $286 for the median business property.

Earlier this year, a seven per cent property tax increase was proposed to balance the books if no action was taken to increase revenues or reduce costs. Council passed a motion in the spring to limit any increase to a maximum of 5.5 per cent.

"It's a very pragmatic budget that actually takes care of our people, and we're really proud of it," said Sim on Tuesday in approving the even lower number after staff were able to find extra revenue and efficiencies.

In achieving a lower property tax increase for 2025, staff were able to find around $9.5 million of additional revenue through measures such as increasing fees and through sponsorship, naming rights, advertising and donations.

For example, $3.6 million is expected in revenue in 2025 from advertising on street furniture.

The initiatives were shaped by a special mayor's budget task force, which was put in place in April 2023 to look at the city's budget for efficiencies and potential revenue.

For 2025, annual revenues from non-tax sources are projected to increase by $10 million, according to the budget, while $16.1 million was found in savings from police, parks, engineering services and the city's libraries.

'Going in the right direction'

Coun. Mike Klassen said the 3.9 per cent increase would have Vancouver among the lowest in property tax increases for 2025 in Metro Vancouver and would not cut service levels or jobs.

Council, under Klassen's and Sim's ABC super majority, passed a property tax increase of 7.5 per cent in 2024 and 10.7 per cent in 2023

"The numbers were very hard to take," said Klassen. "We had to restore services. We've now got our arms around this, thanks to the mayor's budget task force. All of our staff and council, I think, we're going in the right direction here."

Police budget

In the lead-up to the municipal budget, the Vancouver Police Board approved a budget for the police force that sought an extra $13 million above what city staff had expected.

Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer argued at a public city budget consultation meeting on Dec. 3 that the extra funds were needed to help pay to police a growing number of protests, help city staff respond to tent encampments and properly roll out body-worn cameras.

On Tuesday, city council approved around $2.6 million in extra funding, with contingency funds to be used to help with police initiatives.

Police Board Chair Frank Chong said at council on Tuesday that the funding plan for police for 2025 was "reasonable," with the body-worn cameras being the priority.

Twenty-seven per cent of spending in the 2025 budget is allocated for police (19 per cent) and fire (eight per cent).

Utilities pain

Along with the 3.9 per cent property tax increase is a $386 increase for utilities for the median single-family home and $377 for the median business property.

Sewer utility fees alone are increasing by 37 percent in 2025, mostly due to vast cost overruns from Metro Vancouver's embattled new North Shore Waste Water Treatment plant, which is now four years beyond its completion date and five times over budget.

A coalition of housing experts, academics, builders, businesses and property tax appeal professionals are calling out both Metro Vancouver and the City of Vancouver for straying "well outside their lane into non-core services normally delivered by senior governments," such as social housing, health care and climate change.

They say focusing on core services would make it easier to balance budgets and avoid unaffordable tax increases for businesses and residents.

On Tuesday, City of Vancouver opposition Coun. Adriane Carr tried to bring a motion that would have staff look into how to recover $77 million in climate change mitigation. It was not passed by council.