Vancouver home and business owners will see a notable hike in their property taxes next year.
The City of Vancouver has approved a new budget for 2022, which includes a higher-than-proposed property tax increase of 6.35%. Draft documents of the budget list property tax increases at 5%.
The $1.75-billion operating and $683.4-million capital budgets, which were approved Tuesday, will be shared early next year in final documents. According to City officials, the hike in property taxes is partially driven by a new climate levy that accounts for 1% of the tax increase.
Aerial image of Stanley Park, Coal Harbor and Vancouver, BC, Canada
In a news release, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart called the 6.35% increase “modest,” saying it will result in an additional $6 per month for the median condo, $14 for the median detached home, and $26 for the median business property.
However -- whatever the monthly dollar dent -- property owners in the already notoriously pricey city aren't impressed. Passionate property owners and politicians took to social media to express their distaste for the fact that the tax hike was higher than promised.
The move adds insult to injury for local business owners who've already been hard-hit financially thanks to the relentless pandemic. Vancouvers merchants already pay among Canada's most lopsided property taxes relative to their residential counterparts.
The vote was far from a unanimous one within the walls of City Hall; most elements of the budget were passed by a vote of 6-5.
Funded by property owners, the budget's new, annual $9-million climate fund plans to retrofit buildings, revamp public transit, create more electric vehicle chargers, and improve cycling and walking infrastructure throughout the city. The budget also includes more spending on firefighter and police officers. Spending on such emergency personnel is responsible for nearly half of the hefty property tax increase.
On the affordable housing front, a total of $500,000 was also approved to implement council's recent initiative to bring "vacancy control" to single-room-occupancy buildings.
Amid growing costs in Vancouver in recent years, property tax hikes in the city are nothing new. It appears it's more about the broken promise of a 5% hike that isn't sitting well for some.
