Vancouver city council votes to freeze property taxes in next budget

Vancouver council approved a motion by Mayor Ken Sim on Wednesday to direct staff to prepare a zero per cent property tax increase in the next budget.

Sim’s motion directs staff to find savings, while prioritizing core city services and maintaining community grants, library and community centre services.

However, delivering a zero per cent increase would require cutting about $100 million from the city’s operating budget.

“The residents, business owners, people that live in the City of Vancouver, they’re going through affordability challenges and we have to do our part to make sure that we help the residents,” Sim told Global News.

“And so there’s no turning back here. We leave it up to our city manager to find those operational efficiencies.”

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Opposition councillors have criticized the mayor’s proposal, expressing concerns about the impacts of cuts and calling it performative ahead of the next election.

“This is going to pave the way for a future council to clean up the mess that ABC is causing in year three of its mandate,” Coun. Lucy Maloney with OneCity said.

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Shortly after Sim’s ABC council took power, it raised property taxes by 10.7 per cent for the 2023 operating budget.

There was a 7.5 per cent increase in 2024, followed by a 3.9 per cent increase for this year.

“I couldn’t be more clear in saying that we are, you know, when we look at these operational efficiencies, we are not looking at rec centres, we’re not looking at social grants, we aren’t looking at libraries,” Sim added.

“All those are not going to be touched whatsoever. And also Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and the VPD.”

Earlier this year, city staff had recommended a property tax increase of six to seven per cent, which included a one per cent levy for infrastructure renewal.