Vancouver city council approves 2019 budget – property tax to rise 4.5 per cent

Vancouver City Council has approved the city’s $1.5-billion operating budget for 2019.

This means property taxes for Vancouver residents will officially go up 4.5 per cent next year.

However, that’s down from the original 4.9 per cent proposed in the draft budget.

In a release, the city says it was able to reduce it by grabbing funds out of the Innovation Fund and the Council Contingency.

The approved property tax increase is comprised of:

• 1.0 per cent to fund additional investments in infrastructure renewal approved in the 2019-2022 Capital Plan
• 1.7 per cent to cover increased costs related to the provincial government’s new Employer Health Tax
• 1.8 per cent to cover inflationary and wage costs of existing services, and new investments to maintain and improve services (reduced from 2.2 per cent)

The $317 million Vancouver Police Board and $54 million Vancouver Public Library budgets were approved.

So was $365 million for new projects in 2019.

This marks Kennedy Stewart’s first city budget as mayor.