Vancouver City Council has given the green light to its 2022 budget, which includes more spending on police and firefighters, and a property tax increase of 6.35 per cent.
The $1.75-billion operating and $683.4-million capital budgets were approved Tuesday. The final documents will be shared early next year.
Mayor Kennedy Stewart is branding the budget as climate-friendly and public safety-oriented.
It includes a new, annual $9-million climate fun to create more electric vehicle chargers, retrofit buildings, and improve public transit, cycling and walking infrastructure throughout the city.
Spending on police and firefighters, however, is responsible for nearly half of the 6.35 per cent property tax increase, which is higher than the five per cent listed in draft documents of the budget.
In a news release, Stewart said the 6.35-per cent increase is “modest,” resulting in an additional $6 per month for the median condo, $14 for the median detached home, and $26 for the median business property.
“The VPD is under significant cost pressures,” he explained in the release.
“As the single largest component of our budget at 20 per cent, it’s important we have a third party look into this and provide residents with a better understanding of this spending.”
The Vancouver Police Department’s 2022 budget is $367 million, including compensation increases for the term of Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2022.
Stewart has requested that the city’s new auditor general, Mike Macdonell, examine the force’s “budget pressures” to help inform future spending.
According to draft documents of the budget, spending on Vancouver Fire Rescue Services makes up eight per cent of 2022 operating expenditures — the same amount as parks and recreation.
The city has also approved more funding for homelessness prevention, street cleaning, libraries, mental health supports, and fighting the overdose crisis.
Capital expenditures featured in the draft documents include $134.7 million on affordable housing, $26.8 million on childcare, $18 million on renewable energy, and $54.3 million on parks and open spaces.