This will be the second time the tax has been hiked. Council approved an increase from one per cent to 1.25 per cent in 2019. 

The city says 787 properties were declared vacant for 2019 — down 15 per cent from 2018 and 30 per cent from when the tax started.

The 2020 budget includes funding for 35 new police hires and 30 new firefighters.

Keeping a home empty in Vancouver is about to get more expensive.

The staff report does recommend further exempting homes under renovation for a majority of the year while extending the complaint process to 90 days.

According to the report released Wednesday, $39.4 million in revenue was raised during the 2018 tax year, which was collected from the owners of 1,989 vacant properties.

"If small businesses, local businesses are important to you, you can't keep increasing taxes like this. It's putting us right out of the market."

The motion, pitched by Mayor Kennedy Stewart, could be the first step toward his promise of tripling the one per cent tax on vacant homes.

The city says 1.7 per cent of the proposed hike is needed to offset rising costs linked to the new Employer Health Tax.

The news comes a day after the a federal government report found the city's vacancy rate has declined since last year.