Dan Fumano: ABC drew criticism during the party’s first two years in power, for approving property tax hikes far more than historic averages in 2023 and 2024
The City of Vancouver’s operating budget for 2025 will be funded by a 3.9 per cent property tax increase, a significantly smaller hike than the first two budgets under ABC Vancouver.
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Council approved the municipal budget in a meeting Tuesday, with Mayor Ken Sim and fellow members of his ABC party hailing it as a big win.
“Today is a great day,” Sim told reporters at city hall shortly after council approved the budget, flanked by ABC councillors.
Sim said he was proud to deliver a budget with a smaller-than-expected property tax hike without cuts to services or jobs, which also fully funds the police and fire departments.
But one non-ABC councillor raised concerns about the lack of detail available Tuesday around where the savings and efficiencies will come from.
The city’s 2025 operating budget will be $2.34 billion, which is about 19 per cent more than the first budget ABC approved two years ago shortly after taking office.
The extra VPD funding will include, among other areas, money for body-worn cameras, DNA analysis, and expanding the department’s data extraction and analytics on smartphones.
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer was at city hall Tuesday and said he was “very satisfied with the decision by council.”
“Our relationship with mayor and council is very good … Speaking on behalf of the VPD and our members, we’re very happy with the current mayor and council, and we have felt supported ever since October of 2022,” Palmer said, referring to the date of the last municipal election, when Sim and ABC won a council majority.
These changes included increasing expected revenue from investment income by $4.3 million based on updated forecasts and boosting property tax revenue by $5 million “to incorporate the increases in new construction.” Sim’s amendment also directs decreases on different line items from the budget, through the “identification of capital efficiencies” and “additional expense reductions.”
But details about those efficiencies weren’t immediately available.
Green Coun. Adriane Carr supported most of Sim’s budget amendment, but abstained on the additional police funding. After the vote, she said she had some concern about the lack of detail available.
“I’m not sure I have all the information about what that cost elimination will mean for the city,” Carr said. “Where did they find those efficiencies?”
Carr, council’s most senior member, said she recalled when she was serving when Vision Vancouver had a majority on council and property tax increases were often around three or four per cent.
But those past councils kept tax hikes lower, in part, by failing to properly invest in Vancouver’s sewer infrastructure, Carr said, and she was glad to see the current ABC-majority council dedicating one per cent of the property tax increase toward renewing water and sewer lines.
ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung introduced an amendment that saw council encourage the park board to find savings by reducing duplication in areas of overlap between park board and city operations. Should the park board agree to that proposal, city council is recommending the reallocation of $900,000 in savings toward improved washroom cleaning. The amendment was approved, without the support of Carr and fellow Green Coun. Pete Fry.