Last week, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who leads a team of councillors of all political stripes, announced plans to seek re-election in 2022. That is a long time from now. But it might not be long enough to erase the memory of a 9.3-per-cent increase in property taxes and utilities under consideration by council.
Comments from irate residents who showed up to share their feelings on the draft budget suggest the increase isn’t popular, but that’s hardly a surprise. What taxes are?
Passing this draft budget unaltered would be politically dangerous, particularly for Mr. Stewart and the other left-leaning members of council. Lefties are always vulnerable to being labelled tax-and-spenders and an increase of this magnitude piled on top of a 4.5-per-cent increase last year will stick in the minds of voters.
For those who do forget, Mr. Stewart’s opponents will be there to remind them. Already, former Non-Partisan Association councillor George Affleck, who acknowledges he is mulling a bid for mayor, is chiding council for driving up tax rates with a list of ambitious new projects he says the city can’t afford.
That view is shared by two of the four NPA councillors – Lisa Dominato and Colleen Hardwick – who flew out of the gate declaring the proposed tax increase unacceptable. Shots are also coming from members of Vision Vancouver, the centre-left party that until the last election had controlled council for a decade and typically kept increases to around 3 per cent.
Mr. Stewart minimizes the increase by refusing to talk percentages. He breaks the numbers down to a weely cost for the average household, which indeed doesn’t seem onerous at between $6 and $12 for the median household. He refused to state this week whether he believes the increase is reasonable and says he’ll reserve judgment until the public responds.
Melissa de Genova, Michael Wiebe and Adriane Carr say an increase is warranted, but add they will look for savings. Christine Boyle took to Twitter to defend the increase, but says she is open to cuts so long as they are not in the areas of housing or climate commitments.
Jean Swanson says she’d trim some areas but keep the overall increase and put the extra into projects dear to her heart: homelessness, the opioid crisis and affordable housing. On balance, it appears most councillors will favour bringing the number down by some amount, which means there are difficult choices ahead.
Some of the big-ticket increases were proposed by staff, such as a recommendation to hire 25 police officers and 30 firefighters whose salaries comprise the bulk of a proposed $8.2-million spend on improved safety and security. Other increases arise from motions passed by council.
Their very first decision has proved one of the costliest – a city plan that will cost $5.5-million next year and an additional $12-million or more in years to come. (It might be fair to question this one, given that council just zoned for added density on arterials citywide without a city plan.)
Then there is an accelerated climate emergency preparedness plan, which includes improving the city’s response to flooding and other extreme weather events for a cost $6.67-million. A plan to address historical discrimination against Vancouver’s South Asian population will cost $420,000. And the list goes on.
These motions were passed by a well-meaning council that has been working hard to get along, despite their party differences. So far, this relative harmony has been maintained by a willingness to support each other’s pet projects.
Although all councillors talk about the importance of housing affordability, homelessness and climate-change mitigation, it’s not entirely clear that’s where the bulk of the budget increase will be spent.
Vancouverites are big-hearted and not overly averse to higher taxes so long as they can see results. The skepticism kicks in when they continue to experience lengthy permit waits, see young families scrounging for affordable housing and homeless people camping in Oppenheimer Park.
Sometimes fixes to big problems require bigger budgets and more staff. But a lot can get done by leaders who set priorities, instruct staff to drop some of the less important tasks and focus on the stuff that really matters.
Value for money – it’s what people want.
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