Port Coquitlam has done the unimaginable: Kept property tax increases for homeowners below the rate of inflation.
Unlike Coquitlam and Port Moody, which are trying to keep tax hikes to the 3% range, the city believes it can keep tax increases at 0.48% residential and industrial properties while commercial properties could see a small drop in their taxes.
How is this even possible?
With tax lifts typically in the 2% to 3% range every year, Tri-City taxpayers have come to expect to get a clunk in the head and a dig into their wallets when they pay their bill each July 1.
Somehow, PoCo has come up with a way to limit the tax bite — and without cutting services.
“It doesn’t happen by accident. It’s happens because of a lot of hard work and responsible decisions,” Mayor Brad West said in a presentation to council last week, suggesting a combination of efficiencies and more astute investing are keeping costs low.
While the city is holding the line on tax increases, it does plan to add more frequency to its organics pickup to keep bears away, and will train firefighters to higher a higher standard of medical care.
This is all good news and sets a high bar for other jurisdictions.
Will PoCo be able to do this next year? Even the city administrators admit this year is unusual because growth is high while assessments have dropped in value.
But even if the city can’t maintain this low level of tax increases next year, residents will still benefit because of the way tax increases typically compound each year. If taxes go up between 2% and 3% next year, the total tax burden is still lower than it might have been had the city not looked at ways to run its operations more efficiently.
Coquitlam, meanwhile, is looking at ways to limit tax jumps. The overall tax increase for all property owners is 2.64%. But because the city is working to shift some of the burden away from businesses, residential properties will see a 2.98% jump while non-residential property taxes will only rise by 1.98%.
In PoMo, taxes are proposed to increase 3.7%, including a boost to police services, and new revenue generation plans are in the works, with deals to bring in nearly $1 million for two electronic billboards.
Utility costs will also rise — on average $33 a homeowner — as Metro Vancouver forecasts the need for more money for sewage and water infrastructure, and to raise funds for more park land and rental housing.
In light of these efforts, Port Coquitlam’s small tax hike of .048% for residential taxpayers is an even greater achievement.
