It is time to break a terrible pattern
As I campaign for mayor of West Vancouver, residents repeatedly tell me that affordability is a major concern, even in a community as prosperous as ours.
They want their municipality to do its part to keep taxes in check while almost every other household expense continues to grow. They feel spending isn’t under control, and they worry–as do I.
West Vancouver’s property-tax problem is no longer one difficult budget. It is a pattern of increases, temporary fixes and larger bills pushed into the future. That has to change.
Some numbers bear noting.
The present council approved combined municipal levy increases of 4.14% in 2023, 7.54% in 2024, 3% in 2025 and 3.43% in 2026. Compounded, those four increases amount to approximately 19.3%, and that’s before utility charges, changes in property assessments or levies collected for other taxing authorities are considered.
West Vancouver now projects a preliminary 2027 property-tax increase of 6.89%. It is forecasting increases of 20.1% over four years. From the beginning of this council’s first budget in 2023, the municipal levy would be approximately 43.3% higher by 2030. That is way out of line.
These increases matter in a community with many residents on fixed incomes and a very limited commercial tax base. Residential properties contribute approximately 94% of West Vancouver’s property-tax revenue. A high-value home does not necessarily mean a high disposable income.
I hear regularly how repeated increases place pressure on seniors, families and locally owned businesses. People are asking whether those services are being delivered as efficiently as possible.
West Vancouver is already an exceptionally high-spending municipality. A recent Fraser Institute report found that West Vancouver had the highest municipal spending per person among the Metro Vancouver municipalities studied: $3,879 in 2024, compared with a regional average of $2,387. Its municipal revenue of $4,387 per person was approximately 41.5% above the regional average of $3,101. These comparisons do not prove that every expenditure is excessive, but I believe they make a rigorous value-for-money review essential.
In 2025 and 2026, council moderated tax increases partly by drawing from reserves, eliminating or reducing reserve contributions and using other one-time measures.
Put plainly: council has spent some of tomorrow’s dollars today as it moved some of today’s problems into tomorrow. Its decisions reduced the immediate tax bill but did not set out a longer-term plan. A vision is needed to make the state of our public finances sustainable.
The current five-year plan includes dramatic growth in “External Contributions and Partnerships.” That revenue is projected to rise from only $210,000 in 2027 to $2.51 million in 2028, $5.89 million in 2029 and $5.41 million in 2030. But we are not being told what specific partnerships support those figures, how firm the commitments are, and what happens to taxes if the money does not materialize. We need that information now.
And none of these projections reflects the major future burden of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. The average West Vancouver single-family homeowner is currently projected to pay a special wastewater-treatment-plant levy of about $531 in 2027, rising to approximately $941 a year by 2029. The final 30-year household bill is still unknown.
As mayor, I would ask council to adopt a clear fiscal benchmark: property-tax increases should generally be held to inflation plus population growth. Any proposed increase above that level should require a public, line-by-line explanation.
I would lead council in undertaking a genuine service and value-for-money review, examining staffing and management growth, testing procurement and contracting costs, publishing measurable efficiency targets and separating essential infrastructure renewal from discretionary expansion.
Fiscal discipline does not mean neglecting services. It means determining what results residents receive for their money, eliminating expenditures that cannot be justified and refusing to present every tax increase as inevitable.