Victoria has adopted its yearly budget as residents and businesses are set to see a 6.15 per cent tax increase after a nine per cent hike was initially proposed.
The average residential property – with an assessed value of $1,053,000 – will see an increase of $172 this year as the typical business – akin to a small downtown spot – will see a rise of $445.
The city said the 2023 budget puts $480.6 million into more than 200 services and programs and invests in infrastructure for future generations.
Mayor Marianne Alto said in a statement that the budget “continues to support and boost a healthy economy, investing in community across the city, highlighting the downtown core as one of the city’s economic engines.”
“Budget 2023 focuses investment on what the community has told us matters to them while continuing to sustain our infrastructure and improve quality of life for all.”
Victoria is spending $46.2 million on rehabilitating underground infrastructure, $11.7 million on road restoration and $22 million on multi-modal corridor improvements that the city said will support road safety, walking, cycling, transit, liveability and accessibility.
The city will also pay $255,000 for a program that sees Victoria police officers patrol the downtown entertainment district on weekends. Those funds are on top of the city’s $58.5-million share of the VicPD’s budget – which staff said accounts for a third of property taxes.
Bringing down the tax increase meant the city cut several department budgets, reduced the top-ups to various reserve funds, deferred a $400,000 review of the city’s dog parks and delayed a $450,000 circulation and accessibility study for Beacon Hill Park.
Victoria’s most recent strategic plan calls for limiting tax increases to inflation plus one per cent. The inflation rate reached 8.4 per cent in Victoria last year and sat just above six per cent when the city began budget deliberations before falling to below five per cent.
Alto noted last month the city has never considered a tax increase above six per cent.
“Although we take some comfort in being among the lowest in the region, it’s still a very, very high tax burden and it’s being placed on all of our taxpayers, perhaps not entirely equally,” she said at a meeting while discussing the rates.
The 6.15 per cent tax bump will be felt by all property types except for Victoria’s handful of light and major industries.
Council opted for the recommended option of aligning industry tax rates with other businesses to signal the city’s support for the former, which has historically paid higher taxes. The move results in tax increases of $227 and $337 for the average light and major industries, respectively.
Several councillors and the mayor said there needs to be special attention to how the rates impact the industrial sites, which are seeing tax increases of 22 (light) and 37 (major) per cent. Staff noted the assessed value of industrial properties went up higher than the other classes.
“The one’s that we have are massive contributors, not just to the tax rates but also to community as they’re remarkable investors in a whole variety of programs,” Alto said.
READ: Victoria looks to further cut tax hike with longer paid parking hours
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READ: Victoria keeps downtown patrol program, police board now says some requests can wait
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