2023 Budget update
On March 6, 2023, Council approved Operating and Capital Budgets for 2023, including a property tax increase of 2.14%, and an asset levy increase of 2%.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the proposed budget.
View Five-Year Financial Plan (2023–2027)
Budget background
Every year the municipality creates a budget that pays for the services provided by the District of West Vancouver, including:
- Police
- Fire and Rescue
- Bylaw enforcement
- Parks
- Community centres
- Library
- Cultural programs
- Capital expenses, such as maintaining public facilities and roads
- and much more!
46% of your property tax bill funds the municipal budget. Property taxes also include amounts collected on behalf of other taxing authorities, like provincial schools and TransLink. Learn more about property tax allocations in the Budget Highlights.
Considerations for 2023
Inflation and managing rising costs
While the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the District’s community priorities and cost pressures will have greater influence on the budget preparation process. With the highest inflation rate seen in decades, climate change, and supply chain disruptions, the District will continue its financial prudence and focus on maintaining financial strength and stability while fulfilling its mandate to serve the needs of the community.
Each year, all non-taxation sources of funding are reviewed for further opportunities before resorting to taxation. As part of the annual budget process, staff conduct a thorough base budget review to ensure that all revenue and expenditure budgets reflect current realities.
The District revenue sources are generated mainly from property taxes followed by fees and charges. The limited funding sources are also reflected in the breakdown of the tax base, with 97% being residential class, and 3% being business class. The District does not have industrial properties like other municipalities do, and therefore does not have this major source of tax revenue.
Climate action
The 2023 Budget and Five-Year Financial Plan will continue addressing the emerging priorities such as developing a Climate Action Plan and Strategy. The District remains committed to investing in local climate action, continuously building the Environmental Levy to support climate-change preparedness, responding to disasters due to climate change, and implementing climate action initiatives to support critical climate change adaptation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
What does this mean to you?
Staff are proposing an Operational Levy increase of 4.57%, an Asset Levy increase of 1.00%, and an Environmental Levy increase of 0.50%. Read more about these levies in the Budget Highlights (PDF)(External link).
The total proposed tax levy increase of 6.07% is below the rate of inflation, as measured by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for British Columbia of 7.2%.
The total tax increases amount to an extra $350 for the average single-family detached home (SFD) assessed at $3.76 million and an extra $158 for the average strata property assessed at $1.70 million. The average assessed values are based on the completed roll from BC Assessment.
Video: Understanding our budget
Want to see the budget in action? Watch this video to find out how your tax dollars are spent.
Learn more about the budget
Review the proposed budget and ask questions. All feedback received is submitted to Council as part of the 2023 Budget review.
Preliminary Financial Plan 2023 (proposed budget)
Questions and answers
The question form was open from January 18 to February 3 at 4:30 p.m.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a question. Responses to questions received are available below.
Budget information meetings
Thank you to everyone who attended a budget information meeting. There was a presentation followed by a question and answer period.
Watch a video of the presentation
Budget Information Meetings Presentation
Q&A - January 24, 2–3 p.m. information meeting
