Metro Vancouver Proposes a 2025 Budget Reduction to Lessen Impacts on Households | Metro Vancouver Proposes a 2025 Budget Reduction to Lessen Impacts on Households | | <div class="ExternalClass16B4215CBCA4427BB38BBF15B650E459"><p>October is the final month of Metro Vancouver's annual budget process, and the organization will be discussing options for how to reduce impacts on households across the region. This will include having residents pay less than anticipated for critical regional services on their 2025 utility bill and property taxes.</p><p>“Since I was elected Metro Vancouver's Board Chair at the end of June, I have instructed staff to refine the draft 2025 Budget," said Mike Hurley, Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors. “I made it clear that we must continue reducing costs while providing excellent service. I look forward to engaging with the Board as we work together to finalize the budget through the month of October. We will be looking at a 2025 average household rate increase of 9.9 per cent, down from the previously projected 11 per cent increase. The following year it is proposed to come down to five per cent."</p><p>In the proposed budget, residents would pay an average of $875 per household for all regional services, a $9 reduction over what was previously projected. These services include drinking water, sewage treatment, waste management, regional parks, regional planning, and air quality management.</p><p>For 2025, the proposed budget would see the average household cost for regional services work out to:</p><ul><li>$200 on average per household for water services</li><li>$510 on average per household for liquid waste services</li><li>$71 on average per household for solid waste services</li><li>$94 on average per household for regional district services, which includes regional parks, regional planning, air quality management, E-911 telephone service, and the regional economic development service (Invest Vancouver)</li></ul><p>“Over the past five years, Metro Vancouver has undertaken significant work to reduce financial impacts on residents. It has involved deferring projects. The reality is the rate increase we're seeing this year must be done to ensure that we have the resources to keep our infrastructure in good condition," continued Hurley. “We rely on these systems every day — to brush our teeth, cook our food, and even when we flush our toilets."</p><p>Since 2021, Metro Vancouver has done significant work to defer and evaluate projects to keep costs down for the region. During COVID-19, Metro Vancouver used significant financial levers to keep rates down as low as 2.7 per cent in 2021 and 3.5 per cent in 2022.</p><p>In 2023, Metro Vancouver kept the increase to 4.5 per cent, reduced from the originally projected 10.1 per cent, which was achieved by pausing some work due to macro-economic uncertainty coming out of COVID-19.</p><p>These artificially low rates continued until 2023. However, this resulted in the following projected increases to the average household rate in the 2023–2027 Financial Plan:</p><ul><li>14.3 per cent for 2024</li><li>14.1 per cent for 2025</li><li>12.4 per cent for 2026</li><li>12.1 per cent for 2027</li></ul><p>This would have led to an average household impact of $1,021 by 2027.</p><p>To ease the financial burden on households, a Financial Plan Task Force was formed in 2023. Metro Vancouver worked through numerous scenarios and identified $650 million in adjustments within the capital program. This allowed Metro Vancouver to reduce the projected 2024–2027 average household rate increases to:</p><ul><li>12 per cent for 2024</li><li>11 per cent for 2025 (now reduced to 9.9 per cent)</li><li>5 per cent for 2026</li><li>5 per cent for 2027</li></ul><p>Even with this year's addition of an adjustment of $2.8 billion to accommodate the additional costs of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant Program, Metro Vancouver's proposed budget would still achieve a total net rate below the original 2023 projection for 2027. The current 2027 projection is $965.</p><p>The Metro Vancouver Board will review the 2025 budget recommendations at a workshop scheduled for October 16, 2024. At the November 1, 2024 meeting, the Board will consider approving the budget and five-year financial plan. Following the finalization of the budget, municipalities will integrate the regional charges into their local property tax and utility bills through their budget processes.<br></p></div> | 9/26/2024 7:00:00 AM | | Metro Vancouver Media Relations | media@metrovancouver.org | | |