“We’re committed to keeping taxes low.”
The line, which was included in a press release from one of the slates contesting this month’s civic election, made me do a double take. After years of property taxes hikes outstripping the rate of inflation, I thought there’s no way Delta could possibly boast some of the lowest rates in the Lower Mainland as the release suggested.
I dug around to see if I could find some sort of comparison of tax rates in Greater Vancouver and came across a chart the Vancouver Sun had put together a few years back that did indeed show Delta was lower than most. It was enough to substantiate the claim in the release, so it made it onto our website where, incidentally, we have a whole whack of campaign coverage (check out the Municipal Election page).
Coincidentally, the Sun came out with an updated comparison last weekend and despite an annual average property tax increase of four per cent in recent years, Delta ranked 18th out of the 29 municipalities that stretch from Whistler to Hope. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
I have lamented in this space on several occasions that slowly but surely property taxes are taking a bigger bite out of household budgets. Even though hikes of three or four per cent aren’t large on their own, and don’t tend to get ratepayers too riled up, but stack them on top of each other and they ensure city hall gets a progressively bigger slice, presuming your wages aren’t escalating at the same rate.
The sad part is it’s happening pretty much everywhere, save for some places in the Fraser Valley. Even with property taxes rising at a four per cent clip here, there were still 13 municipalities in the region that checked in with higher annual increases over the past term.
The sadder part is that we have, for the most part, become immune to how this is all unfolding to the point where property taxes aren’t really much of an issue in the current campaign. Yes, candidates are pledging to keep them low, but there’s been no grand outcry to tell politicians to stretch our dollars further or to keep hikes in line with the rate of inflation.
Instead, little by little we fall further behind, although if it’s any consolation, most others in the region are worse off.
