B.C. taxpayers are paying for runaway municipal spending
The Business Council of B.C. argues that municipal spending is contributing to B.C.'s affordability crisis
Millions of British Columbians wrote their biggest-ever property tax cheque this month. On Oct. 17, they’ll get to vote on who’s responsible. Top of their list of concerns should be that municipal spending is a runaway train, it’s accelerating, and it’s damaging affordability.
Since 2010, B.C. property taxes on owner-occupied homeowners have climbed by 110 per cent—almost double the national increase of 62 per cent, and more than double the rise in B.C.'s overall consumer price index (CPI). By comparison, Alberta’s property taxes rose by 89 per cent, Ontario’s by 61 per cent, and Quebec’s by just 35 per cent.
In the CPI, property taxes account for roughly the same share of consumer spending as beef, pork, fresh fruit and vegetables combined—and more than four times the share of child-care expenses. Yet groceries and child care dominate affordability conversations. Property taxes, which cost the average household more, get a free pass. There’s one hefty annual bill that’s too quickly forgotten, especially among homeowners aged 55 and over who defer their property taxes until sale.
Even if you don’t own property, you’re not off the hook. Over time, landlords pass property taxes through in rents, especially for new tenants, while businesses pass commercial property tax increases through in prices. Everyone pays, whether they see the bill or not.
B.C. law bars municipalities from running operating deficits, so councils set spending first and then set a tax rate to generate the revenue needed to cover it. Property taxes climb because operating budgets climb. And budgets in B.C. have been climbing far faster than population growth or inflation can explain.
Our analysis of 153 B.C. municipalities over 2010-24 found that 135 of them–88 per cent–grew operating spending faster than their population and inflation. Cumulatively, operating spending increased 94 per cent over 2010-24, while population grew 28 per cent and inflation was 36 per cent. To be clear, our analysis excludes capital spending.
“Excess spending” by B.C. municipalities–which we define as operating spending growth that exceeds population growth and CPI inflation–totalled about $6.5 billion over 2010-24. That works out to $1,280 per resident in real dollars, money that is no longer available for people to put towards mortgages, rent, groceries, holidays, and children’s sports or music lessons.
These trends are pervasive and getting worse. Annual excess spending per resident, in inflation-adjusted dollars, has risen every municipal electoral cycle since 2011: from $31 during 2011-14, to $100 during 2014-18, to $121 during 2018-22, and finally to $163 since 2022. That’s a more than five-fold increase across four electoral terms.
Most of the excess spending growth is in core areas like protective services, parks, development services, transport and transit, and sewer services. But the fastest-growing spending category is “health, social services and housing” with a 74 per cent real per capita increase since 2010. The latter are provincial responsibilities, however. We question whether there has been an implicit downloading of responsibilities by the provincial government, a decision by municipalities to broaden their mandate, or an inefficient duplication of activities by provincial and local governments.
What about B.C.’s largest regional district, Metro Vancouver? The district has 3.1 million residents. It hasn’t grown operating spending in line with population growth and inflation since about 2015, and has chalked up spectacular excess spending of $174 million in just the past three years.
Here’s the question B.C. taxpayers should be asking: are they getting best-in-the-country local services to justify highest-in-the-country property tax inflation? Our view is that, absent clear evidence of commensurate service improvements, B.C.’s municipalities appear to be delivering less value for each tax dollar over time.
Three fixes would help. First, B.C. municipalities should be required to benchmark operating spending growth against population growth and CPI inflation. Where proposed increases are above that benchmark, councils should provide clear justifications tied to service improvements or specific local costs.
Second, the province should expand the B.C. auditor general’s mandate to include oversight of municipal and regional governments. Taxpayers would then see independent, “value-for-money” performance audits instead of only financial audits. Third, the province should reform Metro Vancouver’s governance, whether through direct election or a smaller appointed board. This massive regional government, projected to have an operating budget over $2 billion by 2030, must be accountable either directly to the people who pay for it or to the provincial legislature.
This runaway train can still be slowed before it wreaks more havoc on affordability. In October, British Columbians get to decide whether they want to pull the brakes.
David Williams, DPhil, is vice-president of economics at the Business Council of British Columbia. Jairo Yunis is BCBC’s director of policy.
As published in Business in Vancouver on July 28, 2026.