West Vancouver presents three property tax options for 2024

The District of West Vancouver staff has developed three budget options for 2024. The district says the budget is developed considering near-term risks while planning for long-term financial resilience and sustainability.

The 2024 budget presents three tax options: The minimum budget pegs the total taxes, including asset and environmental levy increases at 7.65%, the preferred budget at 9.88%, and the best practices budget at 11.28%.

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The financial impact for an average single-family detached home assessed at $3.74 million would be $447 for a minimum budget, $578 for a preferred budget, and $660 for a best practices budget.

With a $3.42 million increase, the Minimum Budget can be described as the “keeping the lights on” budget. The District says it is essentially the baseline spend without any service improvements—the increase mainly funds uncontrollable cost pressures from contractual obligations, inflation, and downloaded costs.

With $3.42 million, the Preferred Budget focuses on additional support for community groups while addressing safety, cleanliness, and accessibility concerns. The Best Practice Budget, with a $4.21 million increase, includes requests from various community groups to support the arts and deliver recreational and cultural services to the community.

District of West Vancouver says it faces obstacles unique to the area, such as challenging geography, ongoing risks from climate change-related weather events, and a high expectation of service levels from the community. “As we look to the 2024 budget year, the District also faces challenges from the inflationary pressure on both labour and non-labour costs and the downloading of costs from other agencies like E-Comm 9-1-1,” it said.

Here are some FAQs about the budget.