The City of Coquitlam wants to give a clearer picture to taxpayers about how much extra it’s taken on for the provincial and federal governments.
This week, council heard from city staff about its upcoming study on how much municipal taxpayers shouldered in four years, between 2021–24, because of senior government downloading through legislative changes.
The impacts have been particularly felt in areas like protection services, parks, the environment, transportation, housing and social services.
Staff say they hope to have the results ready for council before budget discussions begin this fall. Coquitlam’s tax lift this year is 6.83 per cent.
The move follows similar studies by Vancouver and Kamloops city staff; it also follows reports from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), which since 2020 has received at least 56 resolutions tied to downloading.
Michelle Hunt, Coquitlam’s deputy chief administrative officer, said the purpose of the inaugural report is to quantify the impact of downloading and to ensure residents and business owners are educated and aware that the city has only one source of revenue generation: the taxpayer.
As well, municipalities are — by law — banned from going into a deficit.
Coun. Brent Asmundson said municipalities are taking on too much and it’s hard for taxpayers to understand the imposed financial burdens.
Coun. Dennis Marsden highlighted the Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, a provincial inpatient treatment and recovery hub for adults based at səmiq̓ʷəʔelə/Riverview Lands, which sees about five Coquitlam RCMP officers per day responding to missing patients, as well as 3030 Gordon Ave., a provincial homeless shelter where emergency personnel attend daily and to people in the surrounding encampment.
“The numbers are quite shocking when we get into the history of downloading,” Coun. Craig Hodge added, flipping through Hunt’s report.
And Coun. Teri Towner questioned city staff if the provincial government is breaking the law by downloading. Under B.C.’s Community Charter, she quoted, Victoria can’t hand over responsibilities to municipalities unless there’s a provision for resources required to fulfil those responsibilities.
Towner said cities shouldn’t be taxing home and business owners for social issues. “Your taxes are supposed to pay for city services,” she said.
Hunt noted while some transfers come in, it’s not enough for operations.
Still, Coun. Matt Djonlic said he doesn’t want the city study to take up too much time given the continuous administrative constraints. “Let’s not get into the nitty gritty here. We have so much else going on,” Djonlic urged.
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