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Property taxes · The record, 2019 to 2026

Eight budgets. The second four raised taxes twice as fast as the first.

Mayor Mike Little has chaired council for all eight budgets since the 2018 election, and four of the six councillors elected in 2018 were re-elected in 2022. Here is what those eight budgets did to the property tax, from the District’s own financial plans, with the page for every figure.

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2019 to 2022

2.75%

Average increase a year, first term

2023 to 2026

5.32%

Average increase a year, second term

Compounded, term against term

2.01×

23.0% over the second four budgets, 11.5% over the first

Across all eight budgets the increases compound to 37.1%. The utility bill rose 59% over the same years.

Year by year

What council approved, budget by budget

Each figure is the increase council adopted, not a staff proposal or a draft, and each links to the page of the District document that states it. Page numbers are PDF page numbers.

The property tax increase council approved each year, and the part of it set aside for infrastructure renewal.
YearApproved increaseFor infra­structureSource
First term, 2019 to 2022
20193.00%1.0%2019–2023 plan, p. 4
2020 set at 3%, cut to 2% for COVID-192.00%not stated2020 Annual Report, pp. 54, 64
20213.00%1.0%2021–2025 plan, p. 7
20223.00%1.0%2022–2026 plan, p. 7
Second term, 2023 to 2026
2023 the usual 1% suspended5.25%0%2023–2027 plan, p. 7
20247.00%0.5%2024–2028 plan, p. 7
20255.50%1.0%2025–2029 plan, p. 5
20263.53%1.5%2026–2030 plan, p. 11
  • First term: 2.75% a year on average, 11.46% compounded over four budgets.
  • Second term: 5.32% a year on average, 23.01% compounded: 2.01 times the first term.
  • The 2020 increase was set at 3% and cut to 2% for COVID-19, and the lower figure is what was charged. Counted at 3% instead, the first term averages 3.00% a year and the second is still 77% higher.
  • The District’s plans describe its record as one of the lowest average tax increases over ten years (2021–2025 plan, p. 7; 2026–2030 plan, p. 16). A ten-year average blends this council’s first term into its second.

The 2026 budget

3.53% in an election year, and what the plan says it cost

Residents were told the 2026 increase was 3.53%. The District’s own plan shows how it got there: keeping services as they were would have needed 7.5%, and council took 4.0 points off. The plan’s table, as printed:

Operating budget adjustments, in per cent of the tax levy. 2027 onward is the plan’s forecast, not an approved increase.
2025202620272028–2030
Operations8.0%6.0%4.1%3.1%
Infrastructure deficit1.0%1.5%1.5%1.5%
Needed to maintain services9.0%7.5%5.6%4.6%
Adjustments−3.5%−4.0%−2.1%−1.1%
Property tax increase5.5%3.53%3.5%3.5%

2026–2030 plan, p. 12.

  • In 2025 the District was facing 9.0% to maintain services. Council approved 5.5%, with some reduction in spending and services and more funding and borrowing (2025–2029 plan, p. 3).
  • In 2026 it was 7.5%, and council approved 3.53%: 4.0 points off, the largest adjustment in the table.
  • The plan expects to do it again: 5.6% to maintain services in 2027, 3.5% planned.

Reductions in service are expected every year of this five-year plan.

District of North Vancouver, 2026–2030 plan, p. 27

The plan puts the gap between what maintaining services would cost and the money available at $5.0 million in the 2026 operating budget and $107 million over the five-year capital plan (2026–2030 plan, p. 27). It says staff will bring council information on service levels later in 2026, and that the changes to the capital plan fall mostly in the later years of the five (2026–2030 plan, p. 4). And it warns that if council keeps increases to inflation plus 1.5% for infrastructure, further reductions to services will be required (2026–2030 plan, p. 12).

Where the 2026 operating adjustments come from, as the plan lists them.
CategoryAmount
Additional efficiencies$2,280,000
Matching services to demand and resources$1,131,000
More value from District services and assets$974,000
Addressing the infrastructure deficit$349,000
Responding to senior government downloading$275,000
Total$5,009,000

2026–2030 plan, p. 12. The plan’s text on page 11 says $5.09 million; its table adds to $5,009,000.

Questions worth asking before Saturday, October 17, 2026

  • Which services were reduced to reach 3.53%, and which reductions are planned for 2027 to 2030?
  • Will the information on service levels promised for later in 2026 be public before voting day?
  • The plan needs 5.6% to maintain services in 2027 and plans 3.5%. What closes the gap?

Infrastructure

The infrastructure levy: suspended in 2023, rebuilt since

For years each increase included 1% for replacing roads, pipes and buildings, which the District’s 2020 Annual Report calls council’s policy for asset management (2020 Annual Report, p. 64). The 2023 budget reached 5.25% partly by suspending that 1% for the year (2023–2027 plan, p. 7). It came back at 0.5% in 2024, 1% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026.

  • The District now puts the replacement value of what it owns at about $4.6 billion, up from $2.3 billion in 2020 (2026–2030 plan, p. 33).
  • Even with infrastructure funding rising by 1.5% of the tax levy every year for ten years, the plan reaches about 85% of its own target investment rate (2026–2030 plan, p. 34).
  • The 2020 figure is not split in the District’s documents: the Annual Report says only that the usual 3% was cut to 2%.

Utilities

The bill that rose faster than the tax

Water, sewer and garbage are billed separately from property tax and set in their own bylaw, so their increase rarely makes the headline. In every one of these eight budgets it was larger than the tax increase.

Property tax increase against the combined utility increase for a single-family home. The source is for the utility figure; the tax figures are sourced in the first table.
YearProperty taxUtilitiesSource
First term, 2019 to 2022
20193.00%3.8%2019–2023 plan, p. 5
20202.00%4.6%2020–2024 plan, p. 5
20213.00%4.2%2021–2025 plan, p. 8
20223.00%5.1%2022–2026 plan, p. 8
Second term, 2023 to 2026
20235.25%5.7%2023–2027 plan, p. 11
20247.00%7.1%2024–2028 plan, p. 12
20255.50%10.2%2025–2029 plan, p. 9
20263.53%7.4%2026–2030 plan, p. 17
  • Compounded over the eight budgets: utilities up 59%, property tax up 37%.
  • A single-family home’s combined utility charge was $1,617 in 2018 (2019–2023 plan, p. 26), $1,920 in 2022 (2022–2026 plan, p. 46) and $2,571 in 2026 (2026–2030 plan, p. 58): $651 a year more than when this term began.
  • In 2026 the utility increase, 7.4%, was 2.1 times the tax increase of 3.53%.

Whose increase it is

Much of it is Metro Vancouver’s, and the District says so on the bill: Metro’s charges make up 52.1% of the water charge, 74.7% of the sewage charge and 31.8% of solid waste (2026 utility newsletter, p. 1). The steepest part is the North Shore treatment plant; the wastewater page has Metro’s own figures, area by area.

To soften it, the District is drawing about $16.8 million from its reserves from 2026 to 2029, which it says saves a single-family home about $123 in 2026 (2026 utility newsletter, p. 2; 2026–2030 plan, pp. 17–18). Reserves spent now are not there later: the District’s sewer levy to Metro is projected to reach $52.8 million by 2030 (2026–2030 plan, p. 17). How the District’s fees compare with Burnaby’s is in Your tax bill versus Burnaby’s.

Across the region

Of eight councils, only one sped up more

British Columbia elects every council on the same day, so the District’s two terms line up exactly with every other council’s. These are the councils, the District among them, for which a checkable figure could be found for every one of the eight budgets. Measured the same way, this term’s compounded increase against last term’s, the District is second of eight.

Compounded property tax increase over each council term, and the second term as a multiple of the first.
Council2019 to 20222023 to 2026Second term against first
Surrey12.11%26.96%2.23×
District of North Vancouver11.46%23.01%2.01×
Burnaby10.54%20.49%1.94×
Port Coquitlam8.92%16.45%1.85×
City of North Vancouver14.71%22.68%1.54×
New Westminster19.46%29.24%1.50×
West Vancouver14.98%19.31%1.29×
Vancouver24.86%23.64%0.95×
  • Surrey is first. Part of its 2023 increase, 4.5 of the 12.5 points, went to the policing shortfall as it replaced the RCMP with its own police force (CBC News, April 4, 2023).
  • This measures the change between terms, not the level. Surrey, New Westminster and Vancouver raised taxes more than the District this term, and over both terms together the District is sixth of eight.
  • The District’s first term was one of the most restrained: third-lowest of the eight. That is part of why its ratio is high.
Where each council’s figures come from

Each figure is the property tax increase the council adopted, counting dedicated levies on the tax line (Surrey’s roads levy, West Vancouver’s asset and environmental levies, the City of North Vancouver’s Harry Jerome levy, Burnaby’s growth levy, New Westminster’s emergency and capital levies), from the council’s own documents or, where those are not online, reporting of the council vote. Port Coquitlam’s 2021 figure is worked out from the dollar amounts in its council report. New Westminster’s 2022 and 2025 figures are the budget bylaw at its final readings and the council vote directing it; the adoption records are not online. Council documents on escribemeetings.com download as PDFs.

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What these figures do not show

  • The District’s increases are not the region’s highest. Other councils raised taxes more over this term, and the District’s 2023 plan called its 5.25% among the lowest in the region that year (2023–2027 plan, p. 7).
  • Much of the pressure is real and outside council’s control. Collective agreements, policing, provincial housing legislation, construction costs and Metro Vancouver’s charges all push the budget up. The District says most of its cost increases are beyond municipal control (2026–2030 plan, p. 4), and much of that is true.
  • A percentage is not your bill. These are increases for the average home in each class; a bill moves with its own assessment, and part of it is collected for other bodies. Where your tax dollar goes sets out which part the District controls.
  • 2026 figures are budget figures. Adopted and final, but not year-end results, which come with the 2026 annual report.

What changes

What Max would do

Campaign priority These are commitments Max has already published; each links to where.

The affordability priority

Check this yourself

Every figure above links to the District document and PDF page it comes from: type the page number into your reader’s page box. The copies checked were downloaded from docs.dnv.org on September 17, 2026. If you find an error, send the document and the page and it will be corrected.

All sources and documents · The affordability priority · Wastewater accountability

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Written by the campaign to elect Max Zahedi.