2025 TAX MULTIPLES AND RATES (Staff Report)
Staff report recommending that the Town maintain consistent tax burden for all property classes with no change to multiples from 2024.
TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE REPORT
TO: Committee of the Whole DATE: March 26, 2025 FROM: Steven Vella, Director of Finance MEETING DATE: April 8, 2025
2025 TAX MULTIPLES AND RATES
RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the Committee recommend to Council that staff prepare the Tax Rates Bylaw to implement the 2025 general municipal tax rates as per the Town’s tax rate setting objective to maintain consistent tax burden for all property classes, and no change to property class tax multiples from 2024 as detailed in Table 2 of the Director of Finance’s March 26, 2025 report titled “2025 Tax Multiples and Rates”.
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:
Option #2: THAT the Committee recommend to Council that staff prepare the Tax Rates Bylaw to implement the 2025 general municipal tax rates as per the Town’s tax rate setting objective to maintain consistent tax burden for all property classes, and no change to property class tax multiples from 2024 as detailed in Table 2 of the Director of Finance’s March 26, 2025 report titled “2025 Tax Multiples and Rates” with exceptions.
Option #3: Provide different direction to staff
PURPOSE:
To confirm the property class tax multiples and associated rates for 2025 that will achieve the adopted Financial Plan’s revenue target for municipal taxation.
TIME CRITICAL:
The Community Charter requires municipalities to adopt a tax rates bylaw after adoption of the financial plan bylaw and before May 15 each year. After receiving direction from Council, staff will prepare the tax rates bylaw for 2025. Staff require sufficient time after Council direction, and Financial Plan adoption, to calculates rates, perform tax software testing, prepare Bylaws and present to Council for adoption.
BACKGROUND:
The Town’s current tax rate setting language is identified in the annual Financial Plan Bylaw as follows,
Objectives:
- To ensure property value taxes remain affordable and reasonable for services provided.
- To maintain consistent tax burden for all property classes.
Policies:
- Regularly review the affordability of property value taxes for each property class relative to other classes.
- Regularly review and compare the Town of View Royal’s distributions of tax burden relative to other municipalities in the region and historically.
The Town’s current practice is reviewing multiples on an annual basis, based on the “regularly review” language above. Staff recommend changing practice and redefining the policies statements above to review less frequently. Primary property taxation principals include fairness, predictability, and consistency. Reviewing and changing tax multiples on an annual basis deteriorates these principals.
Council’s objectives may shift over time to adjust to current pressures, trends in assessment values and class inventories within the Town. A best practice for tax rates practices or policy is for Council to review taxes early in the year following an election year, to set tax rates practice and/or policy for the four-year term.
DISCUSSION:
The following schedules (attached Appendix A, B and C) provide 2024 tax multiples, tax rates, and municipal taxes on an average home for Capital Regional District municipalities for information.
Comparisons - apples to apples?
- Tax multiples and municipal taxes on an average home - quite comparable municipality to municipality. They vary however due to a number of factors including municipal services offered, municipality size and property class inventory make up, age, asset management strategies and Council discretion
- Tax Rates are least comparable due to differences in average assessment values, municipality size and services offered, and property class inventory differences by municipality
The main factors under Council discretion are the amount of taxation and how it is distributed equitably across the community through tax rates, property class multiples, and permissive tax exemptions.
Please see Appendix D for British Columbia general property taxation information and history.
Table 1. 2024 Town of View Royal assessment base, gross taxes, and multiples
| Count | Assessed (000’s) | Assess % | Tax Levy (000’s) | Levy% | Multiple | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 Residential | 3920 | 4,158,758 | 92% | $8,666 | 72.1% | 1.0 |
| Class 2 Utilities | 16 | 938 | 0% | $38 | 0.3% | 19.19 |
| Class 5 Light Industry | 2 | 4,305 | 0.1% | $36 | 0.3% | 3.96 |
| Class 6 Business and Other | 123 | 347,616 | 7.7% | $3,117 | 25.9% | 4.30 |
| Class 8 Recreation/Non-Profit | 108 | 12,340 | 0.2% | $167 | 1.4% | 6.5 |
| Class 9 Farm | 10 | 57 | 0% | $1 | 0% | 11.58 |
| Totals | 4,179 | 4,524,014 | 100% | $12,025 | 100% |
Table 2. Property Tax multiples for Town of View Royal, and CRD regional municipalities high, low, and median comparisons
| 2023 TVR | 2024 TVR | CRD High | CRD Low | CRD Median | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 Residential | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Class 2 Utilities | 20.44 | 19.19 | 19.80 | 4.27 | 8.01 |
| Class 5 Light Industry | 3.96 | 3.96 | 7.35 | 1.65 | 3.78 |
| Class 6 Business and Other | 4.30 | 4.30 | 6.56 | 2.17 | 3.79 |
| Class 8 Recreation/Non-Profit | 6.00 | 6.5 | 7.90 | 1.00 | 2.59 |
| Class 9 Farm | 11.58 | 11.58 | 11.58 | 0.17 | 3.19 |
Reviewing tax rates, multiples, and setting a practice
As above, staff are recommending against the annual review of tax multiples and moving to a less-frequent review cycle possibly aligned with election terms to ensure taxation principals of fairness, predictability, and consistency are maintained.
Staff are also recommending against the review of specific properties and tax impact in any specific year. The tax impact to specific properties can vary greatly depending on,
- Assessed value in comparison to the average home
- Assessed value change from the prior to current year in comparison to the average home increase or decrease
This practice could also be viewed as prejudicial to the properties being reviewed.
Tax practice or policy setting is best determined by the following factors,
- Council’s direction on the utilization of municipal services between different property classes (multiples). Specifically for Class 1 residential compared to Class 6 business/other and Class 8 recreation/non-profit which combined make up 99.9% of the Town’s assessment base
- Comparison to other municipalities in the Capital Regional District
- Comparison to other BC municipalities with similar size, property class inventory, and services offered as the Town
- Local economic conditions
- Community feedback on services offered and facilities
- Need for stability and predictability of taxation
Setting tax practice/policy less frequently based on these factors will ensure taxation fairness and consistency between different property classes and individual properties.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOAL:
The desired level of public participation for the recommended option is:
[ ] Inform [ ] Consult [ ] Involve [ ] Collaborate [ ] Empower [x] N/A
| CONCURRENCE: | Initials | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Administrative Officer | SS | I concur with the recommendation. |
ATTACHMENTS:
Appendix A: 2024 Tax Multiples for CRD Municipalities Appendix B: 2024 Tax Rates for CRD Municipalities Appendix C: Municipal Taxes on an Average Home - 2024 Appendix D: Property Taxation 101
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