A new report from the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC) is shedding light on how municipal spending is impacting affordability in B.C., including a significant increase in Metro Vancouver.
According to the report, “78 per cent of B.C. municipalities increased inflation-adjusted spending faster than municipal population growth between 2013 and 2023.”
The report reveals an amount in excess of $3.6 billion in spending, “ultimately borne by households and businesses through higher property taxes and other fees.”
Spending in the Metro Vancouver Regional District increased from $484 million in 2013 to nearly $827 million in 2023, representing a rise of almost $343 million, a 71 per cent increase, which outpaced CPI inflation and regional population growth.
“Had Metro Vancouver’s spending tracked population and inflation, it would have risen by only 55 per cent. Real spending on ‘other services and adjustments’ — a vaguely defined category — doubled its share of the budget and grew by over 200 per cent,” the report states.
BCBC states that between January 2010 and July 2025, property taxes increased by an alarming 94 per cent, significantly higher than the overall CPI inflation rate of 42 per cent. It also nearly doubled the rate of property tax inflation (54 per cent).
BCBC’s director of policy, Jairo Yunis, appears to suggest that the Province is shifting its responsibilities to cities.
“Over the past decade, municipalities have spent $834 per capita more than what municipal population growth and CPI inflation would suggest is warranted. Most of the ‘excess’ spending has been on ‘core’ responsibilities like policing, sanitation, parks, transit, and administration,” Yunis says.
“Meanwhile, spending on non-traditional responsibilities such as health, housing, and social services has skyrocketed, despite these areas traditionally being of provincial responsibility.”
Another theory presented by the BCBC for what’s leading to this excess spending is the potential of an “inefficient duplication of activities between provincial and local governments.”
“Unless residents and businesses are seeing exceptional improvements in service quality, municipalities appear to be becoming less efficient in delivering core services over time,” said BCBC’s vice president of policy, David Williams.
BCBC offers several logical recommendations for addressing this excess in spending, including reinstating an auditor general for local government. BCBC is also recommending that Metro Vancouver’s spending and governance be reviewed. It also suggests anchoring municipal spending growth to population and inflation and to review municipal responsibilities “to reduce duplication with other levels of government.”
Daily Hive Urbanized received comment from Metro Vancouver Regional District following the report, informing us that the board is already reviewing processes, programs, and services to ensure it’s delivering essential services to residents in a “transparent and fiscally responsible way.”
That includes a governance review that was completed in May.
In March, Metro Vancouver also initiated a service and cost efficiencies review, to identify savings and reduce future rate increases.
“Through this, Metro Vancouver identified $364 million in operating budget savings over the next five years, which will cut the projected 2026 household rate increase in half.”
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