The Union of BC Municipalities hopes whoever wins this coming provincial election addresses key issues.
On their website, the union put up a list of priorities for local governments ahead of this year’s election.
They say that while local governments provide more public services, they do so without an increase in revenue.
“Local governments have limited options to raise revenue to pay for new pressures and responsibilities,” said the union.
“There is an over-reliance on property taxation that never contemplated funding the service delivery and infrastructure gaps that are linked to provincial mandates in areas such as building new community infrastructure to support legislated housing growth, funding pre-hospital care for those with mental health and addiction issues, and subsidizing affordable housing units to tackle housing affordability and homelessness.”
The union says because of these pressures, local governments end up raising taxes, use one-time grants, or divert funds from important local initiatives.
This leads to them needing new revenue streams to address gaps in service, demand new legislation, and to help tackle the issues of housing, infrastructure, and public safety.
As a result, the union is calling the next BC government to address these pressures through transfers in housing, infrastructure, and climate change.
For housing, they recommend all parties commit to transferring a percentage of the BC Property Transfer Tax every year to help local efforts with housing supply and responses to homelessness.
Along with a yearly transfer to fund local infrastructure projects, they also encourage moving a percentage of the carbon tax to support climate change projects every year.
