The Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) is making an election issue out of skyrocketing financial pressures faced by cities like Chilliwack.
UBCM's 'Stretched to the Limit' report released Sept. 12 points to three areas causing a "trifecta of cost pressures" on local governments: gaps in services due to increased homelessness, preparing for new housing mandates, and new responsibilities for emergency management during flood and fire seasons.
“Local governments are dealing with a trifecta of cost pressures that are overwhelming the capacity of the property tax,” said UBCM president Trish Mandewo.
Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove was asked by The Chilliwack Progress how Chilliwack was faring pressure-wise. The mayor replied Chilliwack had been "substantially impacted" by additional costs in all of these specific areas.
"City costs to address homelessness and its impacts have risen rapidly over the last 10 years and are now close to $5 million per year," Popove said about that impact on Chilliwack.
The UBCM release said Kelowna spent $20 million over four years to support homeless individuals and cover gaps in services under provincial jurisdiction.
The UBCM's Stretched to the Limit report points out that: "Although housing is primarily the jurisdiction of senior governments, residents desperate for solutions drive local governments to take action. For those communities with legislated supply targets, the Province has recommended they deliver more than 36,000 below market rental and supportive rental units."
"The scale of financial contributions required for these new homes strains local budgets, puts pressure on the local property taxpayer, and diverts critical resources away from core responsibilities," the report said.
Chilliwack was given a target of 4,594 new housing units to be built over the next five years.
The sweeping legislative changes to land use with the new housing mandates were made by provincial officials without consideration to how those land-use changes will be serviced, Popove underlined.
"Staff are still assessing the impacts of these changes but the result will be an acceleration of our infrastructure upgrade program without additional funding from senior levels of government," he said. "The only alternatives a municipality has to fund these works is to either raise taxes or increase development cost charges – which directly impacts affordability."
Many are struggling to keep up, and UBCM sees a need for boosted funding.
“Gaps in provincial services to address homelessness have created significant costs for local government," said Coun. Mandewo.
"New mandates to increase housing supply require more infrastructure investment to support growth. And recent legislation is requiring more of our resources to manage emergencies during extreme weather events.”
Emergency response costs impact Chilliwack as well.
"The Province provides funding for restoration for events such as the November 2021 flooding, but there are still significant costs to the municipality for response and restoration," Popove said. In addition, there are considerable amounts of money that must be invested to improve the city’s resiliency to climate change which will not be feasible without additional provincial funding."
UBCM is calling for the next provincial government to respond to these issues by increasing provincial transfers to local governments across the province as follows:
• Provide $650 million in additional infrastructure funding annually;
• Transfer an annual percentage from the Provincial Property Transfer Tax to support local efforts in subsidizing affordable housing supply and homelessness responses.
• Transfer an annual percentage of the growth in the provincial carbon tax to support local climate action projects and emergency management planning and responses.
UBCM is meeting with party leadership to discuss these priorities and will monitor campaigns for commitments that respond to the cost pressures outlined in its priorities. The UBCM conference Sept. 16-20 will be a chance for the membership, as well as the parties, to hear directly from local governments and listen to their concerns.
