Budget talks continued today as Victoria looked at ways of avoiding a steep property tax hike next year.
During the City of Victoria’s second council meeting on the 2026-30 Draft Financial Plan, the mayor and council debated the merits of several services and projects that could be potentially cut from the budget.
The City’s current Draft Financial Plan would result in a property tax increase of 13.3%.
However, the council’s mission is to get that figure down to just a 4% property tax increase before the increased VicPD budget impacts the increase.
As the draft budget stands, $38.5 million in spending would have to be cut from the current fiscal plan across the next five years, though $8.38 million will have to be cut from the 2026 budget.
In order to cut down the budget, council is looking at many services and projects that could be reduced or eliminated in order to keep property taxes down.
During the meeting on Friday, November 21st, they discussed Appendix B: New Options for Reductions.
Appendix B includes a number of projects and services that are meant to be fully cut from the budget. Council then went through the list and moved some of these list items back into the Draft Financial Plan.
To successfully get the property tax increase down to 4%, all Appendix items must be cut, so with every project or service added back into the budget, that percentage will increase.
Councillor Jeremy Caradonna immediately moved that the Crystal Pool Replacement Project not be cut from the budget, as it was the subject of a referendum in which the people of Victoria voted for a new pool.
This project will cost the City $162.2 million in total, and $1.23 million of that would have to come from the 2026 budget.
Additional projects and services that were added back into the budget were:
- Bike Valet – $448,000
- Reduce grant budgets by 20% – $961,316
- Canada Day funding – $217,800
- Eliminate funding for programming for various performance spaces – $146,500 (This includes $71,500 for Cameron Bandshell, $30,000 for Centennial Square, $34,500 for Ship Point, $5,000 for Fort Commons and $5,500 for other events)
The funding for the programming for various performance spaces includes Victoria’s iconic Eventide Music Series that takes place every summer in Centennial Square.
The following projects, services and initiatives were put back into the budget, but at a reduced amount:
- OUR DWTN – $750,000 (down from $945,200)
- Major Community Initiatives and Events grant program – $100,000 (down from $200,350)
- Create Victoria – will be reduced from $50,000 in a coming discussion
The following projects, services and initiatives were removed in their entirety from the budget in order to save the City and its taxpayers money:
- Contracted services duplication – $600,000
- Reduce planned overtime – $300,000
- Service reviews/ operational reassessments – $1,576,370
- Government Street Refresh – $4.7 million in 2026
- Special Events – $329,710
- Neighbour Space – $11,460
- Align CALUC funding for public meetings with need – $2,500
- Alternative Official Notice Bylaw – $115,000
- Reduce conference and training budgets – $500,000
- Various other operational cost reduction initiatives – $648,930
- Cost recovery for development regulatory schemes – $914,490
- Fees for emergency training and workshops – $37,000
- Boulevard Tax increase – $52,000
- VCC increased revenue potential – $100,000
Council did not finish with Appendix B during the special council meeting, so some of these matters may be amended during the next budgetary meeting, which is planned for Monday.
The next few meetings regarding the 2026-30 Draft Financial Plan will take place on November 24th, December 4th and December 9th.
In these meetings, city council will continue to work their way through the 10 appendices that relate to the fiscal plan, and determine what can be cut versus what should remain in the budget.
The Draft Financial Plan must be solidified and adopted by May 15th at the very latest in order to have the property tax increase determined.
