Similar to Victoria, the City of Langford is looking at ways of reducing the proposed property tax increase while maintaining programs and services.
During this week’s committee of the whole meeting, Langford city council began their budget process to put together a five-year financial plan.
As Langford’s 2026-30 Draft Financial Plan currently stands, residents are looking at a 15.97% property tax increase.
During the December 8th meeting, City staff facilitated a preliminary discussion about the factors that are impacting the budget and resulting property tax hike.
The main driving factors of this year’s budget include ongoing capital expenditures that have gone over budget (accounts for 2.57% of the increase), the City’s police contract (2.48% of the increase) and fire department wages (1.76% increase).
Following the discussion, council directed staff to come back with options that would reduce the nearly 16% increase to 3%, 6%, 9% and 11%, and to detail what programs or services would have to be sacrificed in order to reduce the budget.
Council will then weigh each option and their impacts on existing service levels and what those changes would mean for the community.
These options will be considered at a committee of the whole meeting in January.
The goal is to balance priority City services while minimizing the impact on taxpayers.
Property tax increases over the last five years in Langford have been 2.95% in 2021, 2.95% in 2022, 12.41% in 2023, 15.63% in 2024 and 9.77% in 2025.
The budget will not be finalized until April of the new year.
To receive updates regarding the 2026 budget process, click here.
