As the Township of Esquimalt council takes its first look at the Draft Financial Plan 2025-2029, homeowners could see a 14.09% property tax increase.
Council introduced the budget by noting that this is just the first look at it, and as they go over it, there will likely be revisions depending on what resolutions come forward in the future.
According to the budget, there are four major drivers of increased costs to the Township, which include infrastructure projects, staffing changes, supplemental service requests and budget constraints.
The staffing changes include eight new full-time employees that are funded through taxation in the fire department, human resources, development, engineering, corporate services and capital management.
The sources of the budget constraints include over 10% more than 2024 going to VicPD, wage increases, additional funding for the Greater Victoria Public Library and a by-election cost of over $86,000.
The budgeted expenditures to the Township primarily go to the parks and recreation department (23%), VicPD (20%), fiscal expenditures (15%), the fire department (13%), administration (12%), public works (12%), development (3%) and community safety (2%).
Additionally, 49% of all these expenditures are paid via taxation, 30% comes from grants and the rest come from fees, parks and recreation, additional grants and reserve transfers.
According to the draft budget, after all funding sources are considered, the remaining costs are balanced through property taxation.
As for the proposed tax increase of 14.09%, data going back ten years shows that the average residential tax increase in 2025 would be $467 across the township. The average since 2015 has been $132.
For businesses, this increase would be $1,923, where the average since 2015 has been $521.
Going forward, the Township will be debating ways in which they can mitigate a 14.09% increase in taxes for homeowners by looking at reducing available funds for various departments.
The tax rates discussion has been scheduled for April 7th.
