“To cover a $60-million shortfall would require a massive tax hike — and we are simply not going there,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson.Interesting.
A Tale of Two Councils
Last week the City of North Vancouver indicated that there would be a $2.4m gap in next year's budget, about about $48 for every resident, which would be a 6.9% tax increase if no changes were made. As I described earlier, staff asked council to give some guidance as to how big a tax rate increase would be palatable. With the exception of Rod Clark, no council member offered up any direct answer, although Councillor Keating indicated that the increase should be as large as is necessary to support the current level of services.
Across the water, the City of Vancouver announced that they too were facing a shortfall of approximately $60m for next year, or about $102 per resident. However the Mayor and Council there boldly announced that their target was a zero percent increase.
