The Vancouver City Council has blocked out four hours Monday afternoon to parse through the sweeping revenue-raising recommendations from the Stronger Vancouver Executive Sponsor Council.
The culmination of two years of community surveys and research, the recommendations as written would raise city taxes and fees by about $30 million per year. How many of the recommendations are likely to be implemented, and which ones, remains to be seen.
“Since about 2012, the city has been relentlessly focused on: How do we optimize the best results to the community that we can with the resources we do have? And after we do that, what gaps do we have?” City Manager Eric Holmes said at an April 22 council meeting, during a discussion about the package. “What mix of programs and projects could achieve that vision?”
Recommendations
Vancouver is growing and fast. Long-term economic stability means the city will need to increase its annual budget by about 5 percent, or $30.1 million. The Stronger Vancouver Executive Sponsors Council, a 10-member group of representatives from city and business groups, recommended a three-way split between increases in property taxes ($9.7 million), business taxes ($9.7 million) and other miscellaneous fees ($10.7 million).
The increased revenue would have some real, tangible benefits for Vancouver residents. Among other things, the executive council recommends rebuilding the Operations Center, rebuilding and remodeling several fire stations, establishing a culture and arts program, revamping the parks system, and increasing investments to the Fourth Plain corridor and Heights District.
“This is a long view. It’s a big ask,” executive council member Tim Schauer told the city council upon presenting the proposal last month. “It’s a hard conversation, but I think it’s an important one.”
The Monday retreat will help councilors parse through and prioritize the package, analyzing both the proposed service improvements and how to pay for them. According to the retreat’s agenda, the council will review the origins of the Stronger Vancouver process, look over the comprehensive service and revenue package, and start to form opinions on both elements. No formal decisions can be made in workshops, but council members can swap opinions and work toward a consensus.
The city council will recap its discussion at the regular meeting later that evening. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Clark/Vancouver Television. Watch the meeting live or after the fact at cvtv.org/program/vancouver-city-council.
