Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO Vancouver City Council

FROM: Director of Finance

SUBJECT: Adoption of Rating Bylaws and Averaging Resolutions

RECOMMENDATION

B. THAT Council approve the 1999 Rating Bylaw for the property tax requisition of the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

C. THAT Council approve the resolutions attached as Appendices A through D, adopting adjusted tax rates for the Provincial Schools, the B.C. Assessment Authority, the Municipal Finance Authority and the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority levies, pursuant to the Vancouver Charter and the Averaging Bylaw No. 7998 adopted by Council on March 30, 1999.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

The Vancouver Charter requires that Council adopt the revenue and expenditure estimates of the City as submitted by the Director of Finance by April 30 each year. That approval was given by Council on April 29, 1999 in adopting the budget resolution.
The Vancouver Charter also requires that Council adopt an annual rating bylaw establishing general purposes property tax rates for each class of property in the City and the amount to be raised as the City’s general purpose levy for the year.

Legislation governing the Greater Vancouver Regional District requires that Council approve a rating bylaw establishing the tax rate for each class of property in the City to raise the requisition of the district in the current tax year.

On March 30, 1999, Council approved the averaging of taxable values for residential (Class 1) and commercial (Class 6) properties for the 1999 tax year. Under authority of the Vancouver Charter, Council must extend averaging to the calculation of taxes levied by other taxing authorities through resolutions which alter the tax rates of those authorities to make their tax rates revenue neutral. This is done by approving a resolution to vary the applicable tax rates established by those taxing authorities.

PURPOSE

This report recommends adoption of the City’s annual rating bylaw, adoption of a rating bylaw for the Greater Vancouver Regional District requistion and adoption of a series of resolutions to give effect to the assessment averaging program approved by Council on March 30, 1999.

BACKGROUND

On March 30, 1999, through passage of Bylaw 7998, Council approved a program of averaging the assessed value of land for Class 1, Residential, and Class 6, Commercial and Other, over three years for the purpose of calculating 1999 property taxes.

On April 29, 1999, Council approved a resolution adopting the revenue and expenditure estimates of the City for the 1999 budget year. This budget, totalling $565,621,900, provides for all of the revenues and expenditures of the City for 1999 and is based on a general purposes tax increase of 3.4%.

1999 GENERAL PURPOSES TAX LEVY

To balance the 1999 Operating Budget approved by Council, the general purposes tax levy is set at $366,596,500. The tax rates necessary to raise this amount, incorporating the 1999

Land Assessment Averaging Program, are shown below:

Before Council this day is a bylaw, 1999 Rating Bylaw: General Purposes Taxes, that will give effect to these tax rates.

OTHER TAXING AUTHORITIES

The following summarizes the property tax levies of the other taxing authorities whose levies appear on the City’s tax bill. A summary of tax rates and tax levies for all taxing authorities is attached as Appendix E.

1. Provincial School Levy

The Provincial Government levies all school taxes in the province. The tax rates submitted by the Surveyor of Taxes generate the following 1999 tax levy, with 1998 comparisons:

2. Greater Vancouver Regional District

The GVRD has approved a requisition totaling $29.8 million for 1999, an increase of 1% over 1998. The share of this requisition being passed on to City of Vancouver taxpayers is $9,829,490, representing a reduction of $116,600 or 1.1% from the 1998 level. A bylaw establishing tax rates for this levy is before Council this day.

3. BC Assessment Authority

The BC Assessment Authority has set tax rates that generate a tax levy to Vancouver taxpayers of $11,484,200, and reduction of $166,000 or 1.5% from the 1998 level.

4. Municipal Finance Authority

The Municipal Finance Authority levy totals $18,600 in Vancouver, a marginal reduction from the 1998 level of $19,300.

5. Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink)

The reorganization of transit and other transportation activities in the region under the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority has resulted in some changes in property taxation in 1999. The GVTA has taxing authority in its own right and has become responsible for the levy formerly collected the BC Transit. In addition, the province has assumed full responsibility for the costs of hospital construction meaning that there will be no levy from the Greater Vancouver Regional Hospital District in 1999. The “tax room” has been transferred to GVTA.

GVTA has submitted tax rates that translate to a levy of $31,450,186 within the City of Vancouver. This compares with the $31,130,200 billed by BC Transit and the Greater Vancouver Regional Hospital District in 1998.

AVERAGING RESOLUTIONS

Approval of the land assessment averaging program in 1999 requires that the tax rates submitted by these other taxing authorities for Class 1, Residential and Class 6, Commercial and Other, be varied. Council approval of the attached resolutions (Appendices A to D) will complete this requirement.

CONCLUSION

Approval of the averaging resolutions and rating bylaws submitted to Council this day will complete the process of developing property tax rates and will allow the billing to proceed. Taxpayers can expect their tax bill to arrive during the first week of June. Property taxes are due by Monday July 5, 1999. Taxpayers have several options for paying their tax bill:

… at any chartered bank and several trust companies and credit unions
… through electronic banking arrangements with most major financial institutions
… by dropping a cheque in the City Hall mail slot (12th Avenue entrance)
… in person at City Hall during regular business hours (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm).

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Appendix A

RESOLUTION

MOVED BY COUNCILLOR:

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR:

being dollars of tax for each one thousand dollars of taxable value, for the 1999 taxation year, which when applied to the net taxable value of all land and improvements in the respective Classes in the City of Vancouver would raise the following sums:

Class 1 - residential $ 51,110,986,118 $ 53,729,639,117
Class 6 - business & other 13,301,369,096 13,316,555,927

Appendix B

RESOLUTION

MOVED BY COUNCILLOR:

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR:

being dollars of tax for each one thousand dollars of taxable value, for the 1999 taxation year, which when applied to the net taxable value of all land and improvements in the respective Classes in the City of Vancouver (excluding property taxable for school purposes only by special act) would raise the following sums:

Class 1 - residential $ 51,110,480,518 $ 53,729,133,517
Class 6 - business & other 13,246,016,096 13,261,206,727

Appendix C

RESOLUTION

MOVED BY COUNCILLOR:

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR:

being dollars of tax for each one thousand dollars of taxable value, for the 1999 taxation year, which when applied to the net taxable value of all land and improvements in the respective Classes in the City of Vancouver (excluding property taxable for school purposes only by special act) would raise the following sums:

Class 1 - residential $ 51,110,480,518 $ 53,729,133,517
Class 6 - business & other 13,246,016,096 13,261,206,727

Appendix D

RESOLUTION

MOVED BY COUNCILLOR:

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR:

being dollars of tax for each one thousand dollars of taxable value, for the 1999 taxation year, which when applied to the net taxable value of all land and improvements in the respective Classes in the City of Vancouver (excluding property taxable for school purposes only by special act) would raise the following sums:

Class 1 - residential $ 51,110,480,518 $ 53,729,133,517
Class 6 - business & other 13,246,016,096 13,261,206,727

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