Image: City of Mission / Mission Mayor Paul Horn (centre back) and Council members are pictured. To maintain community priorities and day-to-day services that residents rely on, the City of Mission anticipates a potential 7.55 property tax increase as part of its 2025 budget.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

City of Mission

City of Mission projects potential tax increase of 7.5% in 2025 to maintain day-to-day services

Oct 30, 2024 | 10:44 AM

MISSION — To maintain community priorities and day-to-day services that residents rely on, the City of Mission anticipates a potential 7.55 per cent property tax increase as part of its 2025 budget.

According to a news release Wednesday (Oct. 30), the city is soliciting community feedback on its 2025 budget and corresponding 2025-2029 Financial Plan. Each year the municipality updates its financial plan to make sure it best aligns with community priorities.

Over the summer, community members provided municipal staff with feedback on service levels and quality of life in the Annual Citizens Satisfaction Survey. The input was subsequently shared with council earlier this month in October to guide the proposed operating budget for the current year.

The City of Mission acknowledges the continued impacts of rising inflation, while saying it is focused on maintaining day-to-day service levels to keep up with the needs of a growing community of over 42,000 people.

“Affordability, high-quality service delivery, and responsible management of resources and reserves were key priorities for the City in formulating the budget for Council and public review,” the city said in a statement. “In this budget, growth is paying for growth. Increased tax revenue from community growth has been used to fund service increases so the City is keeping up with demand.”

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Notable budget changes are attributed to the following:

• 3.4% for wages, salary, & benefits
• 2.68% for RCMP contract costs and police services
• 1.13% BC Transit contract
• 0.78% for all other inflationary increases and prior years’ decisions
• 0.51% for the change to the Secondary Dwelling Units program
• 0.50% for all other contractual obligations
• 0.42% operating costs associated with capital projects
• 0.39% for transit expansion
• 0.25% for fee-for-service grants
• 0.23% for fleet maintenance
• 0.00% for net growth-related increases
• 0.02% for expansionary services proposed
• 2.76% savings due to service level and other budget reductions

The City estimates a potential property tax increase of 7.53% to maintain existing services. Net growth-related increases added no per cent to the proposed budget, while recommended expansionary services add an additional 0.02 per cent, bringing the total proposed general operating increase to 7.55%.

The municipality invites residents to weigh in on the 2025 budget and corresponding 2025-2029 Financial Plan by commenting until November 12 at engage.mission.ca or by emailing budget@mission.ca. Residents can also attend an information session on Wednesday, Nov. 6 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., or 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Mission Leisure Centre (7650 Grand St.) to learn about the budget from staff.

Input gathered throughout this engagement will be presented to Council in late November and used to inform the final budget. Council is expected to vote on the final bylaw, which will set the budget and property tax increase, by the end of the year.