When I bought my house 15 years ago, my annual property taxes were about $800 a year.
I thought that was high at the time as there was only one income coming into my household (mine, in case you were wondering), but I figured that home ownership was worth the cost so I added the property taxes into my already tight budget.
Those taxes have been escalating annually ever since, and as of July 2 this year, the deadline to pay property taxes or be penalized, mine had soared to more than $3,000!
That may not seem like much to some homeowners out there that are more financially well off than me, but I don’t exactly make the salary of some corporate bigwig and, in a world designed to cater to couples, rising costs from all sides are quickly taking their toll on me, economically speaking.
It’s gotten so bad that I don’t go very far when I take vacations anymore, and I’ve taken to sitting in my backyard on my deck, reading books and hanging out with my cat to avoid expensive travel.
That’s why I cringed when I watched a recent council meeting in the Municipality of North Cowichan in which staff were telling council that property taxes must be raised at least 9.26 per cent in 2026 just to maintain current service levels.
I don’t live in North Cowichan, but it’s pretty much the same for all local governments in the region as they also face increasing costs with few means to pay for it other than to raise property taxes, which is why you usually only see tax increases every year instead of decreasing taxes.
Of course, the least popular thing a local government can do is substantially raise property taxes, especially with the next municipal election looming in just over a year, so North Cowichan’s council has instructed staff to prepare a report on the repercussions if the municipality kept its tax increase for 2026 at a maximum of five per cent.
As was pointed out by a number of councillors at the meeting, North Cowichan’s taxpayers have watched their property tax bills rise exponentially in recent years, which is unsustainable for many property owners, and they are very unsustainable for a good segment of the population who may have to face losing their homes as all their bills, including groceries, just get larger and larger with no end in sight.
But, as said, local governments rely heavily on property taxes to pay their bills, which are rapidly escalating as well.
North Cowichan’s finance director Terri Vetter has pointed out that, on top of a three per cent increase in inflation in 2026 and a five per cent contractual increase for the municipality’s CUPE workers, North Cowichan also has to deal with more than a $1.5-million increase to the RCMP’s contract and debt-servicing costs for the new North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment, as well as $400,000 for E-Comm 911 services after those costs were downloaded on local governments.
As well, let’s not forget that North Cowichan is also having to deal with aging infrastructure, and hardly any of the extensive costs related to that are included in staff’s proposed 9.26 per cent increase next year.
Staff had suggested earlier in 2025 that to keep up with its upcoming infrastructure demands, North Cowichan would need to put away $40 million a year for the next 20 years but, at this point, it is only putting aside $7 million a year and there’s no recommendation to increase that in staff's proposed status-quo budget for 2026.
So, even if council agrees to such an enormous tax increase, the issue around aging infrastructure that must be replaced soon will be mostly kicked down the road for future councils to have to deal with.
The economic quagmire seems to go on and on.
CAO Ted Swabey said staff will prepare the report on what it would take to keep the tax increase next year at a maximum of five per cent, as instructed by council, but warned there would be consequences if council should decide to go that route.
He said he has already outlined for council the “dire” financial situation that he believes the local government and the community is already in.
“Five per cent doesn’t do it; 9.26 per cent doesn’t do it either, but that’s council’s decision because these are not asks (in staff’s preliminary budget) that you can eliminate,” Swabey said. “You can just defer them and do them at a later date. This is a big organization with a lot of assets that need care and if you defer the care, it means it’s going to break down more, or cost more to repair when we need to.”
The best way for this financial mess to be dealt with is for senior levels of government to step in with more funding for local governments, or allow local governments to develop more revenue sources.
Until then, skyrocketing property taxes will be an increasing disincentive, among many others, for a lot of people to enter into homeownership, and that would be bad for everybody.
