FAQs

All city councils today face challenges to broaden and increase levels of services. The level, scope, and breadth of the services requested by taxpayers are the main budget cost drivers. These include:

• Population growth requires more assets in the form of equipment, facilities, materials, supplies, and infrastructure, and more staff resources using those assets to deliver the services.
• Population diversity means looking at a wider scope of services than traditionally provided.
• Increased activity means there are more people of all ages active in the community.

The Community Charter gives the City the authority to levy taxes, user fees, and other revenues to generate enough revenues for funding the provision of services and community improvement programs. 

Running a city is not cheap. Each year, Council debates long and hard on how much to raise taxes and user fees to cover increases in service costs. Taxation accounts for approximately 73% of our total revenues.  Therefore, these property charges are an important annual Council consideration.

In 2024, the City’s net operating expenses (after non-tax revenues) totaled $58,375,000. That’s the amount of tax we needed to balance the budget.

When looking at the cost comparisons, keep in mind that unlike most service providers, many City services are open 24/7/365, ready to respond to you in all kinds of weather conditions and emergencies. This level of response does not come without costs over and above the average entity. Here are some sample costs of running your city: 

• The cost to fuel all City vehicles for one year - $695,000 
• The cost of one first class constable - $162,000
• The cost for insurance (property, vehicle, liability) - $1,151,000
• The cost of one block of sidewalk (one side) - $133,000 
• The cost to repave one km of road (2 lanes) - $742,000

You may be wondering how the City can operate well into the current year without having an adopted budget until as late as May. That is because each year we adopt a Five-Year Plan, and therefore have five years of budget approval under which to operate if necessary. The City simply operates under the Five-Year Plan it adopted the previous year until Council adopts the new plan. Council considers pre-approval for any projects that need to go ahead before they adopt a new plan to avoid delaying these projects. Pre-approval requires preparing a business case and presenting it to Council.

Municipalities employ a wide variety of skilled workers, mostly certified professionals or tradespeople covered under collective bargaining agreements. It is critical that the City recruit and retain highly-skilled workers to deliver a variety of services, including many that have an impact on life safety. The professional nature of the workforce, along with the union environment, is not comparable to the labour costs of businesses operating with mostly unskilled or uncertified workers in non-union environments. In addition, some municipal wage agreements can be regional in nature, often aligned with what has been negotiated in other parts of the region, and are not within the control of Port Moody Council. 

The City levies a charge for replacing and upgrading its infrastructure, amenities, and facilities (called tangible capital assets or TCAs on the Financial Statement’s Balance Sheet). You’ll see this charge on your tax bill as an Asset Renewal Levy. This strategy recognizes that traditional sources of capital funding like land sales, government grants, and developer levies are not reliable sources of funding, and that a steady and sustainable source of capital funding needs to be built into the tax base to provide a portion of that declining capital funding. Many municipalities do not levy this charge, choosing to keep taxes lower. However, all cities face a shortfall in capital financing (reported in the media as the National Infrastructure Deficit), and will need to address it sooner or later. Port Moody has chosen to be proactive in this regard. The Asset Renewal Levy has added tax increases in Port Moody that other jurisdictions may not have included yet. The amount of tax dollars raised through this levy for 2024 will be $4.39 million.

Port Moody’s Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive initiative aimed at helping the City and its residents adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) that contribute to global warming. The Plan emphasizes both mitigation—reducing or preventing GHG emissions—and adaptation, recognizing that even with significant emission cuts, the effects of climate change will persist for future generations. The plan includes measures to help the community adjust to new realities and reduce vulnerability to climate impacts.

To achieve the ambitious targets for GHG reduction, dedicated climate action funding was established in the 2024 Financial Plan.  On an annual basis the City will endeavor to increase this contribution to the Climate Action Implementation Reserve by 1%, ensuring ongoing funding for these climate action initiatives.

City revenues are accumulated from land sales, development levies, and our operating surpluses. We then set these aside in reserve accounts to fund a number of capital, operating, and emergency costs. 

The City has used its reserves over the last number of years to renovate and replace aging infrastructure. 

While we do have adequate reserves, the majority are already designated and unavailable for discretionary spending. 

When assessing our financial health, in addition to looking at cash, reserves, and liabilities, we must consider the condition of our tangible capital assets: our buildings, equipment, and infrastructure. The condition of these assets also dictates future funding requirements.

1. Generate non-tax revenues  

• Explore other revenues Revenue opportunities are limited by the Community Charter, and may require capital investments.
• Implement sensitive revenues (e.g. casinos, pay parking) Other cities use these types of revenues to fund capital and operating needs.
• Leverage developer contributions (e.g. density bonuses, community amenity contributions) Share revenues from increased densities with developers, or require developers to provide amenity contributions as part of development.
• Leverage assets (e.g. land leases, profit sharing from businesses on City land) The City has leased land instead of selling it (e.g. Inlet Centre Residences), and negotiated revenue sharing agreements (e.g. Boathouse Restaurant) on City land to generate revenue. The City also has a 25-year revenue sharing agreement with Pattison Outdoor Advertising for two digital billboards. 
• Increase user fees (i.e. reduce or eliminate subsidies) Most programs are subsidized to some extent. With subsidies, higher taxed properties support lower taxed properties, based on a wealth (not income) redistribution model. We could reduce or eliminate subsidies from taxation. This strategy needs careful consideration as it could impact the ability of some individuals and families to participate in City services.
• Special levies (e.g. debt) Special levies can address specific needs, and be discontinued once the initiative is complete or funding met. 

2. Control expenditures

• Economies of scale The City pools its volumes with other cities in a regional purchasing consortium to leverage volume buying power. 
• Value The City uses value instead of cost alone when considering purchases as cost alone may result in higher maintenance, shorter useful life, or poor service. 
• Alternative service providers (e.g. contract out) Some services can be contracted out successfully, but we need to keep others in house to avoid compromising service. Critical public services (e.g. water, sewer) should not be run on the bottom line. 
• Partnerships (e.g. public/private partnerships called P3s) Partnerships transfer or broaden the financial risk to other entities that are more financially able to absorb costs/losses. 

3. Adjust services or service levels

• Service level expectations Residents are used to a certain level of service and usually want it maintained. 
• Service adjustments Which services does the City adjust? This is an ongoing debate. Not everyone will agree on the same level for every service. 
• Services and service levels in neighbouring cities Our residents generally expect the same services and service levels available in neighbouring communities. 
• Sustainable service What is a reasonable or sustainable level of service? What level do you actually need versus the level that you want? These are ongoing Council debates during the annual budget deliberations. 
• Shared services (e.g. dog control) As an example, the City currently pays the City of Coquitlam for dog compounding services. Are there other services we could share?

As the city grows and more residents move into new developments, the new developments are taxed accordingly. However, while the developments generate additional revenues from tax and user fees, they also bring a demand for more services. It is important that the new development tax revenues closely offset the increased demand/cost for more services (i.e. growth pays for growth). If they don’t, tax increases or service adjustments are needed to accommodate the new growth. Community amenity contributions are often negotiated with developers to provide new facilities and assets needed to continue delivering services.

Taxes are calculated by multiplying the assessed value of your property (determined by BC Assessment) by the current tax rate (set by the City) for your property class. In 2024, a Port Moody homeowner with an average-priced home ($1,270,000 in 2024 based on the BC Assessment revised roll) saw a $189 tax increase. Your taxes will be higher or lower depending on the assessed value of your home. If your home value is higher than the average-priced home ($1,270,000), then your tax increase will be higher, and vice versa.

When you review the charges on your Port Moody property tax notice, keep in mind that not all the charges are within the City’s control. 37% of your total tax payment goes to other governments and agencies, such as the Province of B.C., TransLink, and Metro Vancouver. The City collects tax on behalf of these governments and agencies but does not set the rates or control the dollar amounts. 63% of your total tax payment goes toward the City’s operating costs.

BC Assessment determines the assessed value of every property in BC (not city council). The value is a market value based on recent sales of similar homes in your area. For more information, visit www.bcassessment.ca.

No. The same amount of tax revenue is still needed to balance the budget, regardless of changes to assessed values. When assessed values change, the tax rate is adjusted to generate the same amount of tax to pay for the approved services. Council determines the tax increase, not BC Assessment.

The approved tax increase is based on the average assessed value increase in the City. Individual properties could see their tax rise more if their assessed value increased more than the average, and vice versa. Watch a short video on how the tax calculation process works.

Raising taxes by the CPI is often suggested, and while it sounds reasonable, keep in mind that the CPI does not reflect the City’s spending needs and patterns. The CPI is an indication of the rising costs of the goods and services, such as food, housing, furniture, clothing/footwear, and fuel, bought by the average household. While the City purchases some of these items, municipalities are essentially in the construction business, building and maintaining roads, infrastructure, facilities, parks, sidewalks, and bridges. This means the direct or indirect costs of building materials like steel, cement, pavement, and lumber have a bigger impact on the City’s budget. We need to remember that the construction price index can be quite different from the consumer price index.