The Burnaby Green Party wants to freeze property taxes at 2018 levels for two years if it gets elected on Oct. 20.
The election promise was made on March 7 during a town hall at Lochdale Hall.
“We believe the City of Burnaby is over taxing residents,” said teacher and Metrotown housing advocate Rick McGowan, who ran for the B.C. Green Party in Burnaby-Deer Lake in last year’s provincial election. “They get income from a variety of sources, including government grants, sales of service, sales of land, those kind of things.”
Property taxes in Burnaby are set to rise by 1.5 per cent this year. The last time it was below two per cent was in 2014 (a municipal election year), when it was at 1.97 per cent.
The property tax increase was 2.95 per cent in 2017, 2.65 per cent in 2016 and 2.98 per cent in 2015. The city anticipates the rate will increase three per cent annually from 2019 to 2022.
For an average residential home, 2018’s increase will equate to a tax bill of about $1,735. That’s an increase of $25.59 over 2017.
McGowan was critical of the city using averages, saying the numbers are “misleading.”
He said given the high property assessments in neighbourhoods like Metrotown, where condo development is booming, property owners there will have higher bills. McGowan used himself as an example. He said he paid $981 in property taxes on his Sardis Street apartment last year, and expects to pay $1,196 this year – an increase of $215.
If elected, the Burnaby Green Party also wants to change how people get onto the city’s committees and commissions.
“The current selection process involves writing a letter to get on the committee and it has to be vetted by the mayor. We want to take the mayor out of that equation,” said McGowan. “The parks commission, they oversee a budget of around $85 million, and it’s an unelected commission. It’s got a couple councillors on it, lots of union bigwigs and Burnaby Citizens Association insiders. Once they’re done on one committee, they’re rotated through other committees.”
Either electing members to the committees or creating some kind of independent body that could be responsible for selecting the members are two solutions, he added.
“We want to take it out of the hands of the politicians and put it into hands of people who are well respected in the community.”
McGowan noted the Greens would also implement term limits (Mayor Derek Corrigan is gunning for his sixth term in the mayor’s chair).
He couldn’t give an exact number but said the party is “open to discussion.”
“We think five terms has demonstrated that it’s a bit too long.”
