2025 budget: how should the City balance tax rates and service levels? Take our survey today

As they consider the proposed 2025 budget, members of City Council want to hear from Port Moody residents and business owners. How should the City balance tax rates and service levels? Visit engage.portmoody.ca to fill out our budget survey today to provide your comments to Council prior to final budget deliberations. 

Engage Port Moody, our public engagement hub, is your source for information on the 2025 budget. On our project page you can:

• learn more about the budget process and the City’s proposed net operating expenses for 2025;
• read the City’s Budget Guide and the full Draft 2025-2029 Financial Plan;
• review answers to frequently asked questions or ask a new question; and
• provide valuable input by completing our community survey online by Sunday, November 17, 2024.

If you prefer to fill out the survey on paper, you can pick up a copy at City Hall (100 Newport Drive). Your paper survey must be returned to City Hall by Friday, November 15, 2024. 

A summary of public engagement results will be presented to Council for their consideration on November 19, prior to approval of the Provisional 2025-2029 Financial Plan in December 2024. Staff and Council will also consider information collected as part of the 2024 Community Satisfaction Survey, conducted by Ipsos, in budget workshops and deliberations. Final approval of the budget will take place in April 2025. Municipalities must set their property tax rates by bylaw before May 15 of each year. 

In 2025, the City is proposing to collect $63,935,000 – approximately $4,976,000 more than last year – in property taxes from residents and businesses to balance the budget. The estimated tax rate increase for the average household is currently being proposed by staff at 8.52 per cent. This means in 2025 the average household would see an estimated increase of approximately $248 for the year – that’s $4.77 per week or $0.68 per day. “Average household” refers to a Port Moody residential property assessed by BC Assessment at the 2024 average amount of $1,270,000. The increase for each individual household will depend on the value of your household and your change in assessed value relative to the average change in assessed value for all other households. 

The City is proposing to collect more in property taxes this year to cover rising costs related to factors such as: labour costs including salaries and wages; employee benefits; insurance; implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan; and replacement of existing critical infrastructure, amenities, and facilities. 

The City has two types of budget expenses: operating and capital. Our operating budget covers spending related to Port Moody’s day-to-day operations. The City’s capital budget funds larger, longer-term projects, mostly related to maintaining, upgrading, and replacing the City’s infrastructure and facilities. 

Here are some of the capital projects proposed in the Draft 2025-2029 Financial Plan:

• implementation of the Old Orchard Park Master Plan;
• linear and non-linear water, sewer, and drainage infrastructure renewal;
• storm drainage improvements (Moody Centre);
• Local Road Network (LRN) road reconstruction;
• Moray Street traffic calming;
• solid waste truck replacement; and
• replacement of heat pump system for Inlet Centre Firehall. 

The projects listed above represent nearly 49 per cent (or $13 million) of the proposed capital budget. You can read the full list of proposed capital projects in the Draft 2025-2029 Financial Plan.