2020-2024 Financial Plan

The city will continue to concentrate on delivering core municipal services and seeking efficiencies and savings wherever possible. To balance the budget, it will trim reduce non-essential spending and place a hold on external hiring except for critical positions.

Budgeted activities planned for 2020 will continue to be centred around Council’s priorities for 2020-2022: improving customer service, investing in infrastructure and enhancing community safety.

Despite eliminating the tax increase, service enhancements for 2020 will include:

• Additional bylaw enforcement officers,
• Department restructure to focus on community safety,
• Strategic project management,
• Enhanced emergency medical response training for firefighters, and
• Year-round weekly organics collection, which the City started earlier than planned last month.

The draft budget also includes funding for long-term infrastructure replacement, and the construction and operation of the Port Coquitlam Community Centre.

Given that construction has been considered an essential service, the city’s $26.6 million capital program for 2020 – funded through various reserve accounts and interest savings – will proceed as planned, with strict provisions in place to ensure workers are following all public health requirements.

Due to a Council decision on April 7 to eliminate the proposed 2020 tax increase, the average Port Coquitlam home assessed at $735,517 (the average of all home types) will pay the same for its 2020 municipal taxes as it did in 2019.

However, the actual amount paid by each property will depend on how it compares to the average residential assessment ($735,185), along with how much its assessed value changed from the previous year.

Please see the Property Assessment Impact section below for more information.

Businesses

The average business was already going to see a tax decrease from the city’s draft financial plan, and all businesses will benefit from the provincial government’s 50% reduction in school taxes for 2020, amounting to about a 20% savings for the average business.

With the budget change, the average business will see a 0.59% decrease and light industry will see a 3.33% decrease.

Pay Monthly

Sign up for the City’s Prepayment Plan to pay next year’s tax and utility bills in easy monthly installments.

A property’s assessed value determines its share of taxes. Overall, Port Coquitlam residential assessments decreased an average of 8.97% from last year. However, this does not mean your property tax bill will decrease by 8.97%.

Your increase will be based on how the change in your home’s assessed value this year compared to the average change for other Port Coquitlam homes (-8.97%).

Check your assessment notice to see how much your property’s assessed value has changed.

Impact of Assessment on Your 2020 Taxes

For the average home assessed at $735,185, if your assessment:

• decreased by 8.97%, your tax increase will be 0%
• decreased by more than 8.97%, your taxes will decrease from the previous year
• decreased by less than 8.97%, your tax increase be more than 0%

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Your taxes and levies pay for a wide variety of important services.

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The City uses a two-year budget process to improve efficiency and facilitate long-term planning. It is renewed each year with a focus on the current year’s budget and taxes.

The budget is also part of a five-year financial plan that sets out the planned services and initiatives for the next five years, and how the City will pay for them.

Read more about the budget development process.