2021-2025 Financial Plan

Council Priorities

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Council  has selected three priorities to guide the City’s budget and service delivery from 2020 to 2022:

• Improving customer service
• Investing in infrastructure
• Enhancing community safety  

The priorities are based on community feedback received throughout the year and through the annual budget survey and other public consultation.

Overall, the focus of the priorities is on getting the basics right – planning and providing core municipal services (such as roads, utilities and other infrastructure, safety and recreation) that matter to residents and businesses. Read more about Council’s 2020-2022 priorities.

Other Factors:

• Previous budget decisions, such as increased bylaw enforcement to support community safety.
• Rising costs from third-party services providers (including police, library, water and sewer disposal).
• Reduction in development-related revenue. 
• COVID-19 pandemic: While impacts of the pandemic will continue into 2021, the 2021 budget has been prepared with normal levels of service as a baseline, to ensure the city is prepared for any eventuality. As in 2020, the city will continue to closely monitor service levels and budgets throughout 2021 and adjust as necessary.

Overall, the 2021 proposed operating budget reflects Council’s desire for affordable, efficient and effective city operations while investing in key community needs.

The draft budget will carry through on Council priorities such as increased bylaw enforcement, enhancing the downtown and planning for climate change, along with some enhancements to core services – such as increased snow clearing, parks maintenance and litter collection – that residents have been asking for and have grown in importance in the past year.

Similar to past years, the draft budget also plans for an infrastructure levy, the equivalent of one per cent of the tax increase, to support future infrastructure replacement.

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View 2021-2022 Capital Program

The average home assessed at $779,501 will see a 2.13% ($41.17) increase in taxes this year, taking into consideration that starting in 2021, properties no longer have to pay the $25 parcel tax for the Port Coquitlam Community Centre.

Pay Monthly

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

How We Compare

In 2020, Port Coquitlam had the third lowest municipal property taxes for an average representative single-family home out of 21 Metro Vancouver municipalities.

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A property’s assessed value determines its share of taxes. The assessments provided by BC Assessment each January indicate how much Port Coquitlam property assessments increased or decreased from the prior year.

Properties whose value has increased or decreased more than other typical properties of the same type will experience a tax rate that differs from the average.

We will post the new average change for Port Coquitlam residential assessments here in early January.

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This is how your annual City property taxes and levies are applied to a wide variety of important services and programs.

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