2022-2026 Financial Plan

The City’s annual budget pays for a wide variety of important City services (see the Where Do My Taxes and Levies Go tab below.)

Given the increases in non-discretionary costs and unknowns as the COVID-19 recovery unfolds, the draft 2022 budget included limited new expenditures in order to reduce the impact on taxpayers. A proposed investment of $50,000 (the equivalent of a 0.07% increase, or $1.41 for the average home) for 2022 would enhance the City’s cybersecurity measures and cloud-based storage and recovery of information.

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

Other budgeted services and activities for 2022 include:

• Operation of the newly completed Port Coquitlam Community Centre.
• The start of the redevelopment of the Civic Centre in downtown Port Coquitlam, including Veterans Park and Leigh Square.
• Road rehabilitation, turf replacement, sport amenity and field upgrades, and other key capital projects.
• New climate change adaptation strategy and related climate action work, including updated greenhouse gas emission targets in the Official Community Plan.
• Additional holiday recycling pickup to support proper waste-sorting and reduce what goes to the landfill.
• Completion of a new Master Transportation Plan.
• Continue to work with the PoCo Events Society to enhance the delivery of community festivals and events in the future.
• Continue to advocate for the extension of SkyTrain to Port Coquitlam.

Municipal property taxes and levies for the average Port Coquitlam home (assessed at $781,522) were proposed to increase in 2022 by:

• 2.81% for internal municipal services ($56.15)
• 1.53% for the RCMP federally-negotiated member settlement ($30.52)

Property bills for homes receiving waste collection services include a solid waste levy, which increased by $7.53 in 2022.

All properties also pay water and sewer levies, which are flat user fees for these services that appear on the spring utility bill. For single-family homes, the water levy will increase by $10.05 and the sewer levy by $6.84 in 2022. Multi-family rates will be lower.

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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

Port Coquitlam has an established track record of lower-than-average property taxes and utilities when compared to other municipalities in Metro Vancouver.

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Please note that the figures provided by the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs are based on average assessed values that differ from those used by Port Coquitlam. While this results in a difference in dollar values for the taxes and utilities reported, the charts correctly reflect the City’s ranking and percentage changes over time.

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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