2021 Budget Consultation

Welcome to the 2021 Budget Consultation. Bowen Island Municipality is sharing proposed Budget information with the community through the Citizenlab platform. Alternatively, you can download a PDF of the information below, or request a paper copy from Municipal Hall.  

We encourage you to provide your feedback on the information presented below by: 

• Posting your comments and ideas in Citizenlab 
• Email your feedback to Budget@bimbc.ca 
• Fill out a Budget feedback form, available at Municipal Hall 

A virtual Public Open House was held on January 14 to present the 2021 Budget and to provide an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions and provide feedback. You can watch the video recording under the Events section, below. All feedback received will be compiled and shared with Council for deliberation of the 2021 to 2025 Financial Plan.  

The proposed 2021 Budget 

Bowen Island Municipality collects property taxes to pay for the services we provide to the community. We try to keep taxes down as much as possible by looking for funding opportunities such as grants, user fees and other non-taxation funding before resorting to an increase in property tax rates.  

The Municipality is required by legislation to collect taxes on behalf of other taxing authorities, such as Metro Vancouver, Islands Trust and Translink. Only about 51% of the taxes on your property tax bill go to the Municipality to pay for the services provided to the community. The remaining 49% is collected on behalf of other taxing authorities. The Municipality has no control over the tax rates charged by other taxing authorities.

Here's how your tax bill was broken down in 2020:

And here's how the Municipal portion of your tax bill is proposed:

The Municipal Budget has three main components: The General Fund, Water System Funds, and the Sewer Fund. Each fund contains both an Operating and Capital Budget. These are the Operating Program Budget and the Capital Project Budget.

The Operating Program Budget funds the day-to-day expenditures of the Municipality such as salaries, supplies and services, professional services, contractor services, maintenance, utility costs, and insurance and legal fees. The Operating Program Budget also provides for an annual contribution to Reserves. Property taxation is the largest funding source for ongoing expenditures. 

The Capital & Project Budget is mostly made up of Capital Projects, but also includes Operating Projects. Projects are different from Programs because they have a distinct beginning and end, and represent a one-time funding requirement. The most typical Municipal funding source for Projects is Reserves. The majority of Capital Project requests are for the renewal and replacement of existing assets. 

Addressing all the anticipated Operating Program expenditure needs for 2021 would require a tax levy increase of $875,100 (15.3%) - not exactly what Bowen taxpayers want to see on their property tax bill. 

This is not what the Municipality wants to see for the community either, so staff went back to the drawing board to bring you the scenarios below, which have lower impacts on the tax levy increase.

Staff are proposing a Budget for 2021 based on Scenario 2 that would require a tax levy increase of $379,200, or 6.6%. 

• $114,200 contribution to the Capital Renewal and Replacement Reserve 
• $102,000 for cost-of-living increase to salaries and wages 
• $59,000 for rising costs of insurance, legal fees, supplies and maintenance, and additional requirements for training and safety supplies in fire and protective services 
• $54,000 for new staff resources 
• $50,000 for a new Council Strategic Initiatives Reserve that will fund one-time Operating Projects 

The following graphic illustrates how a tax levy increase of $379,200 (6.6%) would impact property taxes based on your 2021 assessed value: 

It is important to note that a 1% tax increase on Bowen Island can't be compared like apples to apples with other jurisdictions such as West Vancouver or Burnaby. This is because our tax base (population) is much smaller. For example, a 1% increase in West Vancouver amounts to over a million dollars in revenue. On Bowen, it amounts to $57,100. 

Many important Budget requests were deferred from the proposed Budget to make it as lean as possible, addressing only the highest priorities that require funding in 2021. You can read specifics about these Budget requests and see what is included in the proposed Budget HERE. 

The components associated with the proposed 2021 Budget are presented as “Ideas” below. Scroll down and take a look at each component where we will explain why each is necessary. We encourage you provide your feedback on each component by leaving a comment.

If you prefer to view all of the content on Citizenlab in a single document, you can download the PDF called 2021 BIM Budget Consultation, below.