What Langford is spending its budget on

In the run up to Feb. 20, when the city will make its Five Year Financial Plan (2025-2029) public, Langford is well into its staggered budget approval process. The process began earlier this year than it had in previous years, owing to an initial absence of crucial data traditionally supplied by the province and required to generate a full draft of the proposed plan. The plan will reflect council’s departmental priorities as well as prior and future fiscal commitments.

Two recent land and infrastructure acquisitions as well as the 9-1-1 dispatch call cost download that was announced last month represent some of the outsized sources of tax increases in store for Langford residents.

Council will deliberate and consider approval of the financial plan at its March 3 meeting. The financial plan won’t pass into law until later in this spring; the final date for passing the plan into municipal bylaw is May 15th. But the public can weigh in online until this Sunday and at upcoming meetings. Today we have a primer on what is in the budget and multi-year plan that the city courts feedback on.

On Jan 20, Michael Dillabaugh, director of financial services, presented a legislative overview of tax revenue and property taxes as well as the city’s proposed operating budgets. The presentation included a primer on property taxes and the fiscal plan itself as well as updates to 2024 budget items and incoming pressures for 2025.

Dillabaugh said he did not have a full five-year plan to present to council that day, given that inflation or Consumer Price Index (CPI) impacts and population numbers were not available at that time.

He did explain some of the broad thematic considerations in the new budget’s development: 

• Economic development (the city will continue to implement its five-year Tourism Strategy and launch its tourism website “Explore Langford” in 2025)

• Climate change and environmental stewardship (the city has 4 staff dedicated to climate change. The city will conclude its Urban Forest Management plan and commence its Climate Action Master Plan in 2025)

• Transportation (the city will develop an Active Transportation Plan in conjunction with its existing Transportation Master Plan)

• Good governance (Total general government expenses in 2025 will amount to $12M and are expected to reach $17.8M by 2029)

• Quality of life and collaborative advocacy (the city will develop an Arts and Culture Strategic Plan and spend $22.3M on Parks and Recreation facilities in 2025)

Property taxes are in the spotlight for 2025

Where the previous council had previously reduced or left taxes intact, the current council made the decision, in 2024, to no longer use the General Amenity Reserve funds for offsetting tax increases and announced a hike of 15.6%.

At the top of the presentation Dillabaugh said the primary factor impacting property taxes is the amount of tax revenue needed for the city to balance its budget and fund services. The city must submit a balanced budget to the province each year.

Property tax rate increases in Langford went from 2.95% in 2022 to 12.41% in 2023 and then leaped to 15.62% 2024. The latest increase has translated into an average $4,709.00 per household.  Business taxes have increased at the same rates totalling $23.3K in 2022, $24.4K in 2023 and $27.1K in 2024.

Langford’s 2024 residential property tax rate of $4,472 came in higher than Sooke’s ($4,242) and Metchosin’s ($4,380) but lower than Colwood’s at $4,851 and View Royal’s at $4,986. 

Dillabaugh went on, in his presentation, to outline departmental budget considerations including:

• -council direction and decisions committed to previously

• -inflation (CPI)

• -contractual obligations

• -maintenance requirements

• -strategic plan

• -additional workload requirements to maintain current levels of service

• -asset replacement schedules and inventories.

He identified council’s Dec.16 decision to purchase the Westhills YM/YWCA building and parking for $35M (for the new Langford Aquatic Centre) as one of the primary budget pressures to come out of last year. The purchase and development of the Woodland Park project is another. The Wetshills purchase will result in a year-to-year tax increase for residents of 1.75% from 2025 through to 2028.

9-1-1 cost transfer would bump up budget 

Additional major 2025 budget pressures include the province’s announced download of E-Comm 9-1-1 dispatch call services, RCMP and fire department staffing requirements, and internal staffing requests.

The projected cost of Langford assuming 100% of the costs 9-1-1 dispatch services is $1.4M in 2025, translating to an additional 2.73% tax increase. The projected, beyond-budget impact of the provincial download will be $2.1Million in 2026. View Royal, Colwood, and Metchosin are also on the hook for the costs of the service, which was previously covered and shared by the feds and the province in a cost-sharing ratio of 70:30.

Nearby, Sooke is on the hook for $255K in 2025 and up to $340K with a 2.07% tax increase for 2026 and Colwood faces an incoming bill of $494K in 2025 up to $658K with a 2.7% tax increase in 2026.

Police and Fire costs set to go up

The Westshore RCMP building is jointly owned by Langford, Colwood, and View Royal. Costs are divided proportionally based on 50% population and 50% Hospital Assessment. As the largest contributor, Langford manages the administration of the building on behalf of the partners.

Total police services costs for 2025 will come in at $18M, $19.5M in 2026, and will reach $22M by 2029, according to the draft budget projection.  

Superintendent Todd Preston reported that the West Shore RCMP currently has 119 sworn police officers. The provincial so-called “cop to pop” formula (the number of officers per 100,000 residents) will impact the city’s recruitment numbers and therefore its budget.  Langford police to population ratio is approximately 55:25, based on its population, which means Langford will need to hire 5 more officers. Saanich’s cop to pop ratio is 1:688 with 155 police with a population of 127.3K, the closest municipal ratio to Langford’s in the CRD.

Preston pointed out that RCMP extortion files numbered only 12 in 2020 but had risen to 53 in 2024 representing 321% increase. Sextortion makes up the majority of those files In response, the RCMP will be adding a Special Victims Unit in which some of the anticipated 5 new officers will work.

In 2024, the cost per officer in Langford was $217K. Langford pays roughly 87% of that salary. The number equals an approximate tax increase of 0.40% for each additional officer added to the department.

Langford’s 2022 financial plan called for an additional 27 firefighters to be added to the department. But staff recommended that the new council  add 9 firefighters each year from 2023 to 2025 to keep the hiring impact from happening all at once. The projected cost for adding 9 firefighters to the department in 2025 is approximately $1M, representing a 1.85% tax increase.

Adding uncertainty to the rollout of upcoming departmental costs is the fact that the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) agreement expired on December 31, 2023. Staff is anticipating the negotiation of a new agreement that may increase firefighter salary costs further.

Park purchase draws from existing money allocations

The Woodlands park project, led by Ralph Stoerzer and Laura Kiehl and slated to straddle Hockely Ave will see the transformation of 6 acres in the core into a passive urban park replete with botanical gardens, picnic areas, and ponds.

To finance the project, the city will borrow $7M from its Growing Communities Fund in addition to $2.8M from previously approved property taxes that will be collected in 2026 to offset project costs. Those costs will also include buyouts of the tenants of what is currently a manufactured (“mobile”) home park. That will be funded by the addition of an amount that averages to $1M per year from 2025 to 2029 but will be added incrementally

($200K in 2025, $600k in 2026, $1M in 2027, and $1.45M in 2028, and 2029 $1.85M in 2029).

Finally, Billagaugh said the city is anticipating staff additions of $700K, representing a 1.3% increase in taxes in order to maintain its current service levels.

The city has sought public feedback on the 2025 budget through a survey it launched on Jan. 23 that presented residents the opportunity to provide input on how their tax dollars are spent and to help shape the services and programs provided to the community. Those surveys are due on Feb 9.

The city has invited additional public input at meetings on Tuesday Feb.18 at 1 pm and Thursday Feb. 20 at 7 pm.