'It won't be enough': Vancouver mayor says provincial financial relief isn't sufficient

Vancouver's mayor is again pushing the B.C. government for more financial help, saying new measures to support local governments won't fully address revenue shortfalls.

It comes as theprovinceauthorizeslocal governments to borrow, interest-free, from their existing capital reserves to help pay for operating expenses, such as employee salaries.

Provincial school tax remittances will also be delayed until the end of the year, and municipalitieswill be given greater flexibility to carry debt for an additional year.

"While I want to thank [the province]for taking some initial steps to help municipalities, I do not believethey will be enough for us to avoid morelayoffs andcuts to services," said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart in response.

In a statement Thursday, he outlined the city's recent moves to shutter some services, layoff 10 per cent of its workforce, and reduce management pay by 10 per cent as well as his own.

This weekheasked for $200 millionfrom the B.C. government, but the province offered up no direct cash as part of its latest announcement to help communities.

Stewart acknowledgedonemeasure that will help ease current cash flow pressures:deferring the school tax deadlinewill delay almost $700 million in tax transfers from the city to the province until Dec. 31, 2020.

But he said the new measures allowing municipalities to borrow from capital reserves will not help the city fill its $110-million budget gap in the long run, pointing out those loans need to be paid back in full.

"This will happen either through savings due to cuts or property tax rate hikes, as we simply do not have access to other revenue sources such as sales tax or income tax, nor the legal ability to run deficits over the long term," Stewart said.

Additional commercial property tax cuts

On Thursday, the B.C. governmentalso announced further fiscal help for business owners by again loweringproperty taxes for commercial properties.

"We are providing further support by making additional temporary property tax changes to provide province-wide relief for business to help weather the pandemic," said Finance Minister Carole James.

Last month, the B.C. NDPannounced the school tax for commercial real estate would be cut in half for light and major industry property classes. The tax savings for the average urban commercial property owner was estimated at $4,000.

Now, the province is slashing the school tax rate again for overall savingsof 25 per cent on the total property tax bill for most businesses. It'sexpected to save commercial owners up to $700 million across B.C.

Businesses and landlords are also being given more time to pay their property tax without penalty, as the date that late payment penalties apply for certaincommercial properties in classes 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 is being postponed until Oct. 1, 2020.

The province says the changes to B.C.'s property tax framework complement federal measuresand build on the $5 billion B.C. COVID-19 Action Plan unveiled last month.

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