Vancouver city council has voted to advise staff to prepare a draft budget for 2026 to identify around $120 million in savings in order to freeze property tax rates. The direction came from Mayor Ken Sim’s “Zero Means Zero” motion which passed Wednesday with the support of his ABC majority. Sim said his motion will protect core services such as libraries, community centers, and the police and fire departments. “Predictability and stability are super important to residents and business owners across the city,” he said. “I want to be very clear: Zero means zero.” ‘There’s no facts’ At Wednesday’s meeting, Sim faced criticism from opposition councillors who wanted clarity on what services may be cut. Independent Coun. Rebecca Bligh called it an eleventh hour move by the mayor. “There’s no detail, there’s no facts,” she said. “All I’m asking is for the mayor to show his work.” Bligh referenced a June meeting where Sim tabled his initial property tax motion that identified three scenarios, ranging from a zero to 2.5 per cent property tax increase. At the time, staff projected a hike in the range of five to six per cent for 2026 would be necessary, with an additional one per cent to address the city’s infrastructure deficit. Bligh said, if the city adopts this proposal, it could burden future councils and budgets. “The mayor may love AI, but this artificially low property tax proposal is anything but intelligent,” she said. Amendments fail COPE Coun. Sean Orr tabled a number of amendments with the intent to preserve services. One of the amendments was to change Sim’s motion from a zero per cent property tax increase to a six to seven percent increase instead. None of Orr’s amendments passed. “I tried to get in some things that we could protect, and unfortunately it was voted down,” Orr said. “I just wanted to give Vancouverites assurance that some of the services that they depend on or rely on aren’t going to be sacrificed under this budget.” Line-by-line budget An issue raised by Coun. Lucy Maloney was whether there would be a line-by-line budget by November or December for council to vote on. City manager Donny van Dyk said staff would not be able to produce one during that time frame. “What staff would commit to, is coming back to council with regular updates,” he said. “There would be a line-by-line budget prepared for council, the details of which would be worked throughout the course of the fall, early winter, and shared with council in the first quarter of the new year.” Maloney then questioned why city council would vote on a budget for which they don’t have details. “We need to do this properly and I would like, as a new councillor, to see a transparent open process,” she said. When asked about this, Sim said he asked van Dyk if it would hinder the process and was told it would. “It would be incredibly reckless if we did not follow the recommendations of the city manager,” added Sim. ‘Hail Mary pass’ With a municipal election set for next October, Green Coun. Pete Fry said he views this move by the mayor as a last-ditch effort by Sim to make good with voters. “This ‘Zero Means Zero’ is an election kind of budget,” he said. “We’ve seen steady increases in the property taxes delivered by this council and this administration and this mayor. It’s what I think we call a ‘Hail Mary pass.’” City seeing department cuts The city has already begun to make cuts, shuttering its Equity Office in September and transitioning eight exempt staff out of the facilities development team. When asked whether closing the Equity Office was due to the anticipated zero per cent property tax increase, Sim said he couldn’t comment on what the city manager does and doesn’t do, but said diversity, equity and inclusion are alive in the organization. “It’s been embedded into all the different departments,” he said. “And we feel very, proud of how inclusive our city departments are.” An email sent to city staff on Wednesday by van Dyk outlines staff’s direction to deliver a zero per cent tax increase. “I understand the significant work ahead will raise questions,” said the email, which CTV News reviewed. He then invited staff to engage in a virtual town hall on Oct.16 to discuss the 2026 budget.
