2026 Lower Mainland Local Government Association Conference

Last night, today, and tomorrow, elected representatives from local governments across the Lower Mainland are at the annual Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA) conference and annual general meeting in Whistler. About 190 people are attending the conference, including members of Langley City Council, Paul Albrecht, Mike Solyom, Rosemary Wallace, Leith White, and me. Paul is the current president, and I am the Metro Vancouver Regional District representative on the LMLGA board. Paul delivered opening remarks last night to kick off the conference, and then we heard from former Lieutenant Governor of BC, Janet Austin, on the role of local government and the lack of funding for it.

Paul Albrecht, the president of LMLGA, delivers the opening welcome.

Today and tomorrow, there is a series of educational panels. Some of the highlights included a panel on “Lessons Learned from Municipal Council Conflict”, which I will be moderating. Other sessions include how we can help build sustainable and inclusive government, the top concerns of people in BC, and how to strengthen citizens' participation in local government decision-making.

One of my favourite parts of the conference is the resolution session, where we debate motions submitted by local governments throughout the Lower Mainland that typically call on the provincial government to take action. Resolutions endorsed by the LMLGA membership inform our advocacy efforts to the province and are forwarded to the Union of BC Municipalities for debate by all local governments at its conference in the fall. Langley City has a resolution calling on the province to develop consistent rules for micro-mobility devices, such as mobility devices for people with disabilities, e-scooters, and the like.

One of the fun traditions is that each local government provide a small item that represents their community for a door prize. Langley City’s door prize is the book “On the Trail: 50 Years of Engaging with Nature” by the Langley Field Naturalist.

I always learn something new at the conference that can be applied back in Langley City.

April 27 Council Notes: Affordable Housing Fund and Community Standards

As I posted about a few weeks ago, Langley City Council now requires that, within an 800-metre radius of the Willowbrook and Langley City Centre SkyTrain station, at least 2.5% of all new housing units built be made available for rent for at least 20% below Langley City market rates for the life of the building. Under BC law, a builder can either provide this as part of their housing project or pay an in-lieu cash amount to the City, which must be deposited into an affordable housing fund. The in-lieu cash amount must reflect the market cost of building a housing unit.

Langley City Council has now adopted an Affordable Housing Fund bylaw and a new Affordable Housing Reserve Fund policy, which, among other things, guides how Council should use these funds. Council wants to prioritize any funds received towards constructing new below-market affordable housing units (rents 20% below Langley City market rates), and this is reflected in the policy. The funds could also be used for below-market:

• Seniors-focused housing units
• Indigenous housing units
• Family and youth housing units
• Special needs, accessible housing units
• Co-op housing units
• Temporary shelter and transitional housing units

The bylaw and policy include an annual reporting and in-lieu cash fee adjustment to reflect market costs.

Langley City Council also adopted a new Community Standards Bylaw that focused on securing vacant and redevelopment-ready property. You can learn more in a previous post.

The new Council after the fall municipal election will likely have to decide on major service changes, such as around street waste management. Council passed a motion asking staff to include a clearly defined “status quo” option, along with proposed new service options, to help Council make decisions on new service options. Sometimes this is called a baseline, and I’ve seen it used at TransLink in my role on the Mayors’ Council. It is usually presented in a table format.

Langley City 2026 Resident Property Tax Increasing Under $100

In December, Langley City Council passed the City’s 2026 budget. While you can read my previous posts on the ongoing service enhancements and capital projects, the short of it is that the budget included:

• Funding 2 Additional Firefighters
• Funding 2 Additional RCMP Officers
• Extending Al Anderson Pool to Open April 13
• Increasing the Annual Amount Contributed to Capital Projects
• Maintaining Current Service Levels

Council approved replacing the end-of-life City Operation Centre in the 2026 capital budget.

This required increasing the city’s expenditures by $2.54 million, resulting in an overall 5.82% property tax increase across all property types.

While the budget has been passed, Council still must pass an annual tax rate bylaw to enable property tax collection by the beginning of July.

Council gave first, second, and third readings to the 2026 tax rate bylaw last night. The tax rate bylaw sets the mill rate. To learn more about mill rates, please read a previous post I wrote titled, “One residential mill rate causes uneven property tax changes in Langley City. Find out why.” One important thing to note is that mill rates should never be used to compare efficiencies or service costs between municipalities; you need to compare average municipal taxes and utility fees.

The bottom line is that detached home (single-family) owners will see their annual property tax increase by 3.12% or $99.55, on average, compared to last year. Attached home (apartments and townhouses) owners will see their annual property tax increase by 6.15% or $83.35 on average.

I believe that local government continue to deliver excellent value for money. For example, my strata fees increased by $1,020 per year this year for the same level of service. I live in a 1,600 sq. ft. townhouse.

Population Growth Stalls, Transit Ridership Declines in Metro Vancouver in 2025

While normally TransLink’s Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation meets monthly, the first public meeting of the Mayors’ Council will happen on April 30th. The heavy lifting for the Mayors’ Council happened last year as we moved towards approving the 2025 Transportation Investment Plan; the next Investment Plan must be approved in early 2027. Currently, the focus is on advocating to the province and the federal governments to increase funding for transit in our region and start delivering that funding as soon as possible.

Last year was an interesting year for population growth in Metro Vancouver. While we typically seen a 2% growth rate, in 2025 there was essentially no population growth. Of course, this isn’t evenly distributed. The City of Vancouver saw about a 1% population decline, whereas typically high-growth areas like Surrey saw only a 2% growth rate.

Overall, the transit system experienced a 1.5% decline in transit journeys in 2025 compared to 2024. Bus ridership declined 2.5%, and Expo/Millennium lines declined 2.6%. Canada Line ridership increased 1.1%, SeaBus ridership increased 3.8%, HandyDART service increased 6%, and West Coast Express ridership increased 11.2%. Over 60% of transit journeys are by bus. TransLink attributes the decline to fewer young adults in our region, resulting from changes in federal immigration targets, young adults leaving Metro Vancouver, and a smaller overall Gen Z population compared to millennials.

When you look at subregions, the largest decline was in the South of Fraser, though transit ridership there is still significantly higher than before the pandemic.

Annual Ridership Growth (First Number) between 2024 - 2025 & Share of System-Wide Boardings (Second Number) by Sub-Region in 2025. Select the map to enlarge.

Population growth will likely return to a stable growth rate in the near future, and transit ridership will likely resume growth as a result. There is no indication that transit is in a permanent ridership decline.