Who took a cut of your property tax in 2014

Municipalities in BC not only collect property tax for their own use, but also collect property tax for other organizations. In Metro Vancouver, municipalities collect property tax for themselves, school districts, Metro Vancouver, TransLink, the BC Assessment Authority, and the Municipal Finance Authority. The BC Assessment Authority determines the value of your property while the Municipal Finance Authority provides loans and investment options for local government.

Percentage of Revenue from Property Tax
35% Surrey
42% Township of Langley
54% City of Langley
56% Corporation of Delta
58% City of White Rock

Besides property tax, municipalities also collect user fees for things such as water, sewer, and garbage collection services. Other user fees include parking, business licensing, and facility usage. If a municipality hosts a casino, they also get a portion of casino revenue.

One of the other big revenue sources for rapidly growing communities like Surrey and the Township of Langley are fees from developers. This is why Surrey and the Township of Langley have a smaller percentage of their revenue coming from property tax.

The following charts show where your property tax goes. These charts are from the 2014 annual reports of municipalities which were released in the past month or so.

Distribution of property tax in 2014 for land owners in Delta. Source: Delta 2015 Annual Report

Distribution of property tax in 2014 for land owners in Surrey. Source: Surrey 2014 Annual Report

Distribution of property tax in 2014 for land owners in the Township of Langley. Source: May 25, 2015 Afternoon Council Meeting

Distribution of property tax in 2014 for land owners in the City of Langley. Source: June 29, 2015 Council Meeting

Distribution of property tax in 2014 for land owners in White Rock. Source: White Rock 2014 Annual Report

Municipal governments and school districts get about 90% of your property tax. TransLink gets about 6-7% of your property tax. All the other agencies gets what’s left over. One of the interesting things to note is growing community like Surrey and the Township of Langley have a lower percentage of property tax flowing to their top line. This is because they rely more heavily on developer fees and contributions to balance the books.