City council asking the wrong question
The Victoria City Council is asking staff the wrong question. Asking staff to recommend ways to reduce the $38M increase in their provisional 2026 Budget will not achieve meaningful results.
Governance best practice would have the Council establish the desired outcome, and lead by setting a target. For example, the Vancouver Council has asked staff to develop a budget with a 0% increase, and in Colwood, the budget target is a 2% increase.
To get serious, labour costs need to be addressed.
Labour costs account for 54% of the City of Victoria’s operating costs. What is shocking is that staffing has increased by 68%, from 868 in 2019 to 1460 in 2024.
When higher wages, benefits, and pensions are considered, the average cost per employee rose by roughly 25% in the same period. Inflation for this period is estimated to be 19% to 21% based on the CPI for the Greater Victoria region.
Taxes have increased 35% since 2019. Development costs charges paid for by homebuyers and renters have increased by 258%. A 2026 tax increase of 13.3% is unacceptable.
Fewer hanging baskets don’t cut it. Clearly, substantive labour cost cuts are needed to reduce the proposed budget. Asking staff for recommendations to reduce their own proposed budget won’t do it.
Richard A. Rowland’s popularized phrase, ‘The inmates are running the asylum,’ seems an appropriate metaphor for the dysfunctional governance in Victoria.
DIG DEEPER
Victoria council votes down motion to scrap raises next year, Victoria Times Colonist, Nov. 15, 2025.
An estimated 400 jobs could be cut at City of Vancouver, Business in Vancouver, Nov. 6, 2025.