Executive Summary:
A prominent contributor to declining affordability in B.C. over the past decade or more has been exceptionally high property tax inflation. This is a direct consequence of runaway growth in municipal operating expenses, which are principally funded by property taxes.
From 2010 to 2026, B.C. property taxes on owner-occupied housing rose by 110% – almost double the national rate (62%) and nearly two-and-a-half times B.C.'s overall CPI inflation rate of 46%. Property taxes have accelerated over the past two electoral cycles and far outpaced every other province.
Over 2010–24, “excess spending” (i.e., the amount municipalities spent beyond what would be expected if spending kept pace with municipal population growth and inflation) totalled approximately $6.5 billion (in real 2024 dollars), or $1,280 per capita.
Excess spending is rising with each municipal electoral cycle, indicating the problem is getting worse not better. Average annual excess spending increased from $128 million ($31 per capita) in the 2011-14 cycle to $800 million ($163 per capita) in the current cycle to date (2022-24), more than six times the earlier period.
Health, social services and housing – areas of provincial responsibility – recorded the fastest growth in real per capita spending (74% over 2010–24). This raises questions about whether there has been an implicit downloading of responsibilities by the province, a decision by municipal leaders to broaden their mandate, or an inefficient duplication of activities between provincial and local governments.
For Cariboo-Chilcotin Municipalities (excluding Wells - population too low to compare):
1) Quesnel:
2) Williams Lake
3) 100 Mile House
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