Vancouver mayor Ken Sim’s ABC majority on council has approved the “zero-means-zero” budget on Tuesday.
All seven ABC councillors voted in favor of the controversial budget, while all four opposing councillors voted against it.
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The core of the plan includes no increase to the city’s property tax in 2026.
However, utility fees, including for water, sewer, and garbage, will rise by an average of more than four per cent.
Sim, including the ABC majority, says that the budget will “reduce the burden on taxpayers.”
Critics, on the other hand, say that it will lead to layoffs in various city departments, with unions estimating that about 400 full-time jobs could be eliminated.
Michael Robinson, a spokesperson at CUPE, says that there has been a sense of dread amongst members, especially in times of increasing cost of living.
“There’s never a good time to lose your job, but given the current climate as far as the economy goes, and people struggle with finances, this is definitely not at all a good time to be talking about the potential for losing your job,” he explained in an interview with 1130 NewsRadio.
“Everybody who is a unionized worker within the city of Vancouver is potentially thinking that it’s going to be their job that is going to be the one that’s going to be cut.”
Councillor Pete Fry, opposing the budget, criticizes that the proposal was not fully transparent and fears that job cuts are looming.
“They [ABC councillors] know where the cuts are going to happen. The rest of us will find out where the cuts will happen over the next few months, and I think that’s a point and a decision that they’re going to have to live with going into this election now,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.
“What we know from the extent of cuts in this budget is that it is going to have impacts on a lot of services and staff that Vancouverites rely on,” he added.
Fry says those service impacts will include art, culture, community centres, and libraries.
With files from Michael Williams.
