Planning our financial future to 2024 -Revised due to COVID-19

We want to hear from you about the City’s proposed Revised Consolidated 5 Year Financial Plan to the year 2024.

Council approved Operating Budget amendments in light of the challenges property owners may be facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Revised Bylaw results in a 2% reduction in the previously approved 2020 property tax amount.

First, Second and Third Reading were given to the Revised Consolidated 5 Year Financial Plan (2020-2024) Bylaw No. 10183 on April 20, 2020, and a public consultation period will take place before the bylaw can be adopted.

Please read the information provided on the page and complete the comment form by Sunday, May 3, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.

The Document Library on this page provides a copy of the proposed revised financial plan, a summary with highlights of the proposed revised plan, the Operating, Capital and Utility budgets as well as the 2020 One-Time Expenditures.

Background on Budgets and Five Year Financial Plan

Each year, the City of Richmond approves three annual budgets to guide civic spending:

1. The Operating Budget funds the provision of general City services and determines annual property tax rates. The Operating Budget includes One-Time Expenditures approved by Council. (Approved by Council on December 9, 2019 and revised on April 14, 2020.)
2. The Capital Budget funds investments in new infrastructure or equipment. (Approved by Council on December 9, 2019 and amended on April 20, 2020.)
3. The Utility Budget supports provision of water, sewer, diking, drainage and garbage and recycling services. (Approved by Council on December 9, 2019, no changes as this does not impact property taxes.)

Once Council has approved each of its three budgets for the coming year, it also develops a Consolidated 5 Year Financial Plan to:

• meet obligations under the Community Charter, which governs local governments in BC, and requires the City to adopt a 5 Year Financial Plan.
• provide a budget road map for the City to manage its resources, revenues and spending to best serve the community.
• establish that the City has the ability to meet needs of the community and maintain civic service levels for the coming five years, while meeting its legal requirement to deliver balanced annual operating budgets.