{"id":591767,"date":"2026-04-09T04:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591767\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:46:13","slug":"vancouver-mayor-promises-another-zero-tax-increase-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591767\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver mayor promises another zero tax increase budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ken Sim says that his ABC majority is planning for another <a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.citynews.ca\/video\/2025\/11\/25\/vancouver-city-council-approves-zero-means-zero-budget\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">zero per cent tax increase<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n<p>During his State of the City address on Wednesday, the Vancouver mayor looked back at his tenure and gave insights into what he is still planning to do before this year\u2019s municipal election.<\/p>\n<p>Sim argues that failed strategies and underinvestment by previous administrations have put Vancouver in a bad place.<\/p>\n<p>He adds that his ABC slate has been trying to change track, but that has been taking longer than expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI underestimated how much had to change and how long it would take,\u201d Sim said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of that was to be expected as a new mayor coming from outside politics, but some of it was a system we inherited that had stopped working long before we arrived at City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He says that the so-called \u2018Zero Means Zero\u2019 budget is part of his effort to improve the city\u2019s financial standing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t have low taxes without a strong economy, and we can\u2019t have a strong economy without safe, thriving communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The budget, which was passed by the City Council in November last year, puts a freeze on property tax increases and was <a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.citynews.ca\/2025\/10\/08\/vancouver-mayor-says-zero-means-zero-critics-warn-freezing-property-taxes-will-mean-service-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">attacked by critics for potentially cutting hundreds of full-time jobs<\/a> and public services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a vision that is already delivering results, but to see it through, to build on this momentum and to secure the future we all want, we need to stay on course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause we are proving something important, local government can be disciplined, accountable, and effective even in challenging times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, Sim announced that his ABC slate has plans to put money aside for multiple Vancouver community centres in the next ten years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy ABC Council team is committing $400 million to new funding for rebuilding and large-scale renovations of five Vancouver community centres.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recently, a city report suggested that 72 per cent of recreation facilities in Vancouver were in poor or very poor condition.<\/p>\n<p>The civic election is scheduled for October this year.<\/p>\n<p>Ken Sim has been serving one term as mayor.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 With files from Maria Vinca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ken Sim says that his ABC majority is planning for another zero per cent tax increase next year.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-591767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}