A budget document’s eye-watering increase in capital spending for Salt Spring won’t need to be entirely met with a matching tax increase, according to early Capital Regional District (CRD) plans for next year, but officials are eyeing a district-high 8.2 per cent tax hike for a “typical” island property owner.
That nearly $6 million in new capital project spending — a rise of 67.8 per cent, pushing the capital budget to $15.3 million — reflects planned work such as wastewater plant maintenance and upgrades at Ganges and in the Maliview neighbourhood, building envelope repair at the Rainbow Recreation Centre pool and a likely extension of sewer lines to reach the planned Kings Lane affordable housing project.
But in the provisional budget laid out Wednesday, Oct. 29 for the CRD’s Electoral Areas Committee, much of that Salt Spring spending is also offset, either by projects having been completed the previous year — for example the float and footing repair at Fernwood Dock that took place in August — or from having being deferred to the future, like playground updates slated for Drummond Park or the perennially postponed Ganges Harbourwalk project.
Provisional budgets precede final budget planning by several months, and are necessary to set things like fees and charges bylaws, according to the CRD’s chief financial officer Nelson Chan; figures are typically built around previous years’ property values per BC Assessment, so updated information is worked into planning once new assessments are released shortly after the New Year.
“And the actual [tax requisition] change per household will vary,” Chan told directors, “depending on the local specified and defined service areas in which they participate and property assessment values.”
At tax time, most property owners will find Salt Spring’s CRD component, which includes services administered by the island’s Local Community Commission (LCC), accompanied by those from various CRD service areas or separate improvement districts for water and fire; the Islands Trust; and the province, which collects taxes for policing, roads, schools and other services.
Last year’s CRD requisition raised just shy of $9 million, which for a “typical” Salt Spring Island property tax bill — i.e. an average single-family residence, valued at just over $1 million — totalled $1,361. An 8.2 per cent increase will generate another $730,000 in tax revenue, according to a staff report, from an additional $111 per “typical” household, bringing each to $1,473 to collectively raise some $9.7 million.
For LCC-administered services specifically, the provisional budget reflects a 9.5 per cent increase in tax requisition compared to 2025, from $4.9 million total to $5.4 million; that share for the “typical” taxpayer is predicted to be $816, up from $745 last year.
Salt Spring’s provisional 2026 operating budget is $13.07 million, up roughly $930,000 or 7.6 per cent from last year. The primary drivers, according to a staff report, are increases in salaries and wages and new debt servicing costs, although an increase in sludge hauling costs for the island’s septage and composting service was projected, as were “additional pressures” related to increased contributions to the island’s library and transit system.