Lately it’s been hard to keep up with the cost-cutting and revenue-generating ideas of Vancouver’s Mayor and City Council.

Despite 10.7 per cent (2023) and 7.5 per cent (2024) property tax increases, City Hall is facing a challenging financial environment. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Mayor’s Budget Task Force Report. Paying for 100 new police officers without an increase in property taxes—one of Mayor Sim’s election promises—is simply not realistic.

In its efforts at revenue generation, Vancouver’s ABC-majority Council rented the rights to City Hall to the Rolling Stones for a whopping $500. This rental revenue initiative was, apparently, in line with the Task Force recommendation of exploring opportunities for public-private partnerships.

Missing, however, is any consideration of equity in how the budget is designed and money is spent. To address this, I have one cost-saving measure that would both reduce expenses and address equity.

Each year, the City’s engineering department places thousands of sandbags along two blocks of Northwest Marine Drive in West Point Grey. The sandbags shield high tides from flowing into the roadway and the very expensive adjacent housing. Since 2012, the sandbags have become a regular feature given the rising winter tides and extreme weather events.

The project serves a total of 18 properties, each with an average value of $5.6 million—with $11.4 million at the high end and $4.41 million at the low end. According to a freedom of information request, the cost of this project in 2023 was almost $70,000, with more than $260,000 being spent since 2019. The funds for this work come from the Weather Response Reserve, although there is currently no line item for this reserve in the budget.

Insurance companies have noted a significant increase in extreme weather claims, particularly for wildfire and flooding. In areas of flooding, there are preemptive steps property owners can take, such as installing a sump pump (backwater valve) and placing sandbags to reduce risk of damage.

It seems in Vancouver, we are doing extreme weather mitigation work for very wealthy property owners who have purchased houses in a flood plain. Which is a nice subsidy for those who probably don’t need it.

In the spirit of cost optimization, the annual sandbag project could transform into a cost-recovering line item. Provincial legislation permits municipalities by bylaw to provide services to only a portion of the municipality (i.e. a local service area). The property owners are then taxed for this service. Which, in my opinion, seems fair. (A cheaper alternative would be to simply close off these two blocks when the tide is high.)

People who are less able to prevent and recover from climate impacts include those who experience poverty, colonization, racism, inadequate housing, and lack of access to health care. So if the City is committed to protecting the houses of the very rich at a cost to all of us, an alternative might be to offer $70,000 worth of climate adaptation services to every 18 units of residential housing. Because, after all, we’re all affected by extreme weather—not just the very wealthy.