With its 2025 budget adopted Feb. 13, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) released estimated residential property tax increases for regional services. In a press release issued the following day, the SCRD focused on the dollar value that taxes are slated to rise in each electoral area, based on each $100,000 of assessed value.
Taxation changes by area
The highest escalation of $14.08 over 2024 levels is proposed to be charged to properties in Roberts Creek. A similar tax levy bump up of $14.04 is to come to Halfmoon Bay parcels, and in Gibsons the change is $13 more on each $100,000.
Changes in regional tax levels for 2025 are the lowest for the island properties in SCRD areas of Halfmoon Bay and West Howe Sound. Those are going up by $2.63 and $1.80 respectively.
Mid-pack in the regional tax rate change for this year are Egmont/Pender Harbour at $12.09, Elphinstone at $11.02, West Howe Sound at $10.35, shíshálh Nation Government District at $7.39 and District of Sechelt at $7.35.
“Figures reported out in a prior news release (and in the Jan. 24 Coast Reporter) were preliminary and had not factored in all projects approved through Round 2 Budget. This should have been made clear in the news release issued in late January and the SCRD regrets any confusion caused,” the most recent release states.
Other 2025 adjustments
Speaking with SCRD chief administrative officer (CAO) Tina Perreault on Feb. 14, Coast Reporter was cautioned that the rates remain unconfirmed until the 2025 taxation roll is finalized, which she anticipates will happen on March 31. She added that with the Coast’s assessed property values remaining basically stable with 2024 levels, “we don’t anticipate seeing a lot of appeals." If appeals filed and approved are at a minimum, the tax rates announced Feb. 14 are not expected to change.
Perreault also noted that the regional hospital district has not adopted its 2025 budget, so the tax levy for that function has not been finalized. Last October, the hospital board voted for spending plan adjustments that would see the 2025 levy rise to $6.82 from $6.60, the 2024 amount per $100,000 of assessed value for properties on the Sunshine Coast.
The 2025 user fees and frontage taxation rates for regional district water, wastewater and curbside waste/recycling collection for properties who receive those services, were approved last December.
2025’s process changes
Reflecting on how his first budget cycle in the chair’s role differed from his past board experiences, Sechelt area director Alton Toth told Coast Reporter the directors “recognized we were asking for way too much to get done."
"If you look at the capital [project] chart of what is budgeted [from past years] versus what is actually getting done, we are struggling … we are becoming very cognizant of the fact that we can’t keep piling things on and keep saying 'yes' to everything. We want to try to clear off the plate before the next board term starts." (The current board has only one more budget to adopt, with the next round of local government elections scheduled for October 2026.)
Toth also indicated he was looking forward to an upcoming 2025 budget debrief meeting, where issues like timing for the coming year’s budget cycle will be discussed. This year, the financial plan was adopted two weeks earlier than in 2024. Perreault noted that getting the budget finalized earlier has “pros and cons” with a major advantage being that projects have their funding approved and can get rolling earlier in the year.
Adjusting as the reservoir project advances
With a major funding announcement for the shíshálh Nation reservoir made between 2025's Rounds 1 and 2 budget debates, the SCRD needed to adjust spending plans, so that its efforts to support that project could keep pace. A 2025/2026 feasibility study and development of raw water reservoirs was included at a price of $397,872, along with a .35 of a full time equivalent (FTE).
“We pivoted quickly, I think, in Round 2 to try and get something into the budget for that. Is it perfect? We don’t know yet,” the CAO said. In response to a question about how he viewed that process, Toth asked Coast Reporter to “circle back in a year and we will figure out if it was perfect or not."
Personnel counts and budget engagement
There will be an increase of 10.63 FTEs at the SCRD in 2025, bringing that number up to 270.50. About 3.5 of those FTEs result from decisions made in 2024. Decisions made in the 2025 process also accounted for 3.5 FTE increases in both permanent and temporary positions. The permanent additions include making part-time assistant fire chief positions in Gibsons and Halfmoon Bay into full-time jobs.
The temporary change in 2025 includes two short-term positions in the rural planning department to support the region’s official community plan update. Those positions are slated to stay on the books until 2027.
As of the adoption of this year’s version of its five-year financial plan, the SCRD is projected to see FTE reductions to 265 from 2027 to 2029.
Another difference in this year’s budget process was how public engagement was handled, with most of that being focused on the “Let’s Talk” online portal. Communications manager Aidan Buckley said they did not receive a lot of budget questions and that he would “love to see more."
In Toth's opinion, that online platform is capable of a lot more in the public engagement range. “Some communities are naming snowplows and stuff through their Let’s Talk pages and that is cool," he stated.
As for communicating on local government financial planning, he said “I would like everybody on the Sunshine Coast to know everything about our budget that there is to know. But how do you reach those people in a way that is meaningful, cost-effective and is not going to exhaust everybody in the process?
“Government is supposed to be boring, we don’t want to be exciting, because something is usually going wrong when it is exciting. As long as the sewers work, the water keeps flowing and the parks get groomed, I think most people don’t want to know how the cake is baked."
