Municipal Issues In BC: Growth And Taxes

Vancouver, BC - As British Columbia gets closer to a November 16th province-wide municipal election, a new Ipsos-Reid/Vancouver Sun poll finds that two-thirds (67%) of BC residents think they are getting a good value for the taxes they pay to their local municipality. British Columbians are divided, however, in how they might react to a call for increased taxes to maintain the current level of local services. Half (47%) say they would prefer to pay higher taxes to maintain services, while half (47%) would prefer to maintain taxes and reduce services.

In other findings, a very slight majority (54%) of Lower Mainland residents think their local government is doing a good job at accommodating growth and development while protecting the livability of their neighbourhood in terms of green space and traffic.

These are the findings of a BC Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between October 7th and 13th, 2002 among a representative cross-section of 800 British Columbian adults. These data are statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional, age and sex composition reflects that of the actual BC population according to 1996 Census data. With a provincial sample of 800, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results are within 1773.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult BC population been polled. The margin of error will be larger for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

Two-Thirds (67%) of BC Residents Think They Get Good Value for Local Tax Dollars

Two-in-three (67%) British Columbia residents think they receive good value for their tax dollars in terms of the programs and services they receive from their local municipality. Overall, 11 percent of BC residents feel they receive "very good" value, while the majority (56%) feel they receive "fairly good" value. Three-in-ten (30%) residents think they are getting a poor value for their tax dollars, including one-in-ten (10%) who think they are getting a "very poor" value.

• Groups most likely to think they get a good value include older residents (80% vs. 58% younger) and upper income residents (73% vs. 64% lower).

BC Residents Split When Given a Choice between Higher Taxes (47%) or Reduced Local Services (47%)

British Columbians are divided as to whether they would prefer that their municipality "raise property taxes to maintain the same level of city services" or "keep property taxes at the same level reduce some of the services". Forty-seven percent choose the option to raise taxes in order to maintain services. An equal number of British Columbians (47%) choose the option to keep taxes at the same level and reduce some services.

Very Slim Majority (54%) of Lower Mainland Residents Think Local Government Doing Good Job at Balancing Growth and Livability

Lower Mainland residents are divided in their assessment of the job their local government has done at accommodating growth and development while protecting the livability of local neighbourhoods in terms of green space and traffic. That is, while just over one-half of Lower Mainland residents (54%) think local government has done a good job in this regard, a significant minority (45%) think they have done a poor job. Residents are slightly more likely to believe that local government has done a "very poor" job (18%) than a "very good" job (11%).

Majority Support (75%) for Off-Leash Parks

Three-in-four (75%) BC residents support the notion of designating a certain amount of existing green space in their local parks so dog owners can have off-leash areas for their pets. Four-in-ten (42%) residents "strongly" support this idea, while three-in-ten (33%) "somewhat" support this idea. The rest (23%) oppose it, including 13 percent who "strongly" oppose the idea of off-leash parks.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Kyle Braid
Vice President
Ipsos-Reid
(604) 257-3200