A practical approach to controlling costs, managing infrastructure and growing the tax base.
Victoria needs to protect essential services and invest in aging infrastructure without continually relying on large property tax increases. The City’s adopted 2026–2030 Financial Plan provides an important measure of the challenge: Victoria planned $394.1 million in operating expenditures and $160.1 million in capital improvements in 2026. The additional revenue required from property taxes is $14.185 million over 2025, producing an overall property-tax increase of 7.28%, distributed as an average 9.34% increase for residential properties and 4.78% for business properties.
The answer is not indiscriminate cuts, nor is it simply asking taxpayers to pay more each year. A stronger financial strategy should focus on three things: getting better value from existing spending, managing infrastructure and capital investments with greater discipline, and expanding Victoria’s economy and tax base.
A More Sustainable Financial Model
The principle is straightforward: control the growth of costs, manage assets and capital projects professionally, and grow Victoria’s economic and tax base.
Victoria should be able to demonstrate what taxpayers are receiving for their money and whether major investments are delivering the promised results. Better financial management is not about cutting for the sake of cutting. It is about protecting essential services, investing responsibly, reducing avoidable costs and building the economic capacity needed to support the city over the long term.
That means measuring results, managing costs and risks, investing in what works, and reporting performance openly so residents can hold City Hall accountable.
1. Conduct a Comprehensive Value-for-Money and Performance Review
The City delivers more than 200 programs and services. That breadth makes regular performance review essential. I would establish a systematic review of City programs, administration, consulting expenditures, procurement, contracts and discretionary initiatives to determine what is producing measurable value for residents.
Every significant program should have a clearly defined purpose, an accountable owner, a transparent cost, measurable performance indicators and regular public reporting. Programs that are meeting their objectives should be supported. Programs that are underperforming should be corrected, consolidated, redesigned or, where appropriate, discontinued.
This would not be an across-the-board cost-cutting exercise. Core municipal responsibilities need to be protected. These include police, fire protection, infrastructure, utilities and essential public services. The objective is to ensure that scarce tax dollars are directed to the services and investments that produce the greatest public value.
2. Put Infrastructure and Capital Projects on a Disciplined Long-Term Financial Footing
Victoria’s financial health cannot be separated from the condition of its infrastructure. Roads, sewers, stormwater systems, public buildings, parks and other municipal assets eventually require renewal. Deferring necessary maintenance can shift costs into the future and can make eventual repairs or replacement more expensive.
I would support a transparent, risk-based infrastructure plan identifying major assets, their condition, expected renewal or replacement dates, estimated costs, priorities and proposed funding sources. Residents should be able to see not only what the City intends to build, but also how it plans to maintain and eventually replace the infrastructure it already owns.
Major capital projects should be managed against approved baselines for scope, budget and schedule, with appropriate contingencies, risk registers and regular public reporting. When costs or schedules begin to move materially away from the approved plan, Council and the public should know early enough to take corrective action.
The City already uses reserve funds to save for future investments and smooth the effect of unusually large expenditures on taxpayers. Those reserves should form part of a deliberate long-term asset management strategy rather than allowing foreseeable infrastructure costs to become future financial emergencies.
3. Grow Victoria’s Economy and Tax Base
Financial sustainability is not only about controlling expenditures. It is also about expanding the economic base that supports municipal services. A stronger economy, more successful businesses, additional housing and productive private investment can broaden the assessment base and generate additional municipal revenue.
I would focus on making Victoria substantially faster and more predictable for permits and development, reducing unnecessary barriers to investment and entrepreneurship, supporting existing businesses, attracting new investment and strengthening sectors capable of creating well-paying jobs.
This is particularly important because property taxes remain the City’s largest revenue source. New development can generate ongoing property tax revenue, while stronger commercial activity contributes to a healthier and more resilient municipal revenue base. Economic development should therefore be treated as part of Victoria’s financial strategy, not as a separate issue.
Make the Results Public
These three actions should be accompanied by a public financial-performance dashboard. Residents should be able to see key indicators such as operating cost trends, major capital project performance, infrastructure condition, reserve levels, procurement results, service outcomes, new development and indicators of economic health.
The City has already begun publishing Economic Health Reports that track measures such as construction activity, business licensing, downtown activity, vacancies and tourism. That type of reporting can be extended into a broader accountability framework connecting spending decisions to measurable results.