Oak Bay residents pay less tax per capita than people with the privilege of living in Prince Rupert.

That’s a surprise revealed in a Sooke staff report created as municipalities across the region begin to wrestle with property taxes and how to pay for services with as little impact on taxpayers as possible.

The business report showed a comprehensive comparison based on provincial data available online at www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/localgovernments/facts-framework/statistics/tax-rates-tax-burden.

Sooke’s staff looked at BC communities with populations between 10,000 and 20,000 – encompassing 22 municipalities – and created a series of charts highlighting how Sooke fared next to the others based on 2024 tax values.

Showing metrics like total municipal taxes per capita, municipal taxes on a representative house and totals across all jurisdictions – the document looks at local communities of Sooke, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Central Saanich, View Royal, North Saanich and Sidney, along with other communities around if in the province.

Of the communities compared, Whistler is arguably the most expensive place to manage. With 2022 figures, the locality far outpaced all others, showing $108 million in total municipal spending while Oak Bay came in at less than half the $48 million in second place. Esquimalt is the next Capital Region coming in seventh on the list at $41 million.

Whistler, perhaps predictably, tops the list for municipal taxes per capita at $3,738, with Oak Bay sixth on the list at $1,661 well below surprise second place Prince Rupert at $2,040. The rest of the local areas are in the middle of the pack with Sidney at $1,241, Esquimalt at $1,188, Central Saanich at $1,156, North Saanich at $1,032, View Royal at $920 and Sooke at the bottom of the list at $801 per capita .

“It’s really hard to compare because we all do things differently in how we provide services, what we provide,” Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch told Black Press Media. “Ultimately, the hard part of governance and budgeting is not coming up with good ideas, it’s prioritizing.”

These are detailed in the 2022 spending figures, with Whistler dishing out nearly $20 million and Oak Bay $13.5 million in Parks, Recreation and Culture costs.

Municipal police forces, such as Oak Bay has, incur higher costs (more than $12 million in 2022) than the RCMP used in Sidney and North Saanich.

There are other factors, such as payments in lieu of taxes. For example, Esquimalt receives payment for the Department of National Defense Areas, offering an outside income.

Oak Bay also doesn’t have the business base a place that Whistler has. The resort raised $15 million in 2024, with the next comparable communities Central Saanich ($3.8 million), Sidney ($3.6 million), North Saanich ($3.3 million), Esquimalt and View Royal both at (3, 1 million). Sooke is sixth from the bottom with $1.9 million and Oak Bay in the basement collects $1.5 million.

“The lack of trade affects per capita,” Murdoch said. He noted that the community of 18,000 is also responsible for things like police and fire for the Oak Bay half of the University of Victoria – with a population of roughly 25,000 for much of the year.

A similar trend shows overall municipal taxes paid by the average household in 2024, with Oak Bay topping the list at $4,976 ahead of Whistler at $4,928, with Esquimalt rounding out third at $3,319 followed by central Saanich at $2,899; ViewRoyal $2,393; Sidney $2,206; North Saanich $1,890 and Sooke $1,758.

Average Home Values ​​Show Some Disparity Although Oak Bay is known for its high property values, it ranks second among the compared communities at $1.9 million. Whistler’s median home value is $3.6 million.

The house value is calculated using BC assessment values ​​for detached properties divided by the total number of properties.

A median average would provide a better comparison, Murdoch noted, because Oak Bay is among the communities in the region that have a handful of outliers — significantly higher-valued properties.

Whistler collected nearly $52 million in municipal taxes in 2024 with Oak Bay just over $32.6 million. They are followed locally by Esquimalt $23M, Central Saanich $22M, Sidney just shy of $16M, North Saanich and Sooke just over $13M and View Royal just over $12M.

Municipal budget negotiations generally begin in earnest early in the new year as budgets must legally be adopted by May 15, 2025.