admin_v3_pages

age_question

analytics

archival_summary_mailer

brainstormer_emails

brainstormer_upgrades

campaign_monitor

chain_mailers

collect_only_year

consultation_hub

content_security_policy

content_security_policy_bazaar

content_security_policy_bluehaven

content_security_policy_report_only

content_security_policy_report_only_bazaar

content_security_policy_report_only_bluehaven

content_security_policy_strict

cookie_policy

custom_code

custom_js_tracking

dashboard

dashboard_filters_visibility

delete_survey_test_responses

demographic_filter_text_analysis

digest_email_subscription

disable_akismet

disable_engagement_depth_query_optimization

disable_facebook_sdk

disable_google_analytics

disable_twitter_widget

disable_user_analytics_tracking

disallow_platform_admin_access

drip_campaigns

emoji_question

enable_active_directory_signup

enable_admin_survey_pdf_download

enable_auto_hide_past_key_dates

enable_ehq_newsletter

enable_email_sharing_snippet

enable_froala_participant_css

enable_market_place

enable_material_sidebar

enable_modelled_data_age

enable_modelled_data_location

enable_newsfeed_date_settings

enable_participant_page_hub_filters

enable_pfe_authentication

enable_pfe_ideas

enable_pfe_survey

enable_reporting_filter_builder

enable_secret_key_question

enable_site_onboarding

enable_site_recaptcha

enable_static_page_question

enable_stock_image_library

enforce_sso

enhanced_skip_to_menu

enhanced_social_share

enhancements_on_places

esri_places_migration

follow_project_widget

forum_topic_optimization

full_page_graphs_in_reporting

google_translation_enabled

gov_delivery_integration

granicus_sso

hide_participant_details_survey_analysis_pdf

homepage_upgrades

html_emails

hub_admin

hubs_on_new_appearance_editor

idea-tool-unverified-participation

idea_unverified_participation

image_editor

imgix_for_homepages

imgix_for_project_pages

individual_social_sharing_for_qanda

intercom

load_theme_css_first

location_question

mailchimp

manage_project_team

mapboxgl

marketplace_sms_integration

matomo_tracking

mentions

microcopy_overrides

modelled_data_ethnicity_field

modelled_data_gender_field

multi_level_links

multilingual_admin_interface

new_badge_paradigm

new_comment_feature

new_cookie_consent_manager

new_login_page_design

new_mapper

new_project_pages

new_story_telling_tool

new_surveys

new_user_profile

newsletter_tracking_code

notifications

open_documents_inline

open_survey

open_surveys

overview_dashboard_sharing

participants_page_revamp

pfe_header_v2

pfe_share_ideas_board

places_ui_upgrades

places_upgrade

port_project_to_bluehaven

prevent-protected-projects-in-catalogs

privacy_and_security

project_clone

project_finder_embed

project_page_editor

project_page_refresh

project_settings

project_sharing

project_tag_manager

project_tags_filters

protected_hubs_on_new_appearance_editor

quickpoll_share_link

readspeaker

registration_upgrades

render_site_header_in_places

report_download_confirmation

reporting_dashboard_optimised

reporting_dashboard_v2

reporting_ui

revamped_video_player

saved_filter_dashboard_sharing

scim_toggle

segment_analytics

segment_analytics_admin

segment_analytics_participant

self_service_hubs

shapefile_support_for_places

show_advance_search_text_analysis

show_bar_graph_for_checkbox_questions

show_context_link_analytics

show_css_overrides_editor_in_new_home_page_editor

show_custom_dashboard

show_customized_survey

show_date_filter_text_analysis

show_homepage_whitespaces

show_new_auto_notification_email

show_new_home_page_editor

show_new_user_profile_dropdown

show_participant_communities

show_project_banner

show_project_page_as_homepage

show_revised_survey

show_sentiment_analysis_in_text_analysis

show_split_data_for_likert_questions

show_table_for_ranking_questions

show_theme_variables

single_page_manage_widget

single-signon

social_share_modal

sorting_qanda_question

stop_forum_spam

submission_manager

submission_manager_places_photo_support

survey_analysis

survey_cross_tab

survey_email_question

survey_new_ui

survey_qp_disable_unverified

survey_share_link

switch_to_admin_ui

switch_to_new_prm

tabs_reorder

text_analysis

text_analysis_2023

text_analysis_2023_sentiment_analysis

text_analysis_2024_entities

text_analysis_2024_keyphrases

text_analysis_v2

tool_enhancements

tool_tab_preview

tools_listing

unsplash_support_for_project_pages

upgraded_homepage_editor

upgraded_rich_text_editor

user_imports

user_profile_phase_2

v1_reports

v4_admin_marketplace

v5_interface_switch

walkme

weekly_digest_to_admins

widget_cloning

widget_scoping

<p style="text-align: left;">Welcome to North Cowichan&#39;s public consultation and community engagement space to connect and learn.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: left;">We are committed to hearing from diverse perspectives that will help inform how we move forward on projects, programs, services, and policies.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Sign up and stay in the know about engagement opportunities, as well as next steps in projects that are important to you.</p>

Let's Connect, North Cowichan

<p>Help develop a <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/safercommunity">Safer Community Plan</a> by learning more and sharing your ideas or comments.</p><p>People, especially those most directly impacted by the issues surrounding homelessness, addictions, and street disorder in the highway corridor, can complete the survey.</p>

Safer Community Plan

<p>Municipal budgeting is a year-round process, and public input is always welcome. Learn about the 2025 North Cowichan municipal budget, and share your comments about the services your tax dollars pay for.</p><h2><strong>Participate</strong></h2><p>Between the fall and spring each year, Council learns about each department&#39;s upcoming year&#39;s business plan, the five-year financial plan and capital expenditure plan, grant-in-aid requests, utility budgets, and tax rates. Residents are encouraged to attend the meetings (either online or in-person at Municipal Hall), to listen and learn, and ask questions to Council and staff.</p><p><strong>Attend a budget meeting in-person or online:</strong></p><table style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 12, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Grant-in-aid Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 19, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Business Plan Review (Part 1)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Nov 26, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Business Plan Review (Part 2)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Dec 10, 2024</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Operating and Capital Financial Plan Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Jan 7, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Utility Rate Review</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Committee of the Whole meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Jan 15, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Financial Plan Bylaw (first 3 readings)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Council meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="width: 13.7367%;">Feb 5, 2025</td><td style="width: 37.3049%;">Financial Plan Bylaw (adoption)</td><td style="width: 48.9242%;">Council meeting</td></tr></tbody></table><p><em><strong>Note:</strong> online meeting links will be added to the page linked above closer to each meeting date.</em></p><p><strong>Unable to attend a meeting? </strong>Not to worry. Email your questions and comments to <a href="mailto:budget@northcowichan.ca">budget@northcowichan.ca</a></p><p><em>The agendas for these meetings are posted <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/municipal-hall/mayor-council/agendas-minutes-video" title="here">here</a>, the Friday before each meeting.</em></p><h2><strong>Background</strong></h2><p>Spanning 195 square kilometers, North Cowichan is the largest District Municipality by area on Vancouver Island, and is home to over 32,000 residents. A community of communities, North Cowichan is made up of several unique communities that include Chemainus, Crofton, Maple Bay, and many neighbourhoods that are centered around the greater-Duncan area.</p><p>Your municipal tax dollars pay for a wide variety of projects and services, serving this vast geographical area. From police and fire services to parks and recreation facilities, to roads, road maintenance, and water services.</p><h4><strong>Services provided by North Cowichan:</strong></h4><p><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/b21ee487aff9b4bc236db851f207d76f90c2fd93/original/1722024657/clone97clonea434b217cbdf4bf6842d876721e4b37928_ServicesProvided2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 593px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></p><h4><br></h4><h4><strong>Services not provided by North Cowichan:</strong></h4><p><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/726f5f8b05aeb33b2625ead10afba7b768d76c59/original/1722024657/clonefaclone6268d1d43debbe852ca45545a424e57f75_ServicesNotProvided2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 505px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></p><h2><br><strong>Challenges</strong></h2><p>Every year presents its own budget challenges and difficult decisions, and North Cowichan&#39;s annual budget aims for a balance between setting a reasonable tax rate and delivering services expected by residents and businesses. Common challenges include:</p><ul><li>The budget must balance</li><li>There is increased downloading from other levels of government, increased pressure to provide additional services; and increasing regulations that necessitate higher standards of care</li><li>Aging infrastructure and increasing construction costs</li><li><p>Increased non-controllable expenditures such as hydro and insurance</p></li></ul><h2><strong>Creating the budget</strong></h2><p>Every year Council and staff work together to develop an annual budget. The budget serves as an outline for how money that comes into the municipality should be spent to maintain and improve the community.</p><p>With limited resources available, the budget helps in determining which objectives have the highest priority and will produce the greatest positive impact in the community. </p><h2><strong>Plans that influence the budget</strong></h2><p>The budget process, and the decisions that must be made on how to best lead the development of a safe, vibrant and sustainable municipality, are supported by the following plans:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/business-development/community-planning/official-community-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Official Community Plan">Official Community Plan</a></li><li><a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/municipal-hall/mayor-council/council-strategic-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="2019 – 2022 Council Strategic Plan">2019 &ndash; 2022+ Council Strategic Plan</a></li><li>2025 Departmental Business Plans<ul><li><em>Coming soon </em></li></ul></li></ul><h2><strong>A balancing act</strong></h2><p>Each year North Cowichan must balance the budget. While a municipality can use debt to pay for large capital projects, it cannot use debt to fund day to day operations. Therefore, revenue sources must be identified to cover all anticipated expenditures. To balance the budget, a careful analysis of the level of service needed to meet the expectations of the community balanced against realistic taxation and user fees must occur.</p><p>We are a service organization. Our customers include: youth, families, seniors, pet owners, renters, home owners, business owners, workers, employees, retirees, pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, developers, walkers, sports enthusiasts, artists. Our challenge is to meet the needs of as many of these customers as possible in a fiscally responsible way. But the needs and wants of our customers are not always the same, and we must also attempt to balance these sometimes conflicting needs and wants.</p><h2><strong>Revenue</strong></h2><p>Municipalities use a variety of revenue sources to pay for a wide range of services that residents and businesses depend on and use regularly. User fees attempt to align the value of a service to those who use the service (eg. water, garbage). Whereas property taxes are a stable and reliable source of revenue for services that are hard or undesirable to fund on a user-pay basis (eg. police and fire).</p><h4><strong>Revenue Sources (2022)<img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/b32cc346595eabab830060d57f1392b6a9ee4e1a/original/1722024657/clone6fclonebbda23dffb174fde8f549471fc9531bdff_2022_revenue_sources.png?1722024657" style="width: 588px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></strong></h4><p><br></p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Value for taxpayers</strong></h2><p>79% of people surveyed in our <a href="https://www.northcowichan.ca/assets/Departments/Communications/2022CitizenSatisfactionSurveyResults_Final.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2022 Citizen Satisfaction Survey</a> felt that they were getting fairly good or very good value for the services North Cowichan provides. Many of our services are available 24/7, 365 days per year. Employees are always on call to deal with emergencies and events such as fires, accidents, blocked drains, fallen trees, and snow storms.</p><h2><strong>Property taxes and assessments</strong></h2><p>Tax revenue is made up of property taxes and parcel taxes and together they make up 43.5% of the total revenue of the municipality. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of property as determined by BC Assessment, an independent third party who values all property in British Columbia. Taxes are calculated as:</p><p><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/da0465146840cdadbc20c3c6b9cbda60b1dc2953/original/1722024657/clone55clonec620305eb1334c042e2290d70991bcf7cf_PropertyTaxesAssessments2.jpg?1722024657" style="width: 517px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></p><p><em><strong>Rising assessments do not necessarily mean that property taxes will increase</strong></em>. The most important factor is not how much your assessment has changed, but how your assessment has changed relative to the average change for your property class.</p><p>If your assessment increases by 20% but the average assessment increases by 30%, your taxes will likely decrease. But if your assessment increases by 40% and the average assessment increases by 30%, your taxes will likely increase.</p><h2><strong>How does North Cowichan compare? </strong></h2><p>North Cowichan has some of the lowest taxes in the province for similarly sized municipalities (that have a population between 20,000 and 50,000), with total taxes and charges on a representative house less than the provincial average.</p><p><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/d0144ec09e2b589580c4e2aefb09eeba81f4317e/original/1722024657/clone92clone5a695b1b5d2685dba44032e308e4a85b6c_2022_comparison_population.png?1722024657" style="width: 672px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></p><p>Per capita, North Cowichan&rsquo;s taxes are very similar to other municipalities on Vancouver Island with populations greater than 15,000. North Cowichan&rsquo;s taxes per capita are $1,060 as compared to the average of $1,110.</p><p><img src="https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-canada/24b601096b0ef7c5753e968036feb1ea87b7839b/original/1722024658/clone39clonefb31e598128d3f77d396bef9b700a40606_2022_comparison_other_vancouver_island_munis.png?1722024658" style="width: 651px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil"></p><p><br></p>

Budget 2025

Accessibility gaps - survey