What Does Redevelopment Really Cost Us?

Don Cayo, of the Vancouver Sun, wrote an interesting article in the June 19th, 2010 edition of the Vancouver Sun. He posits that, "If Cambie Street grows as hoped, City of Vancouver will lose big bucks." In the article Cayo states that, "The proposed rezoning of Cambie Street properties served by the new Canada Line may cause economic hardship that erodes or outweighs any potential benefits." He goes on to state:

To understand why, consider how differently business and residential properties affect the city's financial health.
About 92 per cent of assessed properties in Vancouver are residential, leaving just eight per cent commercial — a number that is steadily declining as the city increasingly becomes a place to live but not to work.
This relative handful of business properties pays half of the city's total property taxes. Yet the cost of services they use — streets, police, fire protection and such — adds up to only a quarter of City Hall spending.
Thus for every $2 businesses pay in property tax, the city spends just $1 in return, leaving a 50-per-cent "profit" the city can use to subsidize homeowners. And subsidize they do, spending about $1.50 on residential services for every $1 in residential property tax.

A number of points within this article could just as easily be written about New Westminster. The comment, "as the city increasingly becomes a place to live but not to work," certainly sounds like our City.

Recently Mayor Wright called himself a "development mayor". As our taxes continue to rise and our City's budget increases (by approx. 45% over the last 7 years) one has to wonder how much
New Westminster's development is costing residents and businesses. Is our current mayor's vision driving away the few remaining businesses and making our City less and less
affordable for young families and our seniors?