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Hikes to property taxes, parking, DCCs & fares to pay for transit

Mayor's Council announces how it will pay for its share of funding, now it must wait for the provincial and federal governments to buck up
SkyTrain
Enhanced SkyTrain is among the new services planned in TransLink's Phase 2 vision.

Enhancing Lower Mainland transit — including making improvements to the Expo and Millennium SkyTrain lines, building light rail to Surrey and a Broadway SkyTrain extension — will hit the pocketbooks of everyone from commuters to property owners and developers.

That’s the plan from the TransLink Mayors' Council, which announced Friday its revenue-generating proposal to get Phase 2 of the regional transportation authority's 10-year vision underway.

Small increases in fares, property taxes and parking fees, and a $300- to $600-per-unit hike to development cost charges (DCCs: fees developers pay for building new housing) will pay for the plan.

But before TransLink can roll out Phase 2, it needs provincial approval to the hike DCCs and add a 15-cent-an-hour parking fee increase while also obtaining provincial and federal governments' agreement on their share of funding.

Still, news that the Mayors’ Council had at least come to an agreement on its share of revenue had Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson praising the plan.

Robinson, who is minister of municipal affairs and housing and responsible for funding TransLink, said the new funding tools will help TransLink leverage money from senior levels of government.

“It is important that we get moving on Phase 2 of the vision as soon as possible to get people out of congestion, so they can spend more time with their families and less time stuck in traffic,” she said at a press conference Friday afternoon.

The plan is to raise money to pay for the construction of Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail and the Millennium Line Broadway extension; upgrade the Expo and Millennium lines to expand capacity; boost bus service to reduce overcrowding and wait times; and improve sidewalks, bikeways, multi-use pathways and roadways.

Here’s what it will cost:

• $1.6 billion in fare revenues expected from higher ridership resulting from service expansion in Phase 2, TransLink resources and efficiencies.

• A 2% increase to all transit fares over two years beginning in 2020. This amounts to a five- to 15-cent increase to adult and concession transit fares and $1 to $3 increase to adult and concession monthly passes.

• A 15 cents per hour increase for an average $5-per-hour parking. This is an increase from 21% to 24% to the existing parking lot rate; legislative amendments would be required to enable TransLink to make this change.

• A $5.50 increase in property taxes per average household each year, or about 46 cents a month, beginning next year.

• About $300- to $600-per-unit increase to the DCCs on new residential developments depending on type of dwelling; legislative changes are required to enable the Mayors Council to levy the DCC.

• Revenue from a variety of transit-related commercial opportunities.