Coquitlam and Port Moody spent nearly the same amount per person in 2012 while Port Coquitlam lagged far behind them in a study of Metro Vancouver municipalities released yesterday by the Fraser Institute.
The study found Coquitlam ranked fifth in population among the 17 Metro cities studied and seventh in per-person spending ($1,393 - up nearly 50% from the $933/person spent in 2002).
PoMo, 14th in population size, was the ninth biggest spender ($1,345 - up 18% from the $1,145/person spent in 2002) while PoCo's population put it in 11th place for population and 15th for spending ($1,163 - up 30% from the $892 in 2002).
None of the Tri-Cities was ranked closely in per-person spending with other cities with a similar population size.
And Port Moody, with its municipal police force, was also much lower in per capita spending compared with other cities that also have their own force: West Vancouver is at the top of the Metro Vancouver heap, spending $2,118 per person, followed closely by New Westminster at $1,837/person (second-highest Metro spender) and Delta at $1,596 (fourth-highest).
On average, Metro Vancouver cities spent $1,384 per person in 2012, making Coquitlam a slightly above-average spender (0.6%) while PoMo spent nearly 3% less and PoCo, 16% less.
The Fraser Institute report did not draw any conclusions accounting for the differences in spending, noting they did not seem to be driven by population - Vancouver has the highest population but was the third-highest spender while Surrey had the second-largest population and was the lowest spender and West Van was the highest spender but with a relatively small population.
As well, the report notes, neighbouring municipalities posted significant spending differences. New Westminster, for instance, spends nearly $600 more per person than Burnaby and Port Coquitlam spends far less than PoMo and Coquitlam.
The revenue rankings also show a wide disparity among the Tri-Cities.
Coquitlam's 2012 revenue ($2,144/person) placed it fourth among Metro Vancouver cities while PoCo's ($1,687) ranked 12th and PoMo's ($1,591) ranked 16th.
Nearly half of Metro Vancouver cities' revenue comes from property taxes. In 2012, tax revenue per-person rankings put Coquitlam in fifth ($1,009/person), PoMo in eighth ($929/person) and PoCo in ninth ($916/person).
The tax burden is shouldered mainly by residents in each of the cities - nearly 61% in Coquitlam, about 67% in PoMo and 56% in PoCo.
