# Municipal levy and comparison measures

Working analysis, October 15, 2026. Municipal neighbourhood figures remain unavailable.

## Municipal scope

The [enacted 2026 bylaw](https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/consolidated/14681.pdf), pages 1–2, identifies a $1,224,250,000 general-purpose municipal levy: $132,000,000 for debt obligations and $1,092,250,000 for other necessary expenses. This is a levy target, not a receipt total. Council's [May 5 minutes](https://council.vancouver.ca/20260505/documents/regu20260505min.pdf), pages 26–27, confirm enactment as By-law 14681.

The standard residential municipal rate is $1.93406 per $1,000 of taxable value; ordinary business/light industry is $7.09436. Relief land, port properties and other classes have different rates. The relevant base is adjusted net taxable value, not simply published market assessment.

The public property-tax report and the public City ArcGIS property-viewer tables expose a combined tax-notice amount but not municipal charge, tax class or adjusted taxable components. The legacy 2016/2017 tax-revenue service does not solve this for 2026. Zoning is not a substitute for assessment class. Scaling every neighbourhood by a citywide percentage would impose the desired total without establishing the neighbourhood distribution. It is not used.

## Measures available in the explorer

| Measure | Calculation | What it answers | Principal limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full notices, total | Sum of 2026 notice values | Where the published billed dollars sit | Includes other authorities and fees |
| Full notices per hectare | Total / gross polygon hectares | Concentration of bills on the map | Not developable or taxable land productivity |
| Full notices per estimated 2021 resident | Total / spatially estimated 2021 population | Scale relative to a dated population baseline | Mixed years and property types; not resident tax burden |
| Estimated 2021 residents per km² | Population / gross area | Population concentration | Spatial estimate, gross area, 2021 reference year |
| Library / community-centre count | Separate inventories by location | Sites within each boundary | Not service catchments or capacity |
| Each type per 10,000 residents | Count / estimated 2021 population × 10,000 | Provision relative to population baseline | Current sites against older population |
| Each type per km² | Count / gross square kilometres | Geographic concentration of sites | Does not measure travel time |
| Full notices per facility | Notice total / count of that type | An optional descriptive ratio | Not spending, benefit, funding or fiscal balance |

Zero facility counts are valid zeros. Tax-per-facility ratios with a zero denominator are null/N/A. Missing municipal figures remain null, never zero. Co-located libraries and centres remain separate categories and are not summed into a misleading combined-site total.

## Population estimation and checks

- Source: Statistics Canada, [table 98-10-0015-01](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810001501), delivered with DA polygons via [Esri Canada's published census layer](https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=60744ea8abfb43ccb2e3284e5fb6f832). The saved metadata names Statistics Canada and links the source table. Direct census ZIP requests were blocked or timed out; the Esri copy is explicitly attributed.
- Select DAs with more than 99% of their polygon inside either Vancouver CSD 5915022 or Musqueam 2 CSD 5915803. These census geographies nest; the resulting 1,016 Vancouver DAs sum exactly to the independently published 662,248 population. Three Musqueam 2 DAs sum to 1,646. Total: 1,019 DAs, 663,894 people.
- Project to EPSG:26910 and intersect each DA with all 22 City local areas. Distribute its population in proportion to overlap area, normalized so each DA's weights sum to one. This assumes even population distribution within a DA's covered area and is only a spatial approximation.
- Musqueam 2 is included in Dunbar-Southlands because the City's local-area polygon includes it. It is a separate census subdivision, not an assertion about municipal tax jurisdiction.
- Boundary exception: DA 59153586 includes Stanley Park and overlaps West End by only 1.28% of its polygon. Normalization places all 1,105 residents into West End. Population location within that DA still needs block-level confirmation. Removing all 1,105 would change West End's estimated denominator by about 2.3%.
- A second calculation assigns each whole DA to its largest local-area overlap. The maximum difference from the primary population estimate is 3.93%. This is a method comparison, not a statistical confidence interval or bound on error. Both methods share the Stanley Park assumption.
- All population allocations are saved in `data/context/population-allocation.json`. Display population to the nearest 100; retain unrounded values in the CSV and calculations. The approximation mark travels with population-based map modes.
- Census date is May 11, 2021. None of these measures estimates 2026 population. Population growth could change neighbourhood comparisons substantially, especially in redevelopment areas.

## Facility inventory, checked October 15, 2026

The City's [library](https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/libraries/) and [community-centre](https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/community-centres/) inventories have 2020 metadata dates. We checked names and changed addresses against [VPL locations](https://www.vpl.ca/hours-locations), [VPL service alerts](https://www.vpl.ca/service-alerts) and the [City directory](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/community-and-cultural-centres.aspx).

- Library network: 20 counted branches. Exclude the Outreach Services administration record and the long-term-closed Oakridge branch. Retain Collingwood in the network during its October 12–22 painting closure and show the closure note. This is not a count of locations open on a particular day or hour.
- Updated library addresses: nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona, 730 East Hastings; West Point Grey, 4566 West 10th; closed Oakridge, 6184 Ash. These remain in the same local areas. No stale facility point markers are displayed.
- Recreation community centres: 24. Social-service centres: Carnegie, Gathering Place and Evelyne Saller, counted separately. Evelyne Saller is now at [404 Alexander Street](https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/evelyne-saller-centre.aspx), still in Strathcona.
- Site assignment follows the City's `geo_local_area` field and current address review. Carnegie lies in the Downtown local area despite serving the Downtown Eastside. Marpole-Oakridge is in Marpole. Names do not define catchments.
- See `facilities.csv` for every included/excluded site and closure notes. Libraries and community centres differ in size, programs and citywide role. No spending or subsidy inference follows from these counts.

## Best additions after this draft

1. Municipal levy per hectare and per resident, once the requested City extract arrives.
2. Residential versus business/industrial share, using actual property classes.
3. Percentage of residents within a 10-minute network walk of each facility type, allowing cross-boundary destinations. Requires validated entrances, pedestrian network, barriers and a population surface.
4. Library/centre floor area and weekly public opening hours per 1,000 residents; these are stronger capacity measures than counts.
5. Park area per resident, distinguishing usable public parkland from water and inaccessible land.
6. Operating/capital service expenditure and citywide service use before any fiscal-balance or subsidy claim.

Prepared data request: [MUNICIPAL-DATA-REQUEST.md](MUNICIPAL-DATA-REQUEST.md). It has not been sent.

Alternative-source investigation and a reproducible first inference test are documented in [MUNICIPAL-FEASIBILITY.md](MUNICIPAL-FEASIBILITY.md). BC Assessment's Data Advice product has the missing class/net-value fields, subject to access and licensing. The diagnostic does not yet validate municipal neighbourhood estimates and does not change the preview's municipal values.