After the vote on Vancouver's 3 borrowing questions: what a yes or a no means for the capital plan

On October 17, Vancouver voters answered 3 questions about borrowing money for the City's 2027-2030 Capital Plan. This guide explains what each result allows under the Vancouver Charter, what the money was for, and how the City pays for building and repair work from other sources. The rules below apply whichever way each question was decided. The official results are on the City's website.

How the plan reached the ballot

The City describes a capital plan as "a 4-year investment plan" to maintain, renew and upgrade infrastructure and amenities. Council also adopts an operating budget each year, which pays for the City's services. The City's Capital Plan page gives this timeline for the current plan:

• April 22, 2026: Council gave staff direction on the plan.
• May 22 to June 7, 2026: public engagement.
• July 7, 2026: the draft plan and the engagement findings were made public.
• July 16, 2026: Council approved the plan.
• October 17, 2026: the borrowing questions appeared on the ballot.

What the 3 questions asked

The City's ballot page gives the wording and the amounts. Each question asked whether Council may, "without further assent of the electors", pass by-laws between January 1, 2027 and December 31, 2030 to borrow up to a set total.

1. Transportation and street infrastructure: $292,000,000. This covers bridges and structures ($154,000,000, including work on the Granville and Cambie bridges), pavement and sidewalks ($92,000,000), and traffic signals and street lighting ($46,000,000).
2. Community serving and civic essential infrastructure: $438,000,000. This covers community facilities such as community centres, pools, rinks, libraries and childcare ($338,000,000), and other civic buildings such as fire halls, service yards and Vancouver Civic Theatres ($100,000,000).
3. Parks and open public spaces infrastructure: $60,000,000. This covers parks, park buildings, the seawall, pathways, playgrounds, playfields and sport courts.

Together they total $790 million. Our ballot questions page has the full wording.

The same election also carried 2 plebiscite questions on a separate ballot. The City calls those non-binding: the results "show Council what people think", and Council does not have to act on them. The borrowing questions have legal effect under the Charter, as the rest of this guide explains.

How a question passes

Section 131 of the Vancouver Charter says the assent of the electors is obtained "only if a majority of the votes counted as valid are in favour". Each of the 3 questions stands alone. One can pass while another fails.

Section 130 says Part I of the Charter, which governs elections, also applies to a vote of this type. So the count follows the same rules as the candidate races, including the official declaration and the recount window. Our guide to counting and results covers those dates.

What a yes allows

Section 245 is the rule behind these questions. When voters approve a question under this section, Council gets the power to borrow for the listed purposes during the stated period "without the further assent of the electors". The period can be no longer than 10 years. This one runs 4 years, from 2027 to 2030.

A yes is permission. The City's own note on each question says Council may borrow "as and when Council considers appropriate", up to the stated amount. Each actual loan still needs its own borrowing by-law passed by Council.

The Charter builds in some room to adjust:

• Changing the list. Section 245(3) lets Council, by a vote of at least two-thirds of all its members, change the projects and amounts within an approved question, as long as the total is not exceeded.
• Delays. Section 245(4) says that if an approved project is delayed, Council may still pass the borrowing by-laws "at any time within seven years after the last year mentioned in the question".

Borrowed money has to be repaid from future revenue. Section 239 says a borrowing by-law must provide for a sum to be raised each year, through property taxes or another levy, to cover the interest and principal. The City's Capital Plan page says debt is paid back from future revenues, "typically over a 10 year period". Section 238 sets the outer limit: the whole debt must be payable within 50 years.

There is also an overall cap. Section 236 says the City's total debt under these by-laws may not exceed 20% of the assessed value of taxable property, averaged over the 2 years before the by-law is passed.

What a no means

Section 242(1) says Council may not take on any debt that the current year's adopted estimates do not fully pay for, unless a by-law has the assent of the electors. A no on a question removes that assent for its projects.

A no takes away one way of paying for those projects. The Charter leaves Council other options: the funding sources described below, changes to the plan, or a new question to voters.

Two more rules apply:

• Exempt debt. Section 242(2) lists debts that never need voter approval. They include borrowing for the water system, for sewers and drainage, and for an energy utility. None of the 3 questions covered that work.
• Asking again. Section 134 lets assent voting be held outside a general election, on a Saturday. For a matter authorized by by-law, the chief election officer sets the day no more than 80 days after the by-law is adopted. Section 131(2) adds that if a by-law needing assent fails, no other by-law for the same purpose may go to voters within 6 months, except with the minister's approval.

How the rest of the plan is paid for

The City says the 2027-2030 Capital Plan, approved by Council on July 16, 2026, has $3.5 billion in City-led investment plus $0.1 billion in amenities built through development. The City gives $790 million of the $3.5 billion as the part proposed to come from voter-approved borrowing.

The City's Capital Plan page names 3 kinds of funding:

• City contributions: property tax, user fees such as water and sewer fees, parking revenue and capital reserves. The City says maintenance and renewal are paid for "primarily" this way.
• Development contributions: Amenity Cost Charges and other conditions placed on development, in cash or in kind. The City says new or expanded infrastructure is paid for "primarily" this way.
• Partner contributions: money from federal, provincial and regional governments, non-profits, foundations and donors.

It also names 3 ways of using that money: capital reserves, which the City compares to savings accounts; pay-as-you-go, using current revenue; and debt.

In its July 17, 2026 release, the City said the largest share of the plan, $989 million, goes to drinking water, rainwater and wastewater. Streets receive $703 million and community facilities $558 million.

The last time

In 2022, voters approved borrowing $495 million for the 2023-2026 Capital Plan, according to the City. That ballot also had 3 questions: $173,450,000 for transportation and technology, $162,075,000 for community facilities, and $159,475,000 for parks, public safety, climate work and other priorities.

What to watch next

• Borrowing by-laws on Council agendas, for any question that passed.
• Two-thirds votes to change the listed projects.
• The 2027 budget, where each year's capital spending is approved. Our guide to the 2027 budget timeline covers those steps.

The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Charter are the authorities on borrowing and the capital plan. If anything here disagrees with vancouver.ca, the City's page is correct.