Metro Vancouver's 2027 budget and garbage fee plan go to a new board on November 27

Metro Vancouver's outgoing board put off two decisions at the last meeting of its term on October 30: the 2027 budget and five-year financial plan, and the region's solid waste plan, under which garbage disposal fees would rise each year. Both now go to a new board that meets on November 27, 2026. Thirteen of the region's 21 municipalities chose a new mayor on October 17, Vancouver among them, the Vancouver Sun reported.

What a household pays Metro Vancouver

Metro Vancouver runs the region's drinking water, sewage treatment, garbage disposal and regional parks for its member cities, which pass the cost to their residents. In 2026 the average household pays $897 a year for all of it, according to Metro Vancouver's budget page. Liquid waste, which is sewage and wastewater treatment, is the largest part at $534. Drinking water is $208, solid waste $74, regional parks $50, other regional district services $20, air quality $7 and regional planning $4.

The 2027 budget would raise that average to $914, an increase of $17, the Vancouver Sun reported. A Metro Vancouver spokesperson told CBC News the increase is 1.9 per cent, lower than the three per cent target the region had set for 2027. Business in Vancouver reported that the operating budget is $1.7 billion, $117 million more than in 2026, and that a staff report gives two reasons the household increase came in lower: a service efficiencies review, and a $225 million settlement with Acciona, the former contractor on the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Why the costs have risen

The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is $3.1 billion over its original budget, Business in Vancouver reported. The same report says the board raised its property taxes by an average of 25.3 per cent in 2025, and that the financial plan sets a 4.2 per cent increase for 2028 and five per cent in each of its last three years.

Metro Vancouver's budget page says the board applied $364 million in operating savings to the 2026 budget and its five-year plan after a services and cost efficiencies review. Acting commissioner Heather McNell told the board on October 30 that it had removed $1.1 billion in capital spending from the five-year plan to keep tax increases down, Business in Vancouver reported.

The garbage fee plan

The second deferred item is the region's 10-year solid waste management plan. Under it, garbage disposal fees would rise five per cent a year, the Vancouver Sun reported. These are the tipping fees haulers pay to leave waste at Metro Vancouver's facilities.

The Business Council of B.C. asked the board to wait. Denise Mullen, the council's director of environment, sustainability and Indigenous relations, told Business in Vancouver the increase runs two to three percentage points above inflation. "For businesses, those cost increases flow through to services they provide Metro Vancouver residents," she said. The council wants an independent review of the plan.

Paul Henderson, Metro Vancouver's general manager of solid waste services, wrote in reply that the plan is the "culmination of a five-year process" and that "tipping fees are set each year to keep increases as low as possible while continuing to support the region's waste reduction, recycling, and service goals," the Vancouver Sun reported. A Metro Vancouver report says commercially collected garbage brings in more than $100 million a year in tipping fees, and that losing it to private disposal sites would mean paying for the system through higher property taxes, Business in Vancouver reported.

Coquitlam mayor-elect Craig Hodge, a returning director who sits on the solid waste committee, told Business in Vancouver the five-year fee figures are an estimate and can be adjusted in each annual budget. "There will be options to review by the board that's in power at the time," he said.

How the vote went, and Vancouver's part in it

Vancouver councillor Mike Klassen, a director on the outgoing board, moved to defer the budget, saying "significant change" was ahead, Business in Vancouver reported. Klassen was re-elected to City Council on October 17. Outgoing Vancouver councillor Rebecca Bligh also voted to defer. "There is an important step here to restore accountability and trust within the organization and how the public sees that," she told the board, according to CBC News.

Board chair Mike Hurley, the mayor of Burnaby, argued for passing the budget. He said the water district board is required to have a budget by December 31, CBC News reported, and that "passing the budget doesn't prevent the new board from making changes," Business in Vancouver reported. Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, a returning director, said there is still time to pass it before that deadline.

CBC News reported the result as 89 to 36. Business in Vancouver reported it as 87 to 36, in a weighted vote.

Vancouver mayor-elect Pete Fry had backed a delay before the meeting. "I think this is the opportunity to maybe give it a pause, and allow us to be sworn in and assign our Metro positions," he said on October 27, the Vancouver Sun reported.

What happens next

Vancouver's new council takes office on November 2, under section 139 of the Vancouver Charter. Each member council names its own directors to the regional board. The new board's first meeting is Friday, November 27, 2026, from 8:00 am to noon in the Metro Vancouver Boardroom, according to Metro Vancouver's meeting calendar. Business in Vancouver reported that the budget was deferred to that meeting, and that the solid waste plan was deferred as well.

How to take part

The public part of a board meeting is open to attend in person, and Metro Vancouver streams it on its live webcast page. A resident or a group whose interests are affected by a report on the agenda can ask to speak as a delegation. The request goes in writing to Metro Vancouver's Corporate Officer at least 48 hours before the meeting, with the meeting date and a summary of up to two pages. The board decides at the start of the meeting whether to hear each delegation, and each one gets up to five minutes.

For the November 27 meeting, that means a written request by 8:00 am on Wednesday, November 25. The pages of Pete Fry and Mike Klassen on this site follow their work in office.