Vernon’s 2026 Tax Hike: What’s Really Driving the 9.73% Increase?
- ExNews.net
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
The 2026 property tax increase in Vernon is now sitting at a provisional 9.73% after council trimmed the original draft from 10.24% on Monday.
Of that 9.73%, roughly 3.5 percentage points are directly tied to paying off the debt on the Active Living Centre (the big $121-million complex that includes the new pool, fitness areas, performing arts theatre, and art gallery). That 3.5% was locked in by the 2022 referendum and will show up again in 2027, then drop to 2.8% starting in 2028.
In actual dollars, the city has budgeted $4.36 million in 2026 just for ALC principal and interest.
So, without the Active Living Centre debt, the tax increase would have been closer to 6% instead of almost 10%. The rest of the hike covers day-to-day stuff: wages and benefits, the RCMP contract, inflation, road repairs, keeping the rec facilities running, cyber security, and so on.
The budget documents don’t split the ALC portion into “pool vs theatre/gallery”; everything is rolled together under the single project.
All of these numbers come straight from the city’s official draft plan (updated Nov 27, 2025).
Download the full PDF here:https://www.vernon.ca/sites/default/files/2025-11/2026-2030%20Financial%20Plan%20Updated%20251127.pdf
(Tax breakdown starts around page 57, ALC debt details around page 253)
The minutes from Monday’s meeting should be posted in the next few days here:
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