Oak Bay residents pay less taxes per capita than folks with the privilege of living in Prince Rupert.

It鈥檚 one surprise revealed in a Sooke staff report crafted as municipalities across the region start to grapple with property taxes, and how to pay for services with as little impact on the taxpayer as possible.

The corporate report showed a comprehensive comparison based off provincial data available online at .

Sooke staff looked at B.C. communities with a population between 10,000 and 20,000 鈥� encompassing 22 municipalities 鈥� and crafted a series of charts highlighting how Sooke fared next to the others based on 2024 tax values.

Showing metrics such as total municipal taxes per capita, municipal taxes on a representative house, and overall totals across all jurisdictions 鈥� the document looks at local communities Sooke, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Central Saanich, View Royal, North Saanich and Sidney, along with other communities around the province.

Of the communities compared, Whistler is hands down the priciest place to manage. Using 2022 numbers, the resort community far outstripped all others showing $108M in total municipal expenses while Oak Bay came in at less than half that at $48M in second place. Esquimalt is the next Capital Region community to appear in seventh down the list at $41M.

Whistler, perhaps predictably, tops the municipal taxes per capita list at $3,738, with Oak Bay sixth down the list at $1,661 well below the surprising second-place Prince Rupert at $2,040. The rest of the local areas fall into the middle of the pack with Sidney at $1,241, Esquimalt $1,188, Central Saanich, $1,156, North Saanich $1,032, View Royal $920, and Sooke at the bottom the list at $801 per capita.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to compare because we all do things differently in how we provide services, what we provide,鈥� Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch told Black Press Media. 鈥淯ltimately the hard part of governing and budgeting is not coming up with good ideas, it鈥檚 prioritizing.鈥�

Those are outlined in the 2022 expense numbers, where Whistler doled out nearly $20M and Oak Bay $13.5M in parks, recreation and culture costs.

Municipal police forces, which Oak Bay has, skew higher costs (more than $12M in 2022) than RCMP used in Sidney and North Saanich.

There are other factors, such as payments in lieu of taxes. For example, Esquimalt receives payment for Department of National Defence lands, offering an external income.

Oak Bay also doesn鈥檛 have the business base a place like Whistler does. The resort town collected $15M in 2024, with the next comparable communities Central Saanich ($3.8M), Sidney ($3.6M), North Saanich ($3.3M), Esquimalt and View Royal both at (3.1M). Sooke is sixth from the bottom at $1.9M and Oak Bay in the basement collecting $1.5M.

鈥淭he lack of commerce affects the per capita,鈥� Murdoch said. He noted the community with a population of 18,000 is also responsible for things such as police and fire for the Oak Bay half of the University of Victoria 鈥� with a population of roughly 25,000 much of the year.

A similar trend shows in general municipal taxes paid by average households in 2024, with Oak Bay atop the list at $4,976 nudging ahead of Whistler at $4,928, with Esquimalt rounding out third at $3,319 followed by Central Saanich $2,899; ViewRoyal $2,393; Sidney $2,206; North Saanich $1,890 and Sooke $1,758.

Average house values show some disparity While Oak Bay is known for its high property assessments it sits in second among the compared communities at $1.9M. Whistler鈥檚 average house value is $3.6M. 

House value is averaged using the BC Assessment values of single-family residential properties divided by the total amount of properties.

A median average would provide better comparison, Murdoch noted, as Oak Bay is among the communities in the region that have a handful of outliers 鈥� significantly higher valued properties.

Whistler collected nearly $52M in municipal taxes in 2024 with Oak Bay just over $32.6M. Those are followed locally by Esquimalt $23M, Central Saanich $22M, Sidney just shy of $16M, North Saanich and Sooke just over $13M and View Royal just over $12M.

Local government budget talks generally start in earnest early in the new year as budgets must legally be adopted by May 15, 2025.