Mayor Kennedy Stewart today issued the following statement following the successful passage of Vancouver’s 2021 COVID-19 response budget:

“Budget 2021 is a direct response to the challenges COVID-19, focusing on and prioritizing services for residents and businesses under stress.

Despite nearly $139 million in pandemic related losses, Budget 2021 makes key investments to support residents through COVID-19 while keeping property tax increases to five percent, and holding our largest line item, the police budget, to 2020 levels.

More funding for critical areas like street cleaning, sanitation, community policing, overdose response, supports for small businesses, housing, and homelessness will help our residents and businesses weather a difficult time while setting our entire city up for a stronger post-pandemic recovery.

I am grateful to the hundreds of residents who spoke or wrote to Council, to our dedicated staff for the countless hours that went into preparing this budget, and to all of Council for their hard work and energy.”