Whether you rent, own, or are just here for the season, we want to hear from you. How should we prioritize our spending to best serve our community?

Local governments play a crucial role in daily life. The RMOW provides essential services like:

✅ Clean drinking water
✅ Road maintenance & snow removal
✅ Wastewater & stormwater management
✅ Police and fire services for safety and security

Beyond the basics, we also work to enhance quality of life by providing services such as:

🌳 Maintaining parks & green spaces
🏊 Recreation amenities and programming
📚 Supporting local non-profits
🚌 Providing sustainable transportation options

Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, we need to strike the right balance to ensure we have enough funds to:

• Invest in programs and services that matter to our community
• Maintain and repair the infrastructure we rely on every day
• Save for the future, whether it’s major replacements or unexpected challenges

From roads and pipes to buildings, parks, and bridges, municipal infrastructure needs ongoing care. This includes regular maintenance ($), repairs ($$), and eventual replacements ($$$). Just like homeowners set aside money for a new roof or a water heater, we need to plan ahead for big-ticket items in our community.

What's the challenge ahead? Some of our infrastructure is reaching the end of its lifespan—and we haven’t been saving enough to cover these costs. That means we could face expensive emergency repairs, replacements, and service disruptions if we don’t act now.

And it’s not just about maintaining what we have. If we decide to build new infrastructure, we have to think beyond the initial price tag. Every new project brings long-term costs—operations, maintenance, repairs, and eventual replacements. Careful financial planning is key to making sure we can afford both today’s needs and tomorrow’s responsibilities.

By making smart choices now, we can keep our community strong, sustainable, and ready for the future.

When it comes to seeking feedback on the 2026 budget and spending prioritization, we will focus on two main areas:

• Operations
• Capital projects

While utilities are a part of our annual budgeting process, much of the work that we do is focused on critical or mandatory upgrades and maintenance which doesn’t allow lot of room for decision-making or prioritizing. Therefore, we will be focusing your input on where it can have the greatest impact.

• Share your insights by completing the 2026 Budget Insights Survey
• Connect with Council by 'Borrowing a Councillor' or attending an upcoming 'Coffee with Council' event (ongoing)
• Attend the Projects and Operations meetings at Committee of the Whole (Fall 2025)

A municipal budget is simply a spending plan that forecasts the estimated revenue and expenses for a local government. Our budget directs revenues collected into five core funds. Each individual fund has an operating budget, which must balance incoming and outgoing funds. Each also has a projects budget.

General fund

The general fund covers operating expenses including things like staff wages, policing, fire rescue services, and the maintenance and upkeep of municipal facilities, fleet and equipment. This fund also receives property tax revenues.

Water, solid waste and sewer funds

Water, solid waste and sewer each have their own funds and each is responsible for a different group of utility services and assets. Each is funded in large part by utility user fees and parcel taxes. These funds are responsible for supporting maintenance, replacement and upgrades to utility infrastructure.

RMI and MRDT fund

Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) and Municipal Regional District Tax (MRDT) funds are directed towards resort operations and amenities that support tourism and culture in Whistler. RMI is provided by the province and helps support maintenance and operations in the Village and designated Whistler parks, as well as infrastructure like the Rainbow Park Rejuvenation project. MRDT is funded through a share of hotel taxes and provides funding for events like the Whistler Concert Series and other added operational costs associated with providing services to an estimated three million visitors a year. We assemble a plan for each year to determine which projects and investments will be supported through these programs, which the Province then reviews and approves.

Whistler’s elected Council sets service levels and allocates funding for municipal services, programs, projects and initiatives. Budget decisions are informed by:

• the needs within the five core funds, as mentioned above;
• Council’s priorities of Climate, Housing, Smart Tourism and Community Engagement;
• the Official Community Plan; and
• community input.

All planned municipal expenditures must be matched with equivalent revenues. The budget must be balanced. Municipal governments are not allowed to run deficits. One of the ways municipal expenses are funded is property taxes.

Tax amounts for individual properties are calculated based on property values, which are determined by BC Assessment. Owners can appeal assessments if they feel they are inaccurate.

Each property’s share of the total assessed value of properties in the community determines its share of the property taxes. A fixed amount of tax is due per $1,000 of assessed value, equally across all properties in a property classification (Residential, Industrial, etc.). The amount of taxes due on a property will change from year to year, and the amount of this change is different for every property.

The things that affect the year-to-year change in property taxes due include: overall change in amount of taxes collected by the municipality (this is often called the per cent tax increase), how the value of the property has changed in that same year and how the value of property for the community as a whole has changed. It is possible that your property tax bill may go down if your home value changed by significantly less than other homes. It’s also possible to see your property taxes increase even if your home value does not change. This could happen if the budget increases or other properties decrease in value relative to yours.

Included on your property tax bill alongside municipal tax amounts are portions that are paid to other entities. These include the Municipal Finance Authority, BC Assessment, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Sea to Sky Hospital District and the provincial government through the school tax.

Eligible homeowners can apply for the provincial Home Owner Grant each year to reduce their property taxes.

Many property owners are eligible for deferment, which is a case where the Province pays your tax bill on your behalf and secures a loan against your property that is due upon sale. This program is unique to BC and has been extremely helpful in cases where home value (and taxes) may be high but household cashflows are low.