In 2024, a total of six people showed up to voice their opinions on the budget during a special meeting held by Vancouver City Council. This year, that number has grown a hundredfold.Yes, that's right. Over 600 concerned residents signed up to tell council what they thought of the draft budget created by Mayor Ken Sim's ruling ABC party — and that's in addition to the thousands that already answered the city's budget survey.Things kicked off on Wednesday with a marathon session at City Hall that saw almost all of the nearly 250 speakers utilize their three minutes at the mic to try and convince councillors not to vote in favour of the fiscal plan. Over 11,000 people have watched the footage on YouTube, compared to just 383 who tuned in to last year's special council meeting.Ditto Thursday. By the end of the day, there were so many speakers left that a third meeting was scheduled for November 18.Most of the concern centred around a lack of detail, with many citing the fact that unlike most budgets, the document doesn't provide a line-by-line breakdown of what will be cut as part of ABC's quest to get "back to basics."To put it in some perspective, the 2024 draft budget was 373 pages. This year, it's only 23..The mayor has argued that his party's plan, which promises a property tax freeze with no reduction in public services, would come to fruition via massive spending cuts. Little information has been provided regarding exactly where those cuts would be made.According to a leaked memo, some of that extra cash would be generated by firing 400 city workers — again, from where is anyone's guess — and reducing the budgets of various departments.Other departments, meanwhile, would see their budgets increase. Perhaps most notable are the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, which would receive 6% and 10% more, respectively..Among those who spoke out was COPE Membership Secretary and lifelong Vancouver resident Zakir Suleman."According to the mayor, the people that will see a benefit are homeowners," he said. "With a 0% property tax increase, the average homeowner will save between $5 and $20 a month. To achieve this, the budget proposes $93 million in cuts to arts, culture, climate change programs, homelessness services, social housing, programs for families, and increased user fees for community centres.".Suleman made it clear that he would gladly accept a property tax increase to ensure those who need services have access to them."We would pay $20 a month for the public services we all collectively rely on in this city," he declared. "That's because we care about our neighbours; we care about renters, homeowners, and homeless alike. We want this to be a city where we can afford to live in, to make art in, to have a family in, to grow old in."Suleman's sentiments were shared by countless other speakers who owned their own homes."Look at the amount of people coming here to speak in opposition to this budget," one said. "These are the people you claim to represent. We are the public saying we don't want this. Why aren't you listening to us?"He called on ABC councillors to defy the mayor and side against the aforementioned proposals, arguing that failure to do so would amount to "condemning yourselves and all of us to going down with this sinking ship.""You still have a narrow window to distance yourselves from the disaster of Ken Sim and this budget," he added. "You should choose wisely."Council is set to vote on the draft budget November 25. ABC has a three seat majority, meaning unless a trio of councillors break from the party, it will likely pass.
