Today, Vancouver municipal politicians will vote on a staff recommendation to approve the 2015 operating and capital budgets.

The operating budget of $1.22 billion would be funded with a 2.4 percent property-tax increase. According to the budget document, this would raise an extra $15.4 million this year.

Overall operating expenditures are forecast to go up by 3.7 percent in 2015.

The capital budget is $306 million.

Property taxes generate 56 percent of all operating funds for the City of Vancouver. Utilities cover 20 percent of operating costs.

This year, parking revenue is expected to rise 6.7 percent to $53.2 million. That amounts to four percent of the operating budget. 

In 2015, additional funds will come from property tax revenue from new construction ($10 million), water and sewer revenue ($8.6 million), licence and development ($4.4 million), VPD secondment ($2.1 million), and the sale of neighbourhood energy ($700,000).

Police budget rises more than libraries

Staff has recommended a 4.6 percent increase in council's allocation to the Vancouver Police Department, rising from $261.6 million to $273.6 million.

This comes not long after the VPD reported that violent crime fell 10.9 percent in 2014. Property crimes went up by 10.3 percent, whereas sexual offences fell 14.5 percent and the number of assaults was down 8.3 percent over the previous year.

"The VPD continually seeks ways to become more efficient and effective in its commitment to improving the safety and quality of life for Vancouver residents, businesses and visitors through law enforcement, education, and crime prevention," the budget document states.

While staff has called for a sizable increase in police spending, libraries will receive a much smaller boost. The city's book depositories are only going to get a 1.8 percent increase to $47.3 million, according to the budget document.

Other areas get far more than libraries

Housing is one of the big winners in the budget, getting a 31.6 percent boost from $5.8 million to $7.6 million.

Fire and rescue services will get a five percent increase to $113.3 million.

Community services are slated for a 5.4 percent rise to $38.4 million. Grants for culture, social policy, and child care collectively get a 7.4 percent hike. (Cultural grants will have the smallest of the three, only rising 2.5 percent, whereas child care gets the biggest at 18.7 percent.)

Staff recommended a 3.5 percent increase to parks and recreation to $113.4 million. Of that, $60.8 million would come from taxes and another $52.6 million is slated to come from fees and program revenues.

Mayor and city manager office budgets go up

Mayor Gregor Robertson's office will get a 23.6 percent boost to $1.2 million. The budget for council, on the other hand, only goes up 4.2 percent to $1.3 million. It means that the mayor's office will spend nearly as much as all 10 councillors in the coming year.

The city manager's budget gets a 4.1 percent increase to $5.7 million, whereas legal services will see a cut of 13.5 percent to just over $5 million. The city clerk budget will fall even further, 38.9 percent, to $3.3 million, but that's likely because there's no election to oversee this year.

Much bigger-ticket items in the budget were water at $109.3 million, up 5.1 percent, and sewer at $96 million, up five percent.

The engineering budget is expected to rise 1.6 percent to $76.1 million. Dealing with solid waste will cost the city $63.6 million, which is down 0.1 percent from the previous year.

In addition, staff has recommended that council vote in favour of a $46.3 million operating budget for the property endowment fund.