Understanding Your Tax Notice

Tax Rates

Tax rates determine how much property tax you pay, based on the assessed value of your property. The tax rate applies to each $1,000 of assessed value. BC Assessment generates property assessments for all properties in B.C. every January.

District of Saanich General Tax Rate

Saanich Council sets the tax rates after it adopts the annual budget each year. The budget sets out how much total tax revenue needs to be raised.

Other taxing authorities

In addition to municipal taxes, Saanich collects funds for:

  • BC Government (School Districts)
  • Capital Regional District
  • Capital Regional Hospital District
  • BC Assessment
  • BC Transit
  • Municipal Finance Authority

These tax rates are established by each agency. Saanich collects the funds and passes them on.

Different tax rates are set for each property class. 

Property Assessments

Understanding how property assessments relate to property taxes

If you have received a property assessment notice from BC Assessment you may have questions about how this impacts your 2024 Saanich property taxes. The simple answer? It’s too early to tell. Property taxes are determined by the District of Saanich prior to notices being sent in May.

Many people think a big change in your assessed value will result in a big change in your property taxes. For example if your assessment goes up 20%, your taxes will go up 20%. However this isn’t always the case. The most important factor is not how much your assessed value has changed, but how your assessed value has changed relative to the average change for your property class in Saanich.

Please review our informational fact sheet to learn more about how property assessments relate to property taxes.

Questions about property taxes?

Contact the Saanich property tax department by email or call 250-475-5454.