{
  "geography": "City of Victoria (municipality)",
  "scope": "city",
  "levels": [
    "Municipal (City budget)"
  ],
  "period": "December 31, 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-12-31",
  "period_end": "2025-12-31",
  "trend": "context",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "refresh_frequency": "Annually (audited report published mid-year)",
  "id": "net-debt-per-resident",
  "category": "City finances",
  "title": "City net debt per resident",
  "plain_question": "How much does the City owe in long-term debt, net of sinking funds, for each resident, and what share of spending goes to paying it back?",
  "value": 567,
  "display_value": "$567",
  "unit": "per resident",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "2024",
    "previous_value": 427,
    "change_percent": 32.8
  },
  "since_text": "Was $427 in 2024 and $618 in 2021. Debt payments: 2.15% of spending",
  "trend_basis": "Net debt per resident $567 at the end of 2025, compared with $427 a year earlier and $618 in 2021. Debt servicing was 2.15% of expenses in 2025 (2.92% in 2021).",
  "right_direction": "Shown for context, without a “better” or “worse” label: borrowing can pay for long-lived assets, and this site takes no position on the right level.",
  "caveats": [
    "Figures are printed in the Statistics section of the City's Annual Report (not calculated here).",
    "B.C. law limits how much a municipality may spend each year on debt payments; the City's report shows its limit."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Net debt per resident",
      "fmt": "money",
      "unit": "",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Net debt per resident",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 618
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 549
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 487
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 427
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 567
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Debt payments as a share of spending (%)",
      "fmt": "dec1",
      "unit": "%",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Debt service, % of expenses",
          "area": "city",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 2.92
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 2.64
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 2.26
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 2.08
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 2.15
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 618
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 549
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 487
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 427
    },
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 567
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "City of Victoria, Annual Report (Statistics section)",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/city-government/corporate-strategic-plan/annual-report",
    "download_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025",
    "publisher_page": "https://www.victoria.ca/city-government/corporate-strategic-plan/annual-report",
    "page_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/media/file/annual-report-2025#page=81",
    "page": 81,
    "locator": "City of Victoria Annual Report 2025, Statistics section, page 81, “Net Debt per Capita”",
    "reads": "Net Debt per Capita: 2025 $567 (2024 $427)"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "Net Debt per Capita $ 618 $ 549 $ 487 $ 427 $ 567",
    "Debt Service as % of Expenses 2.92% 2.64% 2.26% 2.08% 2.15%"
  ],
  "data_published": "2026-07-17",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-12T04:45:53Z",
  "attribution": "Source: City of Victoria, Annual Report (Statistics section). Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "input",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "Shown for context, without a better or worse label.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": null,
    "five_year": {
      "period": "2021",
      "years": 4,
      "value": 618,
      "comparable": true,
      "text": "vs 2021: −8.3%"
    }
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "context",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "rising",
    "label": "Rising",
    "arrow": "▲",
    "rel": 32.78688524590164,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "2024",
    "cur": "2025",
    "why": "Borrowing can pay for long-lived assets; whether debt should rise or fall is a policy choice. The change is 32.8% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "change": "33%",
    "one_year": "+32.8%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2021",
      "comparable": true,
      "rel": -8.25242718446602,
      "years": 4,
      "longest": true,
      "text": "−8.3%"
    }
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 2,
    "rung_name": "Higher government target or benchmark",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "related",
        "label": "Related target",
        "text": "Related limit, not drawn: under the Province’s Municipal Liabilities Regulation, a municipality may not take on a liability that would push its yearly cost of servicing debt above 25% of its revenue for the previous year, as calculated under the regulation. Borrowing needs no elector approval while that cost stays at or under 10%. This page shows debt per resident and debt payments as a share of spending, not of that revenue, so the limits are not drawn.",
        "area": "Each B.C. municipality",
        "source": {
          "title": "Municipal Liabilities Regulation (B.C. Reg. 254/2004), sections 2 and 7",
          "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
          "date": "current to November 3, 2026",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/254_2004",
          "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
          "refresh": "When the regulation is amended",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "mlr"
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 2,
      "kind": "related",
      "label": "Related limit, not drawn: under the Province’s Municipal Liabilities Regulation, a municipality may not take on a liability that would push its yearly cost of servicing debt above 25% of its revenue for the previous year, as calculated under the regulation. Borrowing needs no elector approval while that cost stays at or under 10%. This page shows debt per resident and debt payments as a share of spending, not of that revenue, so the limits are not drawn.",
      "short": null,
      "document": "mlr",
      "page": null,
      "area": "Each B.C. municipality",
      "fit": "text_only",
      "same_area": false,
      "related_reason": "Different unit, definition, period or area; written under the chart, not drawn.",
      "document_url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/254_2004",
      "applies_here": false,
      "same_measure": false
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": null,
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "COV",
      "name": "City of Victoria Council",
      "decides": "Adopts the financial plan by bylaw each year, then sets property tax rates by bylaw before May 15.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "cc165",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 165",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_06#section165"
        },
        {
          "key": "cc197",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 197",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_07#section197"
        }
      ],
      "last": {
        "text": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 (No. 26-040) and 2026 tax rates adopted May 7, 2026",
        "label": "Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw, 2026 (No. 26-040) and 2026 tax rates adopted May 7, 2026",
        "url": "https://engage.victoria.ca/2026budget"
      },
      "next": {
        "text": "2027 financial plan, then tax rate bylaw before May 15, 2027",
        "label": "Community Charter, s. 197",
        "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_07#section197"
      }
    },
    {
      "body": "POL",
      "name": "Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board",
      "decides": "Prepares the police budget, which the councils approve as part of the City’s spending.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "pa27",
          "label": "Police Act, s. 27",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96367_01#section27"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": {
        "text": "Provisional budget due to the councils by November 30, 2026 (Police Act, s. 27)",
        "label": "Police Act, s. 27",
        "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96367_01#section27"
      }
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "City of Victoria Council",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "rising",
    "label": "Rising"
  },
  "label_long": {
    "key": "falling",
    "label": "Falling",
    "years": 4,
    "change": "−8.3%"
  },
  "target_line": {
    "form": 5,
    "text": "Related target only",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": null
  }
}