Oak Bay: Grade B

Oak Bay earns a B on the strength of exceptional public safety and the region’s most competitive business tax structure, offset by the weakest housing delivery and the least attainable ownership market of the six municipalities reviewed.

Strengths

Oak Bay is the safest municipality in the region by a wide margin, with crime severity well below the provincial benchmark in every year of the term. It also holds one of the most competitive tax structures reviewed, with a business multiplier among the lowest of the six, and the highest median household income in the region.

Areas for improvement

Housing is Oak Bay’s biggest challenge, and the report says so directly. It approved the fewest homes of the six over the past three years, and it is the region’s most expensive ownership market. Its spending has also grown considerably faster than its population, the widest such gap of the six.

Core takeaway

Strong on safety and taxes. Real room to improve on housing and on explaining what rising spending delivered. The report card recognizes both.