$601 million
came in.
$398 million went out.
Debt nearly doubled.
The Township's draft 2025 financial statements run almost 100 pages, and most of it reads like a foreign language. Below are the numbers that actually matter to people who live here, written the way you'd explain them to a neighbour. Tap any line for the plain‑English version.
Money in
$601.3M
↑ 17.7% YoY
Money out
$398.3M
↑ 13.5% YoY
Capital spend
$307.9M
was $217.3M
Net debt position
−$131.2M
was −$8.5M
Net debt is the cleanest scorecard. It just got 15× worse in one year.
Net debt is the single number that tells you whether the Township is falling behind. It's everything the Township owes (loans, bills, contracts) minus everything it has that could pay those bills (cash, investments, money owed to it). When net debt is negative, liabilities are bigger than financial assets.
Think of it like your own household: add up the mortgage, credit cards and bills, then subtract your chequing, savings and what people owe you. If the second number is smaller, you're in the red. That's net debt.
Last year the Township was almost even at −$8.5M. By the end of 2025 it was −$131.2M in the red. That's a swing of about $122.7M in twelve months, and it's the part of the books that operating surpluses can't hide.
Net financial position
One‑year change
−$122.7M
Multiple
15.4× deeper
Source: Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, Township of Langley draft 2025 statements.
A “$203 million surplus”. What that actually means.
It sounds like profit. It isn't. Cities report a “surplus” any time revenue comes in higher than operating costs. However, that number quietly includes things like roads and pipes that developers built and signed over to the Township, and it doesn't subtract what it cost to build new infrastructure or the loans taken out to pay for it.
+ What the surplus includes
- ＋$72.7M worth of roads, parks and pipes that builders handed over, counted as income.
- ＋$35.4M in one‑time profit from selling land, which won't happen again next year.
- ＋Property taxes, fees, grants and interest. The everyday money.
− What the surplus does NOT subtract
- −The $307.9M the Township spent building new things.
- −The $15.8M paid down on old loans.
- −That $283.0M of new debt was added.
A more honest one‑year scorecard is whether the Township finished the year with more cash and assets than debts. By that measure, the Township's net financial position slipped from roughly break‑even (−$8.5M) to −$131.2M in the red over the course of 2025.
Follow the dollars · 2025
$601M came in. The Township still ended the year $131M further behind.
+$601.3M
Total revenue
−$398.3M
Operating expenses
+$203.0M
Reported surplus
−$307.9M
Capital spending
+$283.0M
New borrowing
−$15.8M
Debt repaid
+$162.3M
Cash position change
Follow the bars left to right to see how the year actually played out. The "surplus" is just an accounting subtotal. Once you factor in what the Township built and the money it borrowed to build it, the cash picture looks pretty different.
$601.3M in total revenue, from nine main sources.
Hover the chart or the list to dig into each source. Tap a row in the table below for the plain‑English version.
- Property taxes33.7%$202.9M
- Fees & service charges29.1%$175.1M
- Developer contributions (built infrastructure)12.1%$72.7M
- Development cost charges6.6%$39.5M
- Gain on sale of assets5.9%$35.4M
- Grants from other governments4.3%$25.8M
- Investment income3.5%$21.0M
- Other income2.7%$16.1M
- Cost recoveries2.2%$12.9M
What homeowners and businesses pay each year based on the value of their property.
Water, sewer, garbage, recreation passes, business licences, money paid for using a service.
Roads, parks and pipes that builders constructed and handed to the Township as part of new developments.
Fees the Township collected from developers in earlier years and spent this year on growth-related projects.
One-time profit from selling Township-owned land or buildings. This will not repeat next year.
Money from the Province of B.C. and the Government of Canada for specific projects.
Interest earned on the Township's bank accounts and investments.
Smaller miscellaneous revenue lines combined.
Reimbursements from other agencies for shared work.
Property taxes and user fees (the only two lines residents pay directly) made up about 63% of the money that came in last year.
Where spending landed, department by department.
Council signs off on a budget at the start of the year. The lighter grey bar is the approved plan; the darker bar is what was actually spent. Anything that came in more than 10% over budget gets flagged.
Where every $1 of spending goes
One bar, twelve services.
- Transportation (roads)18.0¢
- Police protection11.8¢
- Recreation & culture12.4¢
- General government10.6¢
- Water utility8.7¢
- Fire protection7.5¢
- Sewer utility7.3¢
- Parks6.9¢
- Facilities maintenance6.1¢
- Community planning4.4¢
- Stormwater3.8¢
- Solid waste2.6¢
Out of every dollar the Township spent on services in 2025.
Departments sized by spend
Bigger box = more money. Amber = over budget.
Transportation (roads)
$71.8M
+42% vs plan
Recreation & culture
$49.2M
+18% vs plan
Police protection
$47.0M
-18% vs plan
General government
$42.1M
+9% vs plan
Water utility
$34.7M
+16% vs plan
Fire protection
$30.0M
+5% vs plan
Sewer utility
$29.0M
+5% vs plan
Parks
$27.6M
+25% vs plan
Facilities maintenance
$24.3M
-9% vs plan
Community planning
$17.4M
-14% vs plan
Stormwater
$15.0M
+26% vs plan
Solid waste
$10.2M
-3% vs plan
Roads, sidewalks, traffic signals and snow clearing.
Spent $71.8M against a planned $50.7M. That's over budget by $21.1M.
RCMP contract and supporting Township staff.
Spent $47.0M against a planned $57.5M. That's under budget by $10.6M.
Rec centres, pools, programs, libraries and events.
Spent $49.2M against a planned $41.7M. That's over budget by $7.5M.
Mayor and council, administration, finance, IT, legal, HR.
Spent $42.1M against a planned $38.5M. That's over budget by $3.6M.
Treating and delivering drinking water.
Spent $34.7M against a planned $29.8M. That's over budget by $4.9M.
Firefighters, halls, trucks and emergency response.
Spent $30.0M against a planned $28.6M. That's over budget by $1.3M.
Moving and treating wastewater.
Spent $29.0M against a planned $27.6M. That's over budget by $1.4M.
Maintaining parks, trails and sports fields.
Spent $27.6M against a planned $22.1M. That's over budget by $5.5M.
Keeping Township-owned buildings in working order.
Spent $24.3M against a planned $26.7M. That's under budget by $2.4M.
Reviewing development applications, zoning and long-range planning.
Spent $17.4M against a planned $20.3M. That's under budget by $2.8M.
Ditches, culverts and storm drains that handle rainwater.
Spent $15.0M against a planned $11.9M. That's over budget by $3.1M.
Garbage, recycling and organics collection.
Spent $10.2M against a planned $10.5M. That's under budget by $320,000.
Debt nearly doubled in a single year.
The Township's total debt and long‑term agreements grew from about $317.3M at the end of 2024 to about $584.4M by the end of 2025. That's roughly $283.0M in fresh borrowing, with only $15.8M paid back.
New borrowed in 2025
$283.0M
Proceeds from new debt during the year.
Debt paid down in 2025
$15.8M
Principal paid on existing loans.
Per‑resident debt
$3,746
$584.4M ÷ ~156,000 residents.
For context: the Township spent $307.9M in cash building new infrastructure in 2025, up from $217.3M the year before. Most of the new debt went toward that work, and it will be paid back over the coming decades through property taxes and utility bills.
A short glossary.
- Annual surplus
- Revenue minus operating costs for the year. Includes one‑time items like land sales and infrastructure donated by developers. Not the same thing as 'money left over to spend.'
- Accumulated surplus
- The running total of every past year's surplus. Most of it is tied up in physical assets like roads and buildings. It isn't cash sitting in a bank account.
- Net debt
- What the Township owes (loans, bills) minus what it has in financial assets (investments, money owed to it). A negative number means liabilities are bigger than financial assets.
- Tangible capital assets
- The physical stuff the Township owns: roads, pipes, fire halls, vehicles, parks. Worth about $3.0 billion on the books at the end of 2025.
- Development cost charges (DCCs)
- Fees collected from new development to help pay for the roads, parks and pipes that growth requires. Held until they're spent on the matching project.
- MFA debt
- Long‑term loans through the Municipal Finance Authority of B.C., which is how most B.C. municipalities borrow money for big projects.