Council eyes 6.24% tax increase as budget talks begin Monday

Prince George City Council will begin budget meetings at 3:30 tomorrow (Monday) afternoon.

“Municipalities have a difficult job. There are always requests for more services and requests for less taxes. Those two requests directly compete with each other, and Council has the unenviable task of trying to strike the balance of those two requests,” said City Director of Finance and IT Services Kris Dalio.

“Trying to meet the right level of demand for service and maintaining our infrastructure, while also being considerate of tax increases knowing the current economic climate is tough.”

This year’s proposed budget comes with a tax increase of 6.24 per cent, an approximate $159.12 tax increase to the representative household.

A one per cent increase in taxes translates to approximately $25.50 for the representative household.

In addition, there are several service enhancements which will be included for Council Consideration:

• Increase the RCMP contract strength from 149 to 153. Four new members at $220,782 – $883,128 (0.68 per cent)
• Increase Police Support Services municipal employee staff by two: one transcriptionist ($77,923) and one training coordinator ($83,037) total of $160,960 (0.12 per cent)
• Increase Fire Protection staff by seven: One Fire Prevention Inspector ($141,787), one Training Branch Captain ($171,320) and five Firefighters ($118,844 each including $20k of clothing/training) total of $907,327 (0.70 per cent) (Official enhancement request will have smaller incremental options as well)
• Increase Fire Protection admin staff by one full time administrative clerk – $76,519 (0.06 per cent)
• One-time funding request for phase 2 of the Prince George Fire Training Site Feasibility Study – $75,000 (0.06 per cent)
• One-time funding request from REAPS ($100,000)(0.08 per cent)
• Increase in service agreement with Exploration Place for the operation of the Little Prince – $75,000 (0.06 per cent)
• Increase in Road Rehabilitation Levy as per Finance and Audit resolution for increased service level – $300,000 (0.23 per cent)

If all of these service enhancements are approved, the total tax levy increase would increase an additional 1.99 per cent to 8.23 per cent.

A one per cent reduction in the tax levy equates to $1,292,482.

The full agenda for tomorrow’s meeting can be found here.