City of PG expects a thank you for doling out funds

Any organization that gets funding from the City of Prince George will now need to show recognition of the money they receive.

That was one of the topics discussed during last night’s (Monday) city council meeting.

“A motion was put on the floor to direct administration to create a framework for recognition, and a report back to council from organizations in receipt of financial support through the council contingency fund,” said City Manager Walter Babicz.

Babicz mentioned that there was already a similar procedure in Annex A of The Major Sport Event Program Administrative Procedure, and that could be used as well for contingency funds.

Councillor Cori Ramsay said she wanted to make this rule as broad as possible.

“Any type of funding that’s gifted or granted by the City for initiatives  there’s the expectation that the receiving organization would in some capacity acknowledge the City as a contributor.”

Councillor Brian Skakun said he would support the motion, but also wasn’t sure if it was necessary.

“People are grateful, and they let us know without this policy and outside of this policy that they can’t make ends meet sometimes without the City’s support. It’s a little bit redundant in my opinion.”

Councillor Kyle Sampson was the person who initially pushed forward the motion in a previous meeting and defended the necessity of it.

“The intent of it wasn’t to disregard the fact that these groups are grateful and appreciative to council. Getting a letter to us, or an email to us is great, but I don’t want the recognition, I would like the City of Prince George to get the recognition, which is in turn the taxpayers.”

Sampson added that the reporting and recognition process should be equal across the board, which is another reason why he brought forward the motion.

The City of Prince George has responded to this article and issued the following statement:

“This headline is somewhat misleading. The purpose of this motion and the policy is to ensure transparent allocation of public funds.

The City of Prince George has a policy requiring recipients of grants to publicly acknowledge the funding they receive from tax dollars. The motion on Monday simply aligned another grant source (Council contingency fund) with that policy. Put simply, citizens have a right to know how their tax dollars are distributed to support community groups – it is not about a thank you.”